I drink a lot of coffee, and I once had a cold brew coffee and didn’t think much of it.
Now, I’m interested in whether it’s good because I find normal iced coffee doesn’t taste good.
So, I did some research about it to explain why people cold brew coffee and if it’s good, and if are there any cold brew coffee benefits.
As a whole, cold brewing coffee tastes less bitter and is more flavorful than the traditional way of making coffee using boiling water or hot water.
A cold brew coffee concentrate mixed with boiling water is better tasting than regular coffee and is considered the best-tasting way to drink coffee by coffee drinkers.
Cold brew coffee does take longer to make, and you need to let it sit for around 15 hours..
For that reason, traditional hot coffee is easier to make.
In this article, I will explain everything there is to know about why cold brew coffee exists, the best recipe, how most people drink it, and some of the cold brew coffee health benefits.
So to know the benefits of iced coffee and cold coffee benefits, keep reading the article
What Are the Benefits of Cold Brew Coffee?
Cold brew coffee is a unique way to make a nice brew. But, are there any unique benefits to cold brew coffee compared to making it with boiling water or temperature water?
In general, cold brew coffee (coffee drink) has a better flavor and is worth the extra effort to make it.
However, each person’s taste preferences are unique and you may or may not prefer cold brew coffee.
Most people prefer hot coffee, so opt to heat their cold brew coffee and daily coffee.
Now that you know the best way to drink cold brew coffee, you may be wondering how to make it exactly, and the best recipe method most people recommend.
Best way to drink cold brew coffee
In general, the best method is to use a French press to make a concentrate.
And then use that to make hot coffee by adding boiling water for a delicious taste.
Almost everyone already has a French press at home and as you may know, they’re used to making hot coffee.
They cost around $20 from a supermarket or a store like Walmart.
The method to make cold brew coffee through the cold brewing process is actually very easy, here’s how it’s done.
Start by pouring some coffee into your French press. Because it’s a concentrate we’re using a lot of coffee.
You should fill it up just under halfway.
We’re using a 1:1 ratio of coffee to cold water.
It’s a good starting point because once you know how it tastes you can use more or less coffee to get your ideal brew.
Finding your ideal coffee-to-water ratio
There is a lot of variation across the board as far as how strongly cafes and people make their coffee either cold brew or hot.
And you’ll need to experiment to find what works best for you.
You could start small to start with, only pouring 1 cup of coffee or Coffee Grounds, and then adding 1 cup of tap or filtered water.
Then mix it together using a spoon, and leave it in the fridge for 15 hours.
It’s usually easiest just to put in the fridge the night before and then you can drink it in the morning.
When you get it out of the fridge, press down slowly on the thing at the top of your French press to push the coffee grinds to the bottom of your French press.
In the same way that you’d make hot coffee using your French press.
Then pour it out into a separate container or bottle.
You might have a glass bottle or jar handy, but in a pinch, you can use an old soda bottle.
After that, you can then pour a small amount into a mug, and pour over some boiling water.
The resulting coffee tastes more flavorful and less bitter than the most common way that people drink coffee.
Is Cold Brew Coffee Healthier?
Cold brew coffee and coffee made with boiling water have different flavors, and you may be wondering whether one is healthier than the other, whether are there any benefits of cold pressed coffee, and is cold brew healthier.
I wondered about this too and got to the bottom of it. Here’s which is healthier…
Overall, they both have the same potential health benefits and health risks.
No scientific studies have been done to compare the nutrient profiles of cold brew coffee and coffee made with boiling water or steam.
For that reason, they can be thought to be similar until such studies come out.
They don’t taste identical but taste pretty similar.
Both are made in roughly the same way.
Boiling water heats the coffee grinds and the flavors and nutrients come out very quickly – in about 3 to 5 minutes.
Whereas, when coffee is cold brewed the flavors and nutrients take much longer to come out and it has to be left for 12 hours or more to develop a strong flavor.
But, the overall end result is very close between hot or cold brewed coffee.
And therefore, it could be assumed that the same nutrients are extracted from the coffee beans.
However, both the hot and cold content of coffee has health risks associated with increasing coffee or Cold coffee intake.
Caffeine in coffee can cause sensitive stomach, blood pressure, heart attack, and death from heart disease heart in human beings.
It depends on the cups of coffee per day you consume.
A moderate amount of black coffee intake or cold Coffee Consumption (four or five Cups Of Coffee per day) has Impressive Health Benefits for most people.
Research shows that this level of caffeine consumption in coffee per day doesn’t create a Risk Of Heart Disease or damage to brain function.
Same caffeine content
Some data suggest that cold-brew coffee has much more caffeine than hot-brewed coffee.
On the nutritional information for a Grande Cold Brew coffee from Starbucks, it says it has 200 mg of caffeine.
Whereas, other sources say that the same sized regular coffee has 40mg of caffeine.
But, when I looked at the caffeine content of a Grande Americano coffee – which is a standard hot brewed coffee, it too has around 200mg of caffeine.
All other nutrients such as protein, carbohydrates, and sugars are very small and only account for around 1% to 2% of the total drink.
And therefore, the differences won’t have a large impact on your health either way.
So, drinking cold brew or hot brew is generally up to which makes the most sense for you.
Interestingly, in my experience, most cafes don’t serve cold brew that is heated up.
And virtually all of the cold brews you find at cafes or coffee shops is cold.
However, when I think of coffee I almost always want something hot.
And if I want a cold drink I’ll typically get a soda, iced tea, or fruit juice.
Does Cold Brew Have Fewer Calories Than Iced Coffee?
If you’re trying to lose weight, or are bulking up and putting on weight, how many calories are in the various drinks and food you consume is very important.
So, if I had to decide between cold brew or iced coffee, which has less…
On average, iced coffee has 3 times the calories of iced coffee.
However, the overall total calories in both drinks are very low.
And they both contain around 10 calories which is only around 0.5% of your recommended daily calorie intake and caffeine intake as well.
Another way of saying that is that you would need to drink 200 cups of cold brew or iced coffee to get your calorie requirements for the day.
And most people find it difficult to remember to drink 8 glasses of water a day!
The main ingredients in a cold brew or iced coffee that have a lot of calories are sugar and cream.
Here’s a table that shows a breakdown of the different things you can add to coffee and how many calories they have.
Ingredient | Calories (per coffee) | Percentage of recommended daily calorie intake (heavily rounded) |
Coffee (iced of cold brew) | 5 to 10 | 0.5% |
Cream | 100 | 2.5% |
Milk | 42 | 2% |
Sugar | 4 | 0.20% |
Cinnamon | 0.01 | 0.00001% |
Artificial sweetener | 0 | 0 |
Chocolate flavor – mochaccino/hot chocolate | 20 | 0.05% |
Percentage of daily calories according to Nhs. UK
As you can see the ingredients in coffee that add the most calories are cream and milk.
If you choose to use them. I personally really like the cream in my coffee.
The lowest overall are spices like cinnamon or nutmeg.
Some people use artificial sweeteners like Splenda which is made from corn.
However, they are heavily processed and various complex chemical processes are used to create them.
And the end result is that it contains zero calories.
But, overall the ingredients in coffee don’t have an excessive amount of calories, and as part of a balanced diet is perfectly healthy.
Whether you enjoy iced coffee, hot coffee, or cold brew.
Which Is Better for You Cold Brew or Iced Coffee?
Cold brew and iced coffee taste slightly different, which means they have different amounts of nutrients.
So, I was wondering which is better for you and whether are there more iced coffee benefits than hot coffee benefits.
Here’s what I found…
On average, they are the same.
There are significant differences in the nutritional profile of iced coffee when compared to cold brew coffee.
However, because the relative amounts in each are so low.
Whether you drink one or the other will have no overall net difference to the nutrients you consume.
Here are the major differences:
- Cold brew has slightly lower sodium than iced coffee
- Iced coffee has more carbohydrates
- Iced coffee has more protein
- Iced coffee has about 10% more caffeine than cold-brew coffee
However, the most important thing to note about the differences between them, all of the amounts are so low compared to how much of each of them you should consume in a day.
That won’t make any difference.
And coffee lovers practically speaking coffee can be regarded the same as water.
And has virtually no effect on the number of nutrients you consume in a day.
I’m the owner and blogger here at SodaPopCraft.Com. I’m a soft drinks enthusiast and I’m bringing you all I know and research from the world of Soda Pop & Kombucha soft drinks.
I hope it inspires you to make your own healthier fizzy drinks at home.
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