Is Cold Brew Coffee Better For You

Chobani: Sweet Cream Or Vanilla Cold Brew

Although impressed with the clean ingredients on this cold brew label , Johnston did not like the amount of sugar in Chobani’s sweet cream- and vanilla-flavored cold brews.

“What Chobani Cold-Brews do offer are a pretty clean ingredient label. It’s the 15 grams of added sugar and lack of other nutritional value that make this one a drink to skip,” Johnston explained. “They are sold in 32 oz bottles and the nutrition facts are based on a 12.5 oz portion making it easy to pour out more than 12.5 oz and increase your sugar intake even more.”

Why Cold Brew Coffee Is Good For You

Unlike hot or iced coffee, cold brew is made by steeping coffee grounds in cool water for at least 24 hours. Since cold brew is just another way to transform coffee grounds into a cup of delicious magic, it packs the same nutritional punch as hot or iced coffee, but because of the cool, slow brewing process, the end result is less acidic, giving it a velvety, smooth taste

Thats great for those of us with sensitive stomachs, but what about the rest of us? Is cold brew healthier for those trying to watch their calorie intake?

The answer depends on what else you put in your cup.

You Can Easily Drink It Black

In the debate of cold brew vs hot brewed coffee, cold brew coffee is without question less bitter and more smooth. This brewing process yields the best flavor components of coffee beans and leaves the bitter flavonoids and acids in the grounds. The more appealing taste means you are less tempted to add cream and sugar. Listen to the expert:

You dont have to have all the additives in there, black coffee is much less expensive, and if you go black, its much healthier for you.

If you usually drink 2-3 cups of coffee a day with cream and sugar, your coffee quickly becomes unhealthy. Adjusting to a black cup of cold brew is much easier than hot coffee.

On a related note, here some cool ideas to give your cold brew a sweet taste.

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No Need For Cream Sugar Or Other Extras

Most people like to add things like cream and sugar to their coffee.

I know that I love to get creative with new and interesting ingredients to add to my cup of joe.

But that’s only if I’m drinking regular coffee made with heat.

One of the wonderful things about cold brew coffee is that you don’t need to add anything!

Because it is brewed differently, it has a sweeter taste than regular coffee.

This means it is absolutely delicious without any extras.

For those who don’t like plain coffee, this might be difficult to believe.

But it’s true! It is naturally sweeter than regular coffee because it is less acidic.

Cold Brew Vs Iced Coffee

There are tons of people who are desperately in love with their regular iced coffee, but for some, it just ends up tasting too watery as the ice dissolves. Sometimes, it may even be too bitter.

If youre wondering what the difference between cold brew and iced coffee is, well remind you that cold brew is coarsely ground coffee steeped in cold water, while iced coffee is coffee thats brewed with filtered water just off the boil.

We made a list so you can decide if making cold brew coffee is something you may prefer over your iced coffee.

We should mention that cold brew coffee has twice the amount of caffeine compared to iced coffee. Were not putting that on the list, though you decide if its a pro or a con!

On that note, here are the good and bad sides of iced coffee vs. cold brew:

Pros and Cons of Cold Brew

Pros:

• Cold brew coffee lasts up to two weeks.
• It has low acidity and bitterness.
• It has a smoother and sweeter taste.
• Its better for people with sensitive stomachs.

Cons:

• It takes 14-24 hours to brew.
• Its more expensive than regular hot brew coffee.

Pros and Cons of Iced Coffee

Pros:

• Iced coffee takes just minutes to brew.
• Its cheaper than cold brew coffee.
• It has a balanced and aromatic taste.

Cons:

• Iced coffee is more bitter and acidic than cold brew coffee.
• It tastes better within the first day.
• Its not great for people with sensitive stomachs.

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Ask Keri: Is Cold Brew Coffee Healthier

Keri Says: As cold brew coffee took off over the past few years, it definitely seemed to become healthy eaters java of choice.

But is the talk about its health benefits just a lot of buzz?

The short answer is that cold brew and hot coffee are so far pretty indistinguishable when it comes to how they affect your body, although some people may find cold brew is slightly easier on their digestion. Heres what you need to know.

Flavors Can Change Dramatically

Like I just mentioned, oxidation happens much more slowly with cold waterand the same is true for degradation. This ultimately means less bitterness and acidity, but not just that. It also means there are some big flavor differences.

Read: Iced Coffee VS Cold Brew: What’s The Difference?

Ill spare you all the science-y names, but the actual chemical makeup of the brewed coffee is quite different. If you tried a mug of hot coffee and a glass of cold brew from the same beans, you would know they had a common source, but youd be surprised at the flavor differences.

Great hot brewed coffee has a rounded flavor, a satisfying aroma, a gentle sweetness, a crisp acidity, and a hint of lower bitter notes to wrap it all together. Great cold brew coffee has a smooth flavor, a rich sweetness, a very gentle hint of acidity, and virtually no bitterness.

