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Recently I discovered that many coffee shops, maybe half in my sampling of a couple dozen in different cities, are selling cold coffee (brewed hot, then refrige

• sharpshadow 2y ago
  I think they mentioned that cold brew has lower acidity than hot brew. Yes it’s agitation with the mentioned frequency. Technically it should move the grounded coffee particles back and worth and so extracting the components.
  • dahart 2y ago
    Yes, they mentioned that cold brew has a reputation for being lower acidity than hot brew, but they didn’t measure the pH of the coffee they were testing using a hot brew process. They reported the pH of the normal cold brew and sonicated cold brew as both about 5.1. For frequency, does it matter if it’s high or low frequency? I’m wondering if I can shake my cold brew for 3 minutes and get close to the same effect.
    • sharpshadow 2y ago
      Yes hot brew coffee has more acidity tan cold brew. I like hand filter coffee and I use water around 90 degree Celsius. The higher I go with to boiling water the more it washes out bitter and acidic components.
• vallode 2y ago
  The paper[1] seems to imply agitation is exactly what this method is promoting: "Furthermore, acoustic streaming induced greater mixing and enhanced mass transfer during brewing.". I assume the 100W of ultrasonic energy would be pretty hard to reproduce by just shaking your cold brew container though! [1]: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1350417724001330 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S135041772...
  • dahart 2y ago
    Very interesting, and I missed the 100W bit, thanks! Yeah that would be really hard to do by hand for 2 minutes. Maybe Guinness records needs to see who can shake their cold brew hardest/longest. So this begs further questions for me, like can I shake with 10W for 30 minutes, or 10 minutes, or…? Does the frequency matter? Can we use one of those chem lab agitator machines to cold brew?
    • kurthr 2y ago
      I find it interesting that 100W for ~120 seconds is ~0.3kcal which for a 100ml cup is ~3C. They are right at the limit of power to flow rate. Much faster flow and presumably the cavitation wouldn't "brew" enough, while much slower and it would warm up the coffee noticeably. I'm doubtful the frequency matters much if the cavitation is what is causing the mixing since those are just bubbles emerging and popping, but the efficiency of coupling from ultrasonic wand to liquid could change a lot. Since you could presumably put 2 of these in parallel and have 2x100ml cups in 2min with 200W without changing the recipe (or 1 cup in half the time), this seems pretty scalable with increased cost and area. Unagitated cold brew is in the 10hour region, but with agitation/pump through it seems like you can do 8 cups in 20min which is almost as fast as the cavitation method. I suspect the grind size starts having really big effects here. https://instantpot.com/products/instant-cold-brewer https://instantpot.com/products/instant-cold-brewer
    • petre 2y ago
      Yes, it's the frequency and also the amplitude that makes it faster. One could use a lab agitator but it would still be too slow. I think if you pour the water into an ultrasonic cleaner along with the coffee and filter the mix you might get the same result.
• lamename 2y ago
  Thank you for saying this. When cold brew first came out, it was promoted as a brewing process that resulted in smoother (I'm guessing lower acidity) tasting coffee. Heating it up seemed natural, and its use in iced coffee seemed simply opportunistic. (In my experience at least). Then it quickly caught on as a novelty, with nitro et al, and when I tell people I drink cold brew warmed I get looks of confusion or turned up noses. But brew temp and serving temp are orthogonal.
  • dahart 2y ago
    > brew temp and serving temp are orthogonal Yes!!! I’m biting my tongue a little on how infuriating the process has been to ask cafes for warmed cold brews, but you’re spot on and exactly right. I’m baffled that so many people who sell coffee for a living, think they know a lot about it, and act like coffee snobs, don’t seem to understand what cold brew even is. (Or, in a few cases in my sampling I’m certain it was willful ignorance, laziness, because it takes a little more work and more space to cold brew.) I will say that one of my local cafes understood completely and they’re happy to make hot cold-brewed coffee, and made me feel welcome for asking for it. One or two others were very good about it, but hands down the majority of cafes were a bad experience when asking for a warmed cold brew. Good luck to them, they’ve lost my business.
    • kurthr 2y ago
      It's funny cuz Charbux has no problem pouring hot espresso into cold ice milk with caramel and cream on top. I think it's pretty clearly just "baristas" justifying not changing their process, which is fine if a bit lazy and argumentative. Many coffee people are totally interested in finding new ways to do stuff, but they have to have the mental space to do it.
