Serving People Serving Coffee Since 2005
Issue link: http://baristamagazine.epubxp.com/i/686001
COLD-BREW COFFEE IS A DRINK made for collaboration. We've seen cold-brew beers, ice cream made with cold brew, and chocolate infused with it. In these instances, we think of two singular things and put them together—things that are generally good on their own. These new drinks or treats are still familiar, but evoke unique flavors and bring out the best in both products, while allowing us to work with new partners and build bridges throughout the specialty-food network. However, nothing we create is necessarily new, which is interesting since cold brew in itself is a completely different way to brew coffee than hot coffee brewing. It's not like anything else we make in coffee. At some point, the number of things we can mash up with cold brew runs out, unless we begin to think about cold brew not just as a singu- lar drink, but as an ingredient—as a product that isn't just combined with something else, but that can be reimagined and completely altered to be made anew. The possibilities are limitless. Once we begin to think of cold brew as an ingredient, as something we can do new things with beyond what we've tried before, we can begin to expand our understanding of what cold brew can be, and start creating new and exciting beverages with cold brew as a contributing flavor. Reimagining Cold Brew At this point, the idea that cold brew is different from either regular brewed coffee or coffee brewed over ice is clear. Hot water and coffee create a specific chemical reaction, which causes the combination of the two to yield a delicious beverage, served on its own or with ice. With cold brew, because the water is a different temperature, coffee doesn't engage in the same chemical reactions, and you end up with a completely different beverage, one that's smooth, heavy, and without the noted acidity that most hot coffees have. Most people stop there—cold brew is delicious, and that's that. Josh Horsely, however, who owns Beach Coffee in San Francisco, wasn't one of them. An avid rock climber and health-food enthusiast, Josh was "pretty much only drinking cold brew and coconut water," before he came up with the idea of combining the two. "It didn't really occur to me to brew coffee a different way until I started making it myself," says Josh, who now owns and operates a bottled-cold-brew coffee company that combines cold brew and coconut water for a refreshing pick-me- up, which you can find in small specialty grocery stores around San Francisco and at Off The Grid, a food truck gathering downtown. Josh experimented with different ratios and ways to make his now flagship beverage until he decided to actually steep the cold brew in coconut water and not just use it to cut the concentrate he would yield after brewing. "I found that I got more of the dark-chocolate notes and smoother flavors, and it just made sense," says Josh, who is careful with the ingredients he uses and continuously experiments with new ratios and brewing methods. He carefully chose Counter Culture's Emeryville facility for the coffee, but he also noted the importance of the coconut water he uses, which he sourced from Young Thai. "It matters what sort of [coconut] water you choose, since cheaper ones can yield a very mineral flavor with none of the sweetness," he says. He used the same careful consideration for selecting the coffee, settling on Counter Culture's Number 46 blend. "I experimented with some lighter coffees, some single-origins, and I do want to incorporate some of these offerings as part of the Beach Coffee line," he says, "but I felt like their fruitiness didn't complement the natural sweetness of the coconut water." Because the concept is so new, it can be difficult to pinpoint exactly what Beach Coffee is. "I'd like to think we're a coffee company that uses coconut water to create a product, since I've always been excited about the coffee, but we might be a coconut coffee that makes dif- ferent beverages with coconut as the focus." One thing is clear: Josh hopes to expand the idea of what cold brew can be. "The idea of me brewing coffee in coconut water can either seem blasphemous or it can seem fun," he says, noting that he did have some reservations about pedaling his new drink around San Francisco, where the coffee culture is well-established and can veer toward the very tech- nical and exacting. Then he considered what it meant to actually enact change and be innovative. "With something like cold brew, or really in cof- fee in general, you can focus on perfecting every iota and making some- AS AN Ingredient NEW ADVENTURES IN COLD BREW: By Ashley Rodriguez 64 barista magazine