Cold brew doesnt have the rich aromas that hot brewed coffee does right off the bat, but theres a really good reason for it.

You see, when the aromatic coffee oils are hot, theyre what we call volatile .

Read: How To Taste Coffee Aroma

However, since those oils remain cold through the cold brewing process, theyre not volatile. They actually stay in the cold brew coffee rather than flying away. And when you swallow cold brew, those aromatic oils hit your retro-nasal passages hit your retro-nasal passage and your brain interprets them as a truckload of vibrant floral flavors.

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Okay But Whats Nitro Coffee

Nitro is just cold brew coffee thats infused with nitrogen gas . The coffee is stored in a beer keg and then served on draft. The idea behind using whats essentially a beer tap to serve the coffee is that it produces a creamier, sweeter flavor. When you draw a glass of chilled nitro, you get what looks like a serving of Guinness, complete with a foamy, creamy head.

One absolutely essential thing to know is that nitro is never mixed with milk or ice that would be a massive no-no and would certainly cause raised eyebrows and exclamations of horror in your local hipster haunt. You could even get banned.

So, the bottom line if you like your coffee strong, black, creamy and ice-cold, nitro could be the way to go for you.

Is Drinking Iced Coffee Every Day Bad For You

Iced coffee, the harbinger of warm weather, is a flavorful pick-me-up any day of the year. With home brews, specialty coffee shops, and canned coffees, you never have to go far to find your next cup.

But you may have wondered as you work on your cold buzz, can drinking iced coffee daily be good for you?

Drinking iced coffee every day is not bad for you. Coffee has many health benefits, whether your beverage of choice is an iced hot brew or a cold one. To keep your coffee habit positive, ensure that your caffeine intake and add-ins, like milk, syrups, and sugar, also meet your overall health goals.

Read on to learn about iced coffees health benefits and how to tweak your daily drink so that you can enjoy your brew without worrying about your health.

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Whats The Difference Between Cold Brew And Regular Iced Coffee

Cold brew is made by steeping coffee grounds in cold or room temperature water for 12 to 24 hours and then filtering it, which results in a smooth, naturally sweet, and slightly chocolate-y flavor profile. Regular iced coffee, on the other hand, is just cooled-down hot coffee.

“Because of the way cold brew is brewed, its less astringent and easier on the palate and stomach. It also misses all those unattractive acidic notes found in hot coffee, says Todd. In other words, cold brew is like regular coffees silky, velvety cousin.

Rather than watering down regular coffee with ice cubes, cold brew is often brewed as a concentrate and later gets mixed with water and/or milk.

First Off What Is Cold Brew

Perhaps most importantly, cold brew is not iced coffee, which is hot-brewed and then chilled. Cold brew coffee is created by steeping coarse-ground coffee beans in room-temperature water for 10 to 20 hours. The resulting coffee concentrate is then strained of the grounds and chilled. A little cold water and/or ice is usually added to the concentrate. There’s a chance you’ve also seen nitro cold brew, a coffee infused with nitrogen gas, which is usually served from a tap and is slightly fizzy, often with a thick head of creamy foam.

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Similar Caffeine Content To Hot Coffee

Cold brew coffee is made as a concentrate thats meant to be diluted with water, usually in a 1:1 ratio.

The concentrate is incredibly strong on its own. In fact, undiluted, it provides about 200 mg of caffeine per cup.

However, diluting the concentrate as is customary reduces the caffeine content of the final product, bringing it closer to that of regular coffee.

Though caffeine content can vary depending on the brewing method, the difference in caffeine content between hot coffee and cold brew is insignificant .

The average cup of hot coffee contains around 95 mg of caffeine, compared to about 100 mg for a typical cold brew.

Summary Cold brew and hot coffee contain similar amounts of caffeine. However, if you drank cold brew coffee concentrate without diluting it, it would provide about twice the caffeine.

Protects Against Cognitive Decline

While the exact reason is still being researched, scientists believe three to five cups of coffee a day, particularly in midlife, may help prevent dementia and Alzheimers disease, either by helping prevent the build-up of plaques in your brain that leads to disease or by reducing the risk of Type-2 diabetes, a risk factor for dementia. Coffee also may help preserve cognitive function in older adults with Type 2 diabetes.

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Additional Tips For Better Cold Brew Coffee

So far, weve explained the basics of making cold brew coffee and also introduced the most common special versions of cold brew coffee. In the next section, well give you some ideas on how to customize your favorite cold beverage so its perfect. Use these tricks to your to always enjoy the ideal coffee.

Good For Sensitive Tummies

The heat of the drip brewing method can produce a bitter flavor to the finished brew.

The brewer does not use heat at all in the process of making cold brew coffee, so the flavor tends to be smoother and the coffee is less acidic. For this reason, those who have sensitive stomachs or suffer from acid reflux generally tolerate cold brew coffee better.