      • LargoLasskhyfv 2y ago
        Funny. Exactly that stuff is the only reason I've ever entered a Starbucks. Venti! But TBH one can do that with better coffee, caramel sirup, some crushed ice from the fridge, and even spray cream out of a can for much less money, just not 'on-demand' and anywhere/anytime. Also, too much (spray) cream and caramel in Venti amounts can't be that good for your body.
• opwieurposiu 2y ago
  At my friends coffee shop they make cold brew with an elaborate laboratory glassware setup that drips ice-water through a filter. Looks pretty neat and sciencey. They got 4 of these devices running all the time in the back room. I was telling him all the other shops in town just fake it, he should put one of the devices out front so people can see his cold-brew is for real.
  • dahart 2y ago
    That is awesome! I would absolutely love it if more cafes did this. Let us know where it is so we can go patronize.
  • giancarlostoro 2y ago
    I would literally go to a shop doing this, like as often as possible. As a coffee lover, this is peak coffee shop. He could even double down and make Breaking Bad references around the shop, since thats what this makes me think of. I'm guessing it's not in Florida, or I would ask you for the address. He should at least get a window into that backroom installed or something to that effect.
  • samcheng 2y ago
    I think this is called "Kyoto-style slow drip" coffee. I agree with you that the contraption should be in plain view of the customers! I remember being really interested in a cup of Kyoto-style one day, only to be told to make a reservation and come back tomorrow... it was worth the wait.
    • Spivak 2y ago
      It seems to be a niche taste among my friends, yes it's sour and bitter that's why I like it!
  • bobthepanda 2y ago
    To be fair all you need to actually make cold brew is a pitcher and a cheesecloth or some other filter. The absence of an apparatus does not make it fake.
• cout 2y ago
  As I understand, the serving temperature of coffee does have an effect on perceived acidity (which is NOT the same as pH), though I don't understand the science behind it. Here is one paper that claims it is due to release of volatiles at higher temperatures: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0308814616315084 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S03088... If that's correct, then warming the coffee again to that temperature would again speed up the release of volatile compounds, though what effect that might have on flavor is anyone's guess.
  • dahart 2y ago
    I could buy it, that it might have some perceived effect that’s measurable. I have tasted many a warmed up cold brew, and it tastes like coffee to me. The ones that are actually cold brewed are milder, and the hot brewed fakes are noticeably sharper, and I feel it later in my throat… The thing for me is that the actual acidity of coffee has started causing some inflammation. The reason I’m seeking cold brew is my doctor recommended it. I’m less worried about the perception of acidity and more worried about issues caused by too low pH.
  • nkozyra 2y ago
    Ah, just posted that I detect a change in flavor after I heat cold brew (but didn't know a mechanism behind it)!
  • YetAnotherNick 2y ago
    Also, in my experience heating the coffee in microwave increase perceived acidity even more. Which kind of make sense with this explaination as there could be pockets of superheated water when it is microwaved.
    • eternauta3k 2y ago
      Could you try giving it a good stir right before putting it in the microwave?
      • YetAnotherNick 2y ago
• draw_down 2y ago
  I agree people can be really annoying about heating up cold brew. Iced espresso no problem, heated cold brew = mind blown.
• csmpltn 2y ago
  This is an extreme form of coffee hipsterism. “Cold brew, but steamed please”. Brother, this is starting to get ridiculous.
  • nkrisc 2y ago
    It’s no different than drinking an iced coffee drink that was made from coffee brewed traditionally.
    • dahart 2y ago
      That’d be true if putting ice in coffee reduced its acidity. Heating cold brew brings a lower acidity liquid up to a nice warm good morning temperature.
  • dahart 2y ago
    My doctor recommended cold brew for lower acidity, because hot brew is bothering me. Cold brew is just a brewing process and has nothing to do with serving temperature. Cold brew has never meant served cold. So what, exactly, is ridiculous about warming up cold brewed coffee? I like my coffee hot, like a lot of people, and I’d like it if I can keep drinking coffee and don’t have to stop due to the acidity.
    • ackfoobar 2y ago
      It might be obvious but I have to ask, is that a stomach problem?
      • dahart 2y ago
        Not for me, but it is for some people. My current issue is more esophageal, my throat gets inflamed with too much acid then it feels like I have food stuck and can’t swallow it. Other people have stomach issues, ulcers, etc. but still want to enjoy coffee, so I think there’s plenty of reasons for cold brew served hot to exist.
      • aaarrm 2y ago
• the_optimist 2y ago
  “Old Brew” can be more valuable. You must check the vintage and terrioir.
• nkozyra 2y ago
  I find that heating cold brew reintroduces some of the flavor of hot brewed coffee, though I've never been able to pinpoint a mechanism for it.
  • bunderbunder 2y ago
    Speculation: A lot of it is that chemicals that contribute to flavor are more volatile at higher temperatures. The same things happens with beer. Many traditional and craft beer styles are intended to be served at a higher temperature than what it will be right out of the refrigerator, and you really do get more (and, to my palate, better) flavor out of them if you let the bottle warm up on the counter for a while before you open it.
• dev-tacular 2y ago
  Does cold brew served hot taste good? I have never really considered asking for it hot before simply because I thought it would just be like regular coffee. But, I guess if regular coffee tastes different cold and hot, cold brew should too.
  • rpdillon 2y ago
    Cold brew is much less acidic, and I find warmed cold brew to be exceptionally smooth compared with hot brew. I got my recipe from a NYT interview with the CEO (I think?) of Blue Bottle, though I've since lost the link. This is my copy: https://rpdillon.net/recipes/new-orleans-cold-brew-coffee.html https://rpdillon.net/recipes/new-orleans-cold-brew-coffee.ht...
  • bunderbunder 2y ago
    Yes. The major reason for cold brewing coffee (or tea!) over simply cooling and icing hot brew is that you extract a different mix of compounds from the bean (or leaf) due to different chemicals having different levels of solubility at different temperatures. Serving temperature affects flavor, too, of course. Darn near everything does. See, for example: https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/9/7/902 https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/9/7/902
    • marcoalopez 2y ago
      This is only partly true. Because low-temperature extraction is much less efficient, it requires a much longer immersion/exposure time than hot extraction at ambient or slightly higher pressure. One of the effects of this type of cold extraction is the oxidation of the coffee, which is much greater with this method, giving the coffee an oxidised taste which, although not bad in itself (nothing is set in stone about personal taste), is not to everyone's liking. For my taste, I prefer to make it hot (with a higher coffee/water ratio than usual) and cool it down by diluting it with water or ice.
      • bunderbunder 2y ago
        Definitely. Though the oxidation seems different? I don't find cold brew to taste "stale" the way hot brewed coffee that's been stored overnight in the refrigerator does. I have a bunch of kegging equipment that I don't use anymore because I've lost my taste for beer, and I keep wanting to see what happens if I use it to make cold brewed coffee under a bed of CO2. Also, y'know, coffee on tap at home.
• jmilloy 2y ago
  Everything you say makes sense, with the exception of your expectation not to pay extra for an unusual order (for that cafe). Consider if I asked for my salad to be roasted, and balked at a surcharge on the grounds that they also have roasted brussel sprouts! I don't think it's up to you to decide what orders fit into their flow and which cost extra. I'm glad you found the places that will make the coffee the you like.
  • dahart 2y ago
    It’s not an unusual order, hot coffee is sold millions of times per day, and steaming comes with many coffee drinks, it’s par for the course with espresso drinks. Roasting a salad is weird, hot coffee is not, so your example is straw man. The “cold” in cold brew is not referring to serving temperature, that’s your own misunderstanding, so I find the suggestion that hot cold brew is weird to be pretty funny. As has been said many times in this thread, nobody balks at the idea of cold hot brew, nor do they charge extra.
    • shawabawa3 2y ago
      But hot cold brew is weird, as you've just been complaining about people not doing it or finding it weird If hot cold brew was common you wouldn't pay extra for it
      • dahart 2y ago
        The biggest sticking point is not the heating of the coffee at all, it’s the widespread misunderstanding of the what the word cold means in the term “cold brew”. It is incorrectly assumed that brewed relatively cold (room temperature) means served ice cold. Somehow a lot of people can’t understand the verb brew has nothing to do with serving temperature. Does that make sense to you?
        • papertokyo 2y ago
          Although you are entirely correct in a technical sense, and it's common to serve hot brewed coffee cold, the opposite is so rarely desired that it will be considered 'weird' (in the sense of 'unusual') 9 out of 10 times. Every extra process involved in making a coffee is going to add complexity and time to the workflow, which many cafes will elect to charge extra for. There is some consternation in Australia about paying more for iced coffees compared to hot ones too: https://www.broadsheet.com.au/national/food-and-drink/article/iced-lattes-are-outselling-flat-whites-some-cafes-why-cold-coffee-more-expensive-hot-one https://www.broadsheet.com.au/national/food-and-drink/articl...
• bethekind 2y ago
  Using low frequency sound will agitate the solute and solvent, speeding up the natural cold brew process. Using ultrasonic will do it even faster, but since ultrasonic underwater induces cavitation bubbles, it's much more violent. Ultrasonic has been used for dermal infusion quite successfully, but it is....painful, as bubbles are exploding against your skin. I would presume the same to be for the sonic coffee. Agitation speeds up the process, until cavitation occurs, where it becomes more violent
• petre 2y ago
  That reminds me of the Soul Kitchen movie when a client of a fancy restaurant asked for a hot gazpacio. The waiter escalated to the chef who calmly explained to the client what a gazpacio is. After the client insisted, shouting at him, the chef refused driving his knife into the client's table. https://youtu.be/rQ61MfRBSQg https://youtu.be/rQ61MfRBSQg
  • SamBam 2y ago
    > We had gazpacho soup for starters... I didn't know that gazpacho soup was meant to be served cold. I called over the chef and told him to take it away and bring it back hot! So he did... the looks on their faces still haunt me today! I thought they were laughing at the chef, when all the time they were laughing at me as I ate my piping hot gazpacho soup! I never ate at the Captain's table again. That was the end of my career. – Rimmer, Red Dwarf https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZGJHDegPcU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZGJHDegPcU
    • aspenmayer 2y ago
      Red Dwarf is one of the most unhinged shows I’ve seen, in the best way. Nice reference, as I was also thinking of hot gazpacho soup, but had forgotten this scene until you reminded me of it.
• D13Fd 2y ago
  I drink only cold brew normally, and I've noticed this as well. It's 50/50 whether you will get actually cold brew at any given coffee shop or just iced hot-brew coffee, which tastes different and has much less caffeine. Cold brew needs a new name or it will likely fade away over time.
  • fuzzzerd 2y ago
    There's nothing wrong with the name cold brew. It describes the difference from "standard" coffee. It is the charlatans selling warm brew over ice that devalue it. As someone that greatly prefers coffee brewed cold and served on ice, I hope it doesn't fade away, because without it I have a lot less reason to get coffee out as opposed to at home.
    • dahart 2y ago
      There shouldn’t be a problem with the name, but my experience tells me that people don’t comprehend it the majority of the time, and assume incorrectly that cold brewed must be served cold. This mentality is even here in this thread in a few places. It does seem like some other word than “cold” might help avoid leading people into an erroneous conclusion.
    • D13Fd 2y ago
      Yeah I greatly enjoy cold brew too. But it's too easy for people working these stands to just take any old coffee that's cold (or even just "not hot) and call it "cold brew." Far too often people just don't know the difference and serve plain iced coffee. If it were called something else, maybe there wouldn't be this level of confusion, or people couldn't get away with the cheap/lazy way of just serving yesterday's leftover hot coffee as "cold brew."
• m463 2y ago
  I've been doing cold brew for a while now. There seems to be two ways to cold brew coffee. The more traditional method (like in the toddy system) uses paper filters, and the newer method uses reusable metal filters. They are slightly different. the paper filters remove the oil, while the metal filters let it through. I suspect this might have flavor/aroma effects. I also read because of the oils, the metal filter method is higher on cholesterol (if that makes any difference to you) I've also seem drip cold brewers at some coffee shops that probably let the oils through. There seems to be a container of ice at the top, it melts and drips on a glass container of coffee and that drains through a circular glass thing (looks like a slinky) into an output carafe.
  • throwaway2037 2y ago
    I did a double take here: > higher on cholesterol As I understand, cholesterol only occurs in animal products. That is why vegan diets are cholesterol-free. Zero trolling here: I assume that coffee beans are animal-free. Google tells me: > Though brewed coffee does not contain actual cholesterol, it does have two natural oils that contain chemical compounds -- cafestol and kahweol -- which can raise cholesterol levels. And studies have shown that older coffee drinkers have higher levels of cholesterol.
• elevatedastalt 2y ago
  The emperor really has no clothes when it comes to food fads. And pricing is a completely orthogonal and obtuse concept too. Cold brew is putatively low effort and low cost. Just let coffee grounds soak in water overnight and you have cold brew. But it's often charged more than regular coffee or espresso-based drinks, which a) use more expensive equipment b) need more skilled operation c) more material [milk etc]
  • fwip 2y ago
    Speculation: Cold brew takes more refrigerator space, which is relatively inflexible. Since it brews overnight, you have to put aside enough fridge space for all the cold brew you expect to sell that day. Contrast with regular coffee, which you make largely on-demand, with only the coffee beans to store overnight, on a shelf. So raising the price might be the sensible thing to do, to discourage purchases and/or pay for the extra refrigerator space.
    • elevatedastalt 2y ago
      That's a good point. From what I understand, cold brew can be made at room temperature too. So it will need storage but not cold storage. But it's possible I don't have the full picture.
      • Bluecobra 2y ago
        I have found no difference in just using cold water and having it sit on my counter overnight vs. keeping in the fridge. It is nice to still refrigerate it to use less ice or no ice though. In a retail setting, I would think customers would demand a cold product (I would). The Starbucks near me serves Nitro Cold Brew and for some reason it's always warm/room temp, and they purposely do not put any ice in it. Other locations seem to not have this issue so maybe it's broken equipment or training.
        • stephenhuey 2y ago
          Cold brew coffee is by definition not brewed with hot water the way most coffee is (in other words, room temperature is within the range of "cold" when talking about brewing with "cold" water). So, it's not necessary for it to be served cold to enjoy the benefits of the cold brew method--sometimes I like it chilled, but I also enjoy the taste at room temperature or warmer.
• 0xbadcafebee 2y ago
  Flavor compound release is affected by method, temperature, and wat. The method (which includes temperature, but is not restricted to it) extracts certain compounds. The release is affected by temperature and the amount and type of compounds in solution. It's entirely possible that warming up a cold-brewed coffee could create off-flavors. If you let coffee and water sit for long enough, all the compounds that can be extracted, will be extracted. But those compounds will also start to break down over time. Heating and oxidation accelerates the breakdown. When you go to taste coffee, the compounds in the coffee either expand or contract depending on the temperature, and solubility. So the temperature you drink it at, along with water concentration, determines the flavors. (Flavor is actually aroma, taste only has 5 basic senses)
• tracker1 2y ago
  I like, and use the term "iced cold brew" for serving cold... not sure about serving cold without ice... In that my first introduction to it, the person would be taking it from a container in the fridge, adding some water and microwaving it to heat it up. After trying it, I liked it a lot... I always drink coffee over ice (usually with a lot of cream and sweetener), as I'm not so much a coffee fan as a caffeine consumer a few times a month. I like the more mellow taste of cold brew.
• mmanfrin 2y ago
  > I was laughed at in one hipster joint for asking for a steamed or warmed cold-brew Not to discount the rest of your comment but it's a mild irony here for you to add the 'hipster' qualifier to a coffee place when you ask for steamed cold brew
  • dahart 2y ago
    Why’s that? What’s ironic? Do you feel like that’s a fair gotcha? Do you know why I asked for a heated cold brew? I’m asking for cold brew because my esophagus gets inflamed with higher acidity coffee. I used hipster not as pejorative, but to indicate this is a cafe that claims to, and should, know the difference between cold brewed and hot brewed coffee. In fact, I’m certain the owner does know the difference and the snarky barista who refused to help me that day does not. First she said, “Uh, we call that a drip.” When I offered the acidity reason and that it’s my doctor’s recommendation, she replied with “it’s not on the menu”. Cold brew was on the menu.
    • omnimus 2y ago
      Sounds like you are the snarky hipster. The barista didnt know this process and didnt have it on menu. In their eyes its just strange request asking for trouble. I think of myself as very knowledgable barista and this is first time i am hearing this. I checked usual resources like James Hoffman and nobody is even mentioning heated cold brew. So its very niche and sounds more like something from camping. I believe you that health wise its for some people better. But cold brew overall is not that popular with coffee fans because the coffee is underexttacted - it tastes ok but you will get more flavours using hot water. Its kinda waste to use high quality coffee on cold brew. But thats where i personally like cold brew - with lower quality coffee it can taste better than hot extraction.
