Online Barista Training: Iced Coffee or Cold Brew?

The summer is almost here! It means that there will be more and more customers who will order cold refreshing coffee drinks. I'm sure your coffee shop offers several cold coffees. It’s a part of your barista job to memorize all the recipes and be ready to make any drink your customer wants.

In recent years, cold brew has gained popularity and entered the menus of almost all coffee shops. In this online barista training article, we’ll talk about the difference between iced coffee and cold brewing technique. Both sound similar, but what's the difference between iced coffee and cold brew?

Cold Brew

Usually, if you look at a cafe menu, you'll see that cold brew coffee is twice as expensive as iced coffee. Why is it so? Well, cold brew takes much more time and effort to be prepared. First of all, you pour cold or room temperature water onto the coffee grounds and leave it to soak for 12 hours or more. It means that cold-brewed coffee never comes in touch with hot water.

The time is the key here – the longer it takes, the more water extracts, the more caffeine, acids, and sugars. With an espresso machine, everything is extracted in an instance by the hot water. Usually, the concentration of caffeine in the cold brew is twice as high as in regular coffee. 

After 12 hours, you filter the coffee so that there are no grounds left on the bottom. The result is a soft, smooth, rich coffee flavor, where you can also sense chocolate notes. Cold brewed coffee has a lower acidity level and is suitable for people with sensitive stomachs. 

When serving, you can put some extra ice cubes and syrups.

 

Iced coffee

During your barista training, you will need to learn iced coffee recipes. Iced coffee costs less than a cold brew, so they'll be ordered more often. So get ready to juggle your ice cubes around.

Iced coffee is brewed just like any other coffee – either with an espresso machine or manually – and then cooled down by pouring over ice cubes. If you are preparing an Iced Americano, you want to fill the glass with the desired amount of cold water, then add a double espresso and only after this – ice.

At your barista job, you’ll be asked to prepare Iced Lattes too. First, portion milk into a glass or plastic cup approximately half full. Then pour a double espresso into the cold milk and fill the cup with ice. Don’t pour espresso right over the ice cubes because it’ll quicken the dilution.

Online Barista Training: Iced Coffee

A great idea – and many customers will definitely order this – is to brew iced coffee manually, let’s say with a Chemex. So you place ice cubes inside of the Chemex and let the coffee drip right onto them. You’ll want to use slightly more coffee to maintain the drink's richness for this brewing technique. The ice cubes will meltdown releasing more water. You don’t want your drink to taste too thin and watery.

The manual coffee brewing method allows you to preserve the coffee's richness, aroma, and acidity so valued by all coffee lovers. Iced coffee preserves all the qualities and the body of a regular coffee while being more refreshing and suitable for drinking on a hot summer day.

Brought to you by Barista Training Academy, “The Beginning Barista,” Your Ultimate Prep Guide to Getting Your First Job as a Barista” is an ultimate resource that is available online and is affordable for anybody who is looking to start a career in the coffee industry. For more information, visit our blog.