Food - Drink
How Cold Brew Espresso Must Be Prepared Differently
By KAREN GRECO
Cold brewing regular coffee is a fairly easy process, but cold brewing espresso is not quite as simple. That’s because espresso is not defined by the beans used to make it, but by its extraction method, a process that is diametrically opposed to the way cold brew is made — however, it's still possible to prepare "cold brew" espresso.
Espresso is extracted by using pressure to force water through coffee grinds, and a higher pressure and a finer grind leads to better espresso. Meanwhile, standard cold brew is brewed through gentler immersion, and a coarser grind works much better than a finer one; in these ways, cold brew is almost like the polar opposite of espresso.
Despite these facts, you can still cold pull an espresso shot using a manual espresso maker. Use a grind that is even finer than usual, add some extra grounds to the portafilter, and pre-infuse the grounds by pausing the lever for 120-180 seconds just as the espresso begins to drip; then, pull your final shot. Stick with a 1:1 brew ratio.