      • dahart 2y ago
        WTF? I don’t understand the attacks. Where in the exchange do you see snark from me? I wasn’t rude to her, nor to the parent and she absolutely was rude to me, and so was parent and so are you now. Why? Did my use of hipster trigger people, or was it something else? It’s fine if she doesn’t know what warm cold brew is. She didn’t say she doesn’t know how to make it. She did know how to make it, but instead of making it, she took the time to insult me for asking. Cold brew was in fact on the menu, and it is in a lot of cafes. Arguing that cold brew is not popular and not ideal is a straw man here, and is also very debatable given that it’s widely available. That cold brew was available and on the table is a given, regardless of what you think about it. You say you are a knowledgeable barista. Can you handle steaming something? I’m pretty sure you can, and that it would be 100% trivial, right? I didn’t ask for some unknown or mysterious or strange process. What I asked for is pour the cold brew they were selling into a cup, and steam it. Exact same process as the milk half of a latte. Why, exactly, does it matter what’s being steamed, and why does that deserve scorn when requested? Why, exactly, does it matter if the request seems unusual? Who cares, when you and I both know it can be done without even thinking? The good cafes do it happily without batting an eyelash, and don’t complain about it being weird, because if you think about it at all, heated cold brew might be uncommon but it’s neither weird nor hard to do at all.
• romafirst3 2y ago
  All coffees tend to be in the same ph range regardless of brewing technique.
  • dahart 2y ago
    This contradicts the common claims about cold brew. Do you have any references on it? When I google it now, the first answer I get says hot brewed gives a pH around 4.8 and cold brewed around 5.1, which if true is a 2x difference in acids. My home tests with pH strips show drip and pour overs to be a bit more acidic than a very fast aeropress. There are low acidity beans, and as I just found out additives to counteract acidity that won’t compromise the flavor, such as baking soda. I guess I might head more in that direction and stop worrying about cold brewing.
    • romafirst3 2y ago
      Are you sure when you are brewing that the concentrations/extractions are the same ? If you brew an aeropress and then dilute it, it will probably be less acidic. Here is more info on hot/cold https://www.researchgate.net/figure/pH-values-of-six-coffee-samples-brewed-using-both-hot-and-cold-brewing-methods-The-error_fig2_328612834 https://www.researchgate.net/figure/pH-values-of-six-coffee-...
      • dahart 2y ago
        I’m not sure of anything TBH, mostly chatting about what I’ve heard from others. My doc told me cold brew is lower acidity, and googling I get the same answer, but yeah I have no idea about whether the extraction or concentration is a fair comparison. I’m interested in any rigorous measurements.
        • romafirst3 2y ago
          There are very few rigorous measurements and a lot of people just saying whatever they feel like :) With regards to acid and GERD which is when doctors normally talk about coffee acidity, what they usually say makes no sense at all and they should know better. The idea that a very weak acid like coffee would increase the acidity of your stomach which contains a very very strong acid (1.5 to 3.5) is ridiculous. I think what they should just say is that hot coffee can relax the muscles keeping your stomach contents in.
• kjkjadksj 2y ago
  I wonder if you can deal with the acidity issue in a quick and dirty manner by just throwing in some baking soda into your grinds and brewing hot?
