Last Updated on February 3, 2022 by John Moretti
It’s tough to top the cool kick of a cold brew coffee on a warm summer day. This refreshingly creamy and mild with a sweet flavor and slight bitterness is an excellent method to bring out the delicate nuances of a coffee bean. Choosing the best coffee roast for cold brew can be complex at times because not all beans are treated similarly. And some beans will benefit more than others.
It sounds a bit confusing. Sit back, relax, and read through to discover how cold brewing influences the flavor and fragrance of your drink, as well as which beans produce the finest cold brew coffee.
I have collated enough information to help you select the best coffee roast for preparing an excellent cold brew!
What type of Coffee to Use while Making Cold Brew?
When making cold brews, use your favorite coffee bean (coarse ground beans are required). The size of the coffee grain is significant.
Cold brewing your bean gives forth various taste characteristics. As a result, you may choose a milder flavor for a cold brew compared to hot brewed coffee. Because lighter roasts tend to emphasize acidity, cold brewing will tone down that character. Although you may like it, most people prefer darker roasts.
The cold brewing method will draw out the nutty and chocolaty characteristics in a medium-dark roast, culminating in a creamy and pleasant flavor.
How to Choose the Beans for Your Cold Brew?
Is there no grinder at your disposal? Then you will probably have to buy whole beans and crush them at home to obtain the proper grind. Many shops have one on-site, or you may buy your beans at a local cafe and have them ground for cold brew.
Why is it that coarse ground is the best? The water should be able to enter the surface readily and completely steep it. The smaller the grind, the more the probability of dry clumps being formed.
Finer coffee grounds may also “hyper extract,” which means the water has extracted too much of the bean’s taste, resulting in an unpleasant brew.
You can still create a cold brew with pre-ground coffee if that’s all you have. Play around with tiny quantities until you find a taste that you like.
Whenever it concerns coffee, you either support or oppose the use of pre-ground beans (we won’t even discuss the horror that is instant coffee. Nasty!). The entire point of coffee is to extract all of the coffee’s goodness out of the bean.
Humans used to boil the whole roasted coffee bean while swirling it in boiling water. This phenomenon would produce an unpleasant, caffeinated drink that isn’t particularly appealing.
7 Top Picks for Your Cold Brew
Now that you know all there is about cold brew, here are a few handpicked beans you can use. These are the finest coffees for cold brew, in our opinion.
1. Stone Street Dark Roast
Stone Street, a classic Manhattan roastery, is revered by New Yorkers. While it began as a tiny NYC outlet, it has grown into a full-fledged coffee empire with extensive chef collaborations and an outstanding farm roastery.
Despite its expansion outside of Manhattan, the company maintains its comparatively tiny character. Take, for example, the dark roasts. The Colombian mix is smooth, velvety, and clean when brewed into a cold brew; it’s excellent with just ice or a splash of milk and sugar.
Stone Street offers both ground and whole bean coffee. They guarantee using original Colombian Supremo beans.
2. Lavazza Caffe Decaffeinato Ground Coffee
The centuries-old coffee company has made a name for itself as a reliable and generally accessible choice. Those who do not consume caffeine will find their decaf coffee grounds especially appealing.
Lavazza uses an all-natural technique to produce its decaf beans, which involves steaming green coffee and removing the caffeine with co2. The CO2 method maintains the bean’s freshness while eliminating any caffeine residues.
The coffee is wholly roasted utilizing hot air to create a consistent and full-bodied flavor, similar to an average caffeinated serving. Prepare a cold brew with it using your preferred technique.
3.Lifeboost Organic Beans
Lifeboost Coffee Chain recently introduced this gentle roasted Nicaraguan bean. Most people aren’t aware, though, that it produces a fantastic cold brew. Ecologically sustainable, ethically manufactured, and healthful are all mentioned in the requirements.
Because light roast coffees may be acidic, we recommend using this for cold brew. If you cold brew it for 15 hours, the acidity will be reduced, leaving you with a pleasant, flavorful cold brew.
Consider starting this Lifeboost bean if you’re searching for anything with low acidity, something healthful, or want to make some extravagant central-American cold brew
4. Coffee Bros. Cold Brew Mix
Coffee Bros. is a new coffee business established by two brothers who are passionate about good coffee. They stand out for their dedication to high-quality procurement and comparatively little batch roasting, ensuring that each roast receives the attention and care it requires.
Their mild roasted Cold Brew Blend is expertly designed to highlight the sweet and tangy characteristics that make a delicious cold brew so appealing.
It begins with a mix of 100 percent Arabica beans obtained from Brazil and Ethiopia, two of the world’s most delicate growing areas. They choose organically processed beans because they have more intrinsic richness. They then roast them precisely to bring out that sweetness. The end product is a silky brew with cocoa, cherry, and brown sugar notes.
5. Metropolis Coffee Cold Brew Mix
Metropolis is an Illinois-based coffee business dedicated to finding the best coffees by cultivating long-term connections with growers. Most importantly, they roast each pound of beans to order throughout the week.
Other producers of cold brew specialty coffee blends lack this dedication to quality, which indicates a respect for good coffee.
Another option, the Metropolis Cold Brew mix, is prepared and processed with cold brewing in consideration. The roast is very dark, yielding notes of decadent melting chocolates, hazelnut, and the finished product.
6. The Cold Brew Lab
Who better to entrust your cold brew to than a company that specializes in cold brew coffee?
All of Cold Brew Lab’s coffees are sourced, roasted, and blended especially for cold brew taste profiles, combining acidity and creaminess with round, non-bitter flavors.
All mixes are produced using organic Colombian Arabica beans that is 100 percent Colombian in origin.
7. Peet’s Ice Coffee Blend
Peet’s is among the most well-known and well-respected coffee roasters and wholesalers.
The ice coffee mixture is a specialty blend that you may use for a cold brew and iced lattes. The beans in the mix are all from Africa: Kenyan, Ethiopian, Tanzanian, and Rwandan, but they are not solitary origin coffee.
The manufacturers have carefully selected these countries’ products to enhance the fragrance, which is sometimes missing in iced coffee.
This cold beverage is delightful because of the delicious freshness of beans from this area. After much trial and error, a moderate roast was chosen as the best way to provide a strong, clean, and somewhat sweet taste.
Conclusion
Fans of cold brew swear by Stone Street, and with valid reason: it’s accessible, and when turned into a cold brew, it’s strong but sweet and exquisite. As a cool standalone coffee drink, the creaminess can also carry its own.
If you are on a budget, then the Cold Brew lab is your way to go. It provides a solid option for the ones who are looking to enjoy a glass of a refreshing cold brew but at the same time do not feel like pinching their pocket too hard.