In addition, if you decide to make your own cold brew coffee, you can choose your favorite beans, depending on your own personal taste. Given that the end result is typically less bitter in flavor, you might want to try a few of the more robustly flavored beans that you would otherwise pass over.

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Differences You Should Know Between Cold Brew Vs Hot Brew Coffee

1. Cold Brew Has Lower Bitterness Than Hot Brew Coffee

Brewing with cold water produces a brew with lower acidity and bitterness than that of hot water brewing.

This is usually due to changes in the extraction process of the coffee components from the coffee grounds.

Extraction usually happens when water dissolves in coffee grounds and pulls out the coffee components. These components can be acids, oils, particles that dissolve, and other things.

Different temperatures affect the extraction process in terms of speed, and the things pulled out. For example

When making hot coffee, its recommended to use high temperatures of about 195 to 205 degrees Fahrenheit to achieve intense flavors.

Achieving intense flavors means that hot water extracts coffee components fast and effectively.

When you use a higher brewing temperature like 210 degrees Fahrenheit, you end up with an intensely bitter brewed coffee.

High temperatures cause the acids to decay, forming extra-bitter compounds. This makes the brew taste too sour.

When more acidic compounds dissolve faster than the non-acidic ones, the coffee flavor lacks balance.

But when it comes to cold brewing, the extractions process is slower. It doesnt slow down the extraction of the non-acidic compounds.

Cold brewing changes whats extracted and what stays behind. In this case, most of the acidic components remain behind.

2. Cold Brew Coffee vs. Hot Brew Coffee Flavors

3. Cold Brew is More Versatile

6. Brewing Process

Read More:

How Many Calories Are In These Coffees

Both coffees can be made as a low-calorie drink. Coffee itself has virtually no calories. However, when you pour in milk or milk alternatives, sweeteners, and other kinds of additions, the calories counter will go up.

So Ive told you coffee, without anything added, has almost no calories. But you do want to know how many calories your iced coffee or cold brew coffee will have when youre adding a splash of milk or a little sweetener.

This is why Ive made the calorie table down below. In this table, you can see how many calories your coffee will contain when adding different kinds of milk and sweeteners:

As you can see when looking at the table above, Ive only listed 1 oz of milk or milk alternative. This is because when it comes to iced coffee and cold brew coffee, you still want to taste the coffee but might want to dilute it just a bit.

If you want to add more milk to your iced coffee, you can add double the amount. Its really easy looking at the table above and doubling the number of calories from the milk of choice. This way, youll have an insight into how many calories are in cold coffee.

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Cold Brew Is Far More Versatile

Hot coffee is hot coffee. Its rich, its satisfying, its cozybut its hot coffee. There are a few mixed drinks you can make with it, but its not really something most people would consider versatile.

Cold brew coffee, on the other hand, can be made into a variety of drinks. You see, the process of cold brewing doesnt produce a ready-to-drink brewit creates a concentrate that can be paired with many other ingredients.

Here are a few ways you can use the concentrate:

• Iced Coffee – Mix the cold brew with cold water and ice.

• Hot Coffee – Mix the cold brew with hot water.

• Iced Cold Brew Latte – Mix the cold brew with cold milk and ice.

• Cold Brew Cocktails – Mix the cold brew with a spirit, sugar, and other mixers.

• Cold Brew Soda – Mix the cold brew with sugar, soda water, and ice.

The list goes on and on. If you like to explore and pair flavors and ingredients, cold brew will provide an avenue for creative drink-making.

What Is The Difference In Caffeine Content

Theres a big difference in caffeine content between these two coffees. Because iced coffee can be made using various brewing techniques, Ive listed a few brewing techniques best used when brewing iced coffee and noted the amount of caffeine of each:

Cold brew coffee has the most caffeine content of all the coffees listed. The amount of caffeine in a cup of coffee can change depending on the number of hours it has steeped.

When the coffee is steeped for just 8 hours, it already has a whopping 240 mg of caffeine this can run up to 280 mg when steeped for 24 hours.

Now you see why this can change depending on the person making the coffee in the first place. I like to steep my coffee for 15 to 16 hours at most. So the caffeine content will be around the 250-260 range.

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Use Good Coffee Beans

Look, Im not saying you should buy a 12-ounce bag of coffee beans for $20 just for cold brew. What I am saying is youre absolutely getting out what you put in. My best advice is that you should continue to buy your favorite beans for drinking hot coffee. Now is not the time to switch to something cheaper!

Cold Brew Vs Hot Brewed Coffee: Everything You Should Know

Before the mid-2010s, if someone mentioned the words cold brew you would think they were talking about beer. However, now that everyone and their mother knows about cold brew coffee, theres little chance of confusion, even on a college campus.

In this article, well go through the differences between cold brew and hot brew to see how they stack up against each other.

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