  • dahart 2y ago
    Okay this is a totally wild and hilarious coincidence, but I came home tonight and told my wife about this thread. Turns out that, today of all days, without knowing I was ranting about cold brew on HN, she did a careful home experiment with her coffee using baking soda, so I can report on what she found. She has suffered me complaining about fake cold brew and rude baristas before, but it’s been months since we discussed it. We do have some pH test strips sitting around from my investigations into different brewing methods, and she used 4 of them doing this experiment twice. For each experiment, she made 2 cups of coffee, using 1 scoop of grounds (0.25 oz) to make a pour-over with 8 oz water heated to 200 degrees Fahrenheit for each cup. In one of them she added 1/16th teaspoon (which is a tiny pinch) of baking soda to the grounds before pouring the water over them. In the other cup, it was only grounds with no baking soda. She said she could see the water foaming in the cup with baking soda. She reported that there was no noticeable negative flavors at all, no hint of baking soda taste, the coffee made with baking soda was as good as the control, perhaps slightly better because it was less acidic. For the pH measurement, she measured a pH of 6 for the normal coffee and a pH of 8 for the baking soda added cup — it actually made the coffee slightly alkaline! PH of 6 sounds like a pretty weak coffee, I was usually getting a pH of 5 IIRC. PH strips are a pretty blunt measure and don’t give you fractional pH values, but she showed me the strips and I can confirm her conclusion. The 2nd experiment was the same setup, and the result was identical. When I read your comment earlier, I thought it was a good question, but assumed baking soda would change the flavor negatively. I’m surprised to hear that it totally works, so I think you have a good idea. I might even consider making this my routine if it works that well. Now I’m curious if you can sprinkle in a tiny pinch of baking soda into an already brewed coffee and reduce acidity without damaging flavor…
    • bobthepanda 2y ago
      I suppose this makes sense? Baking soda’s main flavor profile is bitter, but coffee is already bitter so I suppose it isn’t going to make things worse. (Compare this to its use in baking, where you have to be careful not to use too much so the bitterness doesn’t ruin the baked good.)
• solardev 2y ago
  This is why I love my fully automated <s>luxury</s> mediocre espresso maker (https://www.seattlecoffeegear.com/blogs/scg-blog/jura-a1-review https://www.seattlecoffeegear.com/blogs/scg-blog/jura-a1-rev...). I push a button, it grinds the coffee and does stuff inside that I can't see, then moments later I have a perfectly average cup of something resembling burnt bean soup. I don't know whether it's megasonically brewed or absolute-zero infused or just wet caffeine pills. Sometimes it's OK, other times it's mediocre, but it's never been excellent or terrible. That's the same kind of consistency my code has, so I'm fine with it. It comes out lukewarm, hovering somewhere between room temperature and minutes-old vomit. If I want it hot, I microwave it. If I want it cold, I add ice. If I want a cold latte, I add milk. If I want a hot latte, I'm in the wrong house. It costs less than $1 for a quad shot. It provides caffeine or at least a close-enough placebo effect. What more could an old, washed-out dev ask for?
  • Xerox9213 2y ago
    But how do you waste time in the morning if you’re not concocting some over complicated drink? I feel like my morning coffee is the one part of my day that I can control. You bet I’m gonna take my time and make it enjoyable.
    • kimixa 2y ago
      I also like the "ritual" of brewing a coffee to help me wake up in the morning. And even then, it's less than 10 minutes total preparing a pour over, it probably takes less time than cleaning out a filter machine would. And for people thinking you need some $$$ machine, even the most pretentious experts agree that pour over is about as good as that style of brewing can get (IE not something like espresso). A hand grinder and plastic v60 will get you to the point you're not limited by the equipment. The biggest expense is the beans themselves, and that's as much a taste thing as anything else. But I guess like any hobby you there will be people selling you all kinds of things at any price people are willing to pay - maybe it makes it a bit easier, maybe a bit quicker, maybe it looks better on your counter. Maybe it gives you something a bit different and unusual. But none of it gives you better coffee.
• atoav 2y ago
  As someone who regularly makes cold brew during hot summers, the tale is that the acidity is lower — or at least of a different kind. Hot brewed coffee starts to taste bad after a few hours if you let it go cold, cold brewed coffee tastes differently from the start, but won't develop that bad flavour even after a week in the fridge. The key for a good cold brew is however that the bean/roast is of very good quality. And it is quite simple to make. The way I do it: 1. Grind coffee coarsly and put it in a glas jar that can be closed. The amount of coffee can be adjusted quite freely, but I'd go with one fourth/fifth of the volume of the jar. More bean = more concentrated coffee. 2. Add cold water and stir 3. Put in the fridge and stir at least once in the morning, once in the evening. 4. After ca. 24 hours you can run the whole thing through a coffee filter to extract the coffee. It is also possible to reuse the coffee-sludge once if you add some fresh beans. That is not too complicated and worth a try. Please avoid pre-grind cheap coffee for this, It will taste like bullshit.
• xtiansimon 2y ago
  Hipster coffee is not all the same. My local farmer’s market has a coffee seller who cold brews super strong coffee, then adds hot water—delicious.
• anon84873628 2y ago
  And yet if you asked for the "aerocano" as seen on YouTube, they would probably be happy to oblige.