It wasn’t long ago that the only time you typically drank cold coffee was by accident. You became engrossed in your work, let the coffee mug sit at the edge of the desk for too long, and then you took a swig— and ick! Your coffee got cold, and down the drain it went, or it had to be freshened up with more hot coffee.
That’s why I was a bit skeptical about the current iced coffee craze, but when I recently tried a glass—yep, cold brew coffee is served in a glass instead of a mug—of nitro cold brew coffee at Sugar Maple, in Bay View, I had one of those “where have you been all my life?!” moments. Way better than just coffee gone cold, I savored a delightful glass of java with minimal acidity, and less of an in-your-face buzz than hot brewed coffee, but it still had that nice caffeine kick.
I contacted a couple of local roasters to get the scoop on what makes cold brew so unique. PhiloÇoffia Coffee Co. crafts a cold brew line that includes Devil’s Cut cold brew coffees in whiskey, cognac and tequila flavors, each aged in their respective barrels. PhiloCoffia founder John Ross Ferrell, a.k.a. Johnny Stallion, explains the cool process.
“Iced coffee and cold coffee are made with the same drip method—hot water poured through grinds—and then chilled, either with ice or refrigeration. They’re often brewed strong, meaning a higher grind-to-water ratio, and therefore higher in caffeine,” he explained. “Cold brew coffee can be made in various ways but involves using cool water to steep or ‘brew’ coffee. The temperature of the water can vary by quite a bit, from near freezing to around 120 degrees. The water temperature, time of brewing, specie (like Arabica versus Robusta), origin of the coffee bean, roast profile (whether it’s light, medium, dark), grind size, whether it’s a paper, metal or cloth filter, and how stagnant the water is during brewing all effect the resulting cold brew coffee flavor. There are a few other ways to control the flavor, but those are the most common.”
Ferrell has a background in the beverage industry and believes cold brew coffee is more than a trend. “It’s a method that will have some staying power because the taste is markedly different from normal drip coffee and attracts people looking for a change,” he said. “Also, it’s relatively easy to brew in large quantities and the variation in flavor is far greater than normal drip coffee.” He equated normal drip coffee to painting with shades of grey, which cold brew opens one to a full rainbow of colors. “For instance, my Paleo Coffee tastes nothing like other bottled cold brew coffees, such as those that you’ll find from local roasters like Anodyne, Colectivo or Stone Creek, due to my very different approach to the cold brew process.”
Pilcrow Coffee, one of the newer roasters in Milwaukee’s coffee scene, won the America’s Best Cold Brew Competition at Coffee Fest in 2017 with their nitro cold brew.
Pilcrow’s founder, Ryan Hoban, believes many in the coffee industry initially wrote off cold brew, but it’s more than a trend; cold brew is not going anywhere anytime soon, which is why he chose it as a foundational piece to Pilcrow’s business model.
“Cold brew as a product category has seen an amazing rise in the past five years, and now we are starting to see the category itself evolve and become more innovative,” he observed. “It is no longer innovative for a shop to carry just cold brew. Consumers want Nitro Cold Brew, Sweet and Creamy Nitro Lattes, Chai Nitro Lattes, Hopped Nitro Sport Tea, etc. Consumers are slowly asking their local coffee roaster or shop to become more like their favorite craft brewery every day with new innovative brews and offerings.”
Almost every coffee roaster or shop—either local or national chains—has a form (or two or three) of cold brew coffee. You can also get it in grab-and-go bottles at just about any grocery store or gas station, proving indeed that this cool coffee is and will remain as popular as is its hot, steamy form.
