Evening coffee? Sleep experts may disapprove but it's an ever more popular choice. A cold brew summer cocktail made using carefully selected beans will give your customers that cool caffeine kick they long for on a warm summer's evening.
WHAT IS COLD BREW COFFEE?
Cold brew is coffee that has been brewed in cold water over the course of several hours resulting in particularly intense coffee flavours with little bitterness.
The headliner on our lineup will definitely wake you up! It's the espresso and tonic. With slightly acidic, slightly bitter flavours to bring even the wallflowers out onto the dance floor. Then we have two caffeinated variations on classic cocktails: a mild and creamy black Russian and a zingy, refreshing coffee sour. Number four is fruity and fresh: the coffee bramble is ‘berry’ summery! Then the summer's best kept secret: the ‘Coffeeaner.’ This virgin cocktail will really go to your head but with no need for alcohol! With these drinks on the menu, we wish that summer could last all year.
Coffee offers over 1,000 different flavours, making it the ideal indulgent ingredient. Depending how it is made, it can be used for its acidity, subtle or intense flavours, as a filler, a syrup or for bitter notes. The biggest challenge is making the coffee just right. Embarking on that challenge can let you in for all kinds of surprises!’
Timon Kaufmann, brewing bartender, expert on coffee and cocktails
PAYING WITH YOUR COFFEE CUP
Costa Coffee and Barclaycard have developed a device called the Clever Cup – the first reusable coffee cup that you can use to drink your coffee and make contactless payments. The Clever Cup contains a bPay chip so coffee fans can pay for their takeaway coffee simply by walking past! So far the Clever Cup is only available in the UK.
WASHING COCKTAIL GLASSES PROPