Acidic is a substance commonly found in beverages, and it often appears when you heat a cold beverage like coffee and ice cold water. If you are a coffee drinker, we guess that you may be wondering at least once about this question “Does heating cold brew coffee make it acidic?” Let’s discover the answer with us now!
Does Heating Cold Brew Coffee Make It Acidic?
Today’s coffee is not just about the usual coffee hats – a method of coffee preparation. With the development of today’s technology and agriculture, people have increasingly discovered new ways to make coffee taste better, and one of them is cold brew coffee.
However, it is necessary to understand the nature and way of serving this drink before enjoying it. That’s also why it’s important to know whether heating cold brew coffee can make it acidic or not.
So, what is the most general answer to this question? It may surprise you that the answer is NO! Some statistics have shown that cold coffee has lower acidity than other coffees, such as iced coffee or other brewing methods.
The reason behind this difference is that acidity is directly related to heat; usually, the higher the temperature, the more acidity it has. However, in the cold brewing process, the coffee beans will be preserved and retain their chemical properties – and any influencing factors will not change them.
One truth is, the longer the beans are soaked in water, the higher the caffeine content. To keep it as full of flavor as possible, you should chill them for twelve to twenty-four hours to keep the flavors natural when brewed.
Besides, to make it easier to visualize, we have compiled acidic and caffeine formulas for legumes (including coffee beans). Let’s follow along:
- Beans + Water + heat = Acidity
- Beans + Water + time = Caffeine
Based on the recipes that we list above, you can grasp a rule: under normal conditions, when beans are soaked in water and heated, the acidity will increase. Meanwhile, beans that are soaked for a long time will increase the caffeine content in them.
What Will Happen If I Warm Up Cold Brew Coffee?
As cold coffee beans will retain their chemical properties throughout the process, heating up cold brew coffee will not affect it other than an obvious change in temperature. We mentioned above that this process would not be acidic. Similarly, the caffeine composition remains unchanged. It is a great way to consume coffee, especially during the cold winter days.
Why Does Heating Cold Brew Coffee Not Make It Acidic?
To better understand why heating cold brew coffee doesn’t make it acidic, let’s take a closer look at the characteristics of each type of coffee through the brewing process. Normally, when the coffee grounds are heated, the hot water will react with acidic compounds in the coffee and oil. Hence, that is the reason why hot coffee will be more acidic than in normal conditions. But why is cold coffee not acidic when heated?
Let’s consider the compositional characteristics of cold coffee. This beverage is prepared using room temperature or simply using cool water to soak the seeds. This process will make the coffee less oily and also releases acidic compounds.
In the preliminary stage of cold coffee processing, you will have to go through steeping and filtering to concentrate. During this stage, the composition and characteristics of the individual beans remain unchanged. Indeed, this uniqueness makes more and more people enjoy the new taste of cold coffee instead of the original coffee.
Let’s explore whether hot coffee has these properties. Well, the results will surely surprise you. Acidic compounds are activated in hot brewed coffee. However, this substance is immediately released when the coffee is finished brewing, so hot coffee is almost non-acidic!
You still have to be careful, as the acidic nature of this drink will be changed once the drink cools. Specifically, certain chemical reactions will occur and cause the acidity to increase. That is also the reason why hot coffee, when cooled, is highly acidic.
Wondering if cold coffee beans follow the inherent rule of normal coffee in terms of acidity? The answer will surprise you – it breaks this rule! Note that cold coffee beans will never be hot. In addition, the conditions of flax will keep their flavor and chemical composition intact. Like frozen products for storage, these chilled beans give you the freedom to process without changing their properties regardless of the time.
The intact chemical properties are resulting from less oil and acidic compounds being extracted so that the acidic content from the start is virtually nonexistent. Therefore, cold brew coffee will not create any acidic even though you heat it up!
Does The Cold Brew Coffee Taste Good If It Is Heated?
The acidic nature of cold brew coffee is different from regular coffee, so its taste when heated is also somewhat special. To be more specific, cold brew coffee heated will have a flatter flavor instead of its original strong flavor.
That’s why more and more people love cold brew coffee for its unique flavor, and many even claim that this non-acidic nature makes coffee healthier. That is quite correct, so you can just relax and enjoy this delicious taste of cold coffee.
Some Last Words
The heating of cold brew coffee can change some of the original elements of coffee, but it does not create the acid contained in it. Through this article, we hope you find out the information you need to answer the question “Does heating cold brew coffee make it acidic?” See you in the next blog. Thanks for reading!
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