Some drink it year-round, but as temperatures rise, many swap out their hot espresso or Americano for a iced coffee or, as it has always been called, iced coffee. Even those who drink it with milk. But for years, the cold brew or cold-infused coffee is gaining followers in the heat of the specialty coffee boom, becoming one of the drinks of summer. And not only. “It has hit hard in many countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. With each passing year it is more in demand and there are people who consume it practically throughout the year,” says Alberto Velarde, 45, and owner of East Crema Coffee, with nine coffee shops in Madrid and Valencia.
There is no single recipe. Each cafeteria or roaster makes its own, playing with the variety of coffee used and with the exposure time, because the cold brew It is not a type of coffee, but an extraction method that basically consists of leaving the ground coffee in cold water during the hours established in each case. In East Cream CoffeeFor example, they make it using a Blue House —the “house” coffee, Velarde points out—, which they infuse for 20 hours. Later, they market it in a takeaway glass (4 euros) and in 500-milliliter and 1-liter bottles (8 and 15 euros), which must be consumed within a maximum period of 20 days “so that the product is not altered.”
But cold brew It’s not just cold coffee. The way it is made gives this drink unique characteristics. “There are clear differences with espresso,” says Velarde, who defines this type of coffee as “sweeter, with a longer taste” and endowed with “more caffeine” due to the long infusion time. “For athletes it is an adrenaline shot that activates for training,” he points out, about one of the groups that consumes it the most.
The roaster and chain of specialty cafeterias that is growing the most in Spain, Syra Coffee, even sells a pack to be able to manufacture cold brew at home that for 38 euros includes, in addition to a coffee of your choice, a cold brewer or container for processing. The utensil consists of a metal mesh filter in the style of bulk infusions, where the already ground coffee is placed and inserted into a glass tube to let it macerate. In your case, recommend an ingredient ratio of 1 part coffee to 10 parts water “mineral” and a “medium coarse grind” so as not to obtain a drink that is too “astringent or bitter”. “The idea is that one can replicate at home the experience we have in the store. Cold brew is one of the simplest methods of extraction and can be done without any problem”, says Yassir Rais, founder and CEO of Syra. Rais adds that the only difference is that in the store they grind it just before preparing it and subject it to double filtering so that it is “very clean”, although at home it can be done only once. “It can be filtered even with a piece of white 100% cotton cloth.” The large glass, 300 milliliters, is sold at 3.40 euros and warns that you should not be fooled by its “watery” appearance, since it contains “a lot of caffeine.”
As with iced espresso —also called iced coffee-, he cold brew It can be consumed with milk or a vegetable drink, with lemon or in a multitude of ways, as shown by specialty coffees in their menus and chains such as Starbucks, where they serve versions, for example, with salted caramel. At El perro de Pavlov, a cafeteria in the Madrid neighborhood of La Latina (Calle Costanilla de San Pedro, 5), they have been making it with orange infusion since they opened three years ago. “We use the Hola Coffee brand, a blend of beans from Colombia and Peru. We infuse the coffee for between 18-20 hours with orange peel and pieces”, details Marguerite Camu, owner of the premises. The incorporation of this fruit helps prevent it from being “too bitter, as many cold brew”. The drink is only available during the months of good weather and the glass is charged at 4 euros. “It sells well,” adds Camu, who highlights the establishment’s synergies with other businesses in the neighborhood. “We make breakfasts with a Spanish touch —such as sobrasada toast and Santiago cake— using 100% national ingredients and supporting local businesses in the Antón Martín and La Cebada markets, among others.
For those looking for inspiration or simply hypnotized by images of glasses full of color in which it is impossible to tell if we are looking at a cocktail or a coffee, just enter Instagram and search #coldbrew to run into almost three million publications about it. There are them with mint, with salted caramel or with peach. The same thing happens on TikTok, where tutorials to make it at home abound, but also tips on how to choose the best coffee to make it and recipes that are trending like the one for cold brew tonic, in which the coffee drink is mixed with tonic. The combination is precisely one of the bets of the roaster Syra Coffee this summer, which already has almost 40 stores distributed between Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Donostia and Girona, and which proposes to make it yourself at home, also adding a mixture of fig jam and rosemary syrup, topping it off with berries and raspberries. The red fruits are, in fact, “It is a drink that gives a lot of play and you can take it to the extreme. We contemplate that they are almost cocktail recipes: with tonic, lemon, even with orange juice… it looks great”, says Rais, its founder. Another of the elaborations that they have launched is also in this line on his blog with sparkling wine, lemon sorbet, mint, lime and strawberry.
@syra_coffee Summer recipes: how to make a refreshing Cold Brew Tonic at home 🧊 You will need: 1. 70 gr of cold infused coffee (Cold Brew) 1. 70 gr of Le Tribute tonic 2. 2 tablespoons of syrup rosemary 3. 1 tablespoon of fig jam 4. Blueberries, raspberries, lime 5. Crushed ice 6. Forest fruits and a sprig of rosemary to decorate Steps: 1. Mix the rosemary syrup with a little fig jam and reserve 2. Serve crushed ice in a glass 3. Add Le Tribute tonic water 4. Add the cold brew 5. Add 2 tablespoons of reserved mixture 6. Decorate with berries and a sprig of rosemary. And enjoy! ☕️ #syracoffee #specialtycoffee #coffee #recipes #summer
Rais, who started the business in 2015 in a small store in Barcelona, has no doubt that the demand for cold brew It has only increased in recent years, thanks also to having been popularized by large chains “like Starbucks or Costa”. They themselves have noticed a growth in online sales of kits for its preparation and in summer, orders with specific grinding to make the drink “shoot up”. The heat helps its success, but also the fact that it is one of the few methods for obtaining coffee that does not require large outlays. A glass jar and a culinary strainer or tea filter are enough to enjoy one of the fashionable drinks.
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