How Long Does Cold Brew Last?
The most pressing question is how long does cold brew last?
How Long is Cold Brew Coffee Good For?
The shelf life of your cold brew according to most experts is 2 weeks in the fridge under the best or ideal conditions. This is, of course, an estimate for black coffee that has no additives, creamers, sugar, and milk.
In case you add anything to your black coffee, you should be ready for a shorter shelf-life of no more than a week.
Most people think that a coffee concentrate to serve many cups will probably serve longer. Unfortunately, the concentrate goes bad before they can use it completely.
Cold brew coffee and iced tea share the same characteristic of not a very long shelf-life. Cold brew coffee has a slight advantage over the iced tea. It doesn’t mold as rapidly as iced tea. Nevertheless, it eventually does, if not refrigerated as soon as it is brewed.
You can use coffee concentrate for a longer shelf-life but don’t expect it to last for months.
The question is why should you choose cold brew?
Traditionally coffee shops had just a hot variety of coffee to offer. They tried innovative ideas like coffee poured over ice in their attempt to serve refreshing coffee. The idea wasn’t quite a success since ice diluted the beverage.
Who wouldn’t prefer cold brewed coffee over coffee poured over ice?
The cold brew methods have become quite popular today through several trial and error methods. The cafés that could preserve brews to match the taste of their patrons became the most successful coffee houses.
The dilemma that most cafés struggled with was how to refrigerate the brew to maintain its flavor and taste. The process of refrigeration itself is challenging. It encourages oxidation. The refrigerated hot coffee that turns acidic cannot be appealing to the coffee aficionados.
Cold Coffee is a Better Choice
Eventually, the coffee houses learned the best methods of preservation. The cold brew methods today can prevent oxidation. This is done easily by eliminating the heat entirely from the process.
Cold coffee is a healthier choice for several reasons.
Caffeine concentrate
Caffeine is healthy only in the right concentration. Cold coffee has about double the caffeine content than the traditional iced coffee. This amount used to be to less due to excessive dilution caused in the iced coffee.
Cold brewing up to 24 hours ideally creates a healthy amount of caffeine concentrate.
Caffeinated coffee reduces nearly 50% of the risk of mouth and throat cancer and the risk of stroke is reduced as much as 22%. The coffee drinkers have a highly reduced hospitalization rate for heart rhythm disturbance. The risk of type 2 diabetes among them is also reduced.
Coffee is probably your only source of regular caffeine intake.
Flavor Consistency
You may have noticed the volatility in the hot coffee taste. This is because hot coffee flavor changes at different temperatures. The cold brew maintains consistency in its flavor which makes it an ideal brew for prepackaging and ready-to-drink.
The taste profile of food changes with a change in temperature. A chilled coffee will maintain its flavor and taste consistency as long as it is under the normal temperature.
The savvy food companies have used this little known fact for their commercial success. You only need to notice the refrigerated section of your favorite grocery store with rows of glass bottles of cold brew coffee.
Easy to Make
You may buy your packed cold brew coffee or make it at your home. The choice is yours. There are, however, advantages of making cold brew at home instead of purchasing them. It gets a lot more economical and convenient to make cold coffee.
You may likely purchase your favorite bag of coffee beans for the cost of two bottles of single-serve ready to drink beverage.
Coffee Economy
Coffee is among the largest agricultural products traded globally. In 2017, the coffee had a retail market value of US$ 83 billion. This sector employs nearly 125 million people globally. The same year US $19 billion worth of coffee was exported.
No wonder, manufacturers love to dish-out cold-brew coffee with ever-improving tools to make it. Coffee sales remain high and improving year after year. The future of coffee industry including the trade chain down to the retail looks bright with everyone profiting from it.
Most coffee shops in the past had to idle it out in summer except for very few die-hard coffee lovers who loved their hot coffee year-round. They are now much busier with year-round demand for hot and cold brew.