NEW YORK – Summer is here for many parts of the world and temperatures are on the rise with cold beverage consumption not far behind.
Illy, the leader in coffee culture and innovator of coffee products, has explored its Monoarabica Brazil single origin whole bean coffee with cold brew preparation methods creating a distinct iced-coffee for the summer season for enjoyment in hotels, restaurants, and cafes in addition to home use.
“Using illy single-origin beans from Brazil with different cold preparations, we have created a beautiful taste experience that transports coffee drinkers to an exotic tropical savanna south of the equator,” said Giorgio Milos, Master Barista for illy North America.
“Several cold brew preparations soften the natural acidity in the Brazilian beans that are more pronounced in hot preparation, resulting in a taste profile that enhances the caramel and milk chocolate notes of the bean.”
While parts of Brazil currently serve as the epicenter for international football fans, deep in Brazil’s Cerrado Mineiro region’s lush and fertile forests is an enchanting landscape with well-defined wet and dry seasons that provide one of the world’s finest settings to grow the coffee beans for illy Monoarabica Brazil.
Illy’s Master Barista Giorgio Milos prepares Monoarabica Brazil using two methods.
Transfusion method: The cold brew method is similar in varying ways to making filter coffee. In this scenario, special coffee gear is needed and twice the amount of coffee per ounce of water for basic drip coffee.
At the beginning, ice-cooled water drips from the upper part of a glass tower.
A valve regulates its speed, which is ideally one drop per second traveling through a spiral-shaped pipe before running over ground coffee housed in a clear cylinder covered by thin tissue or filter paper.
From there, a second filter prevents the grinds from entering the next section of pipe, from which finished liquid drips and collects in the tower’s base. Expect to invest 12–16 hours in cold brewing, making it best done overnight.
Infusion method: Cold steeping, on the other hand, is extraction by infusion.
This method does not require intricate equipment. Simply mix cold water and ground coffee, stir gently, and let it steep in the fridge or at room temperature.
For fridge preparation, steep for the same 12–16 hours as for cold brewing. After cold water or room temperature steeping is complete, simply strain, and filter.
If it sounds akin to French press, indeed it is, and press pots are well suited to the task. Accordingly, use a coarser grind and similar to cold brewing methods cold steeping requires about twice the amount of coffee than the basic one-gram of coffee per ounce of water recommended for hot French press preparation.
For other cold preparation methods, coffee culture topics, recipes and more visit Master Barista Giorgio Milos’ blog http://masterbarista.tumblr.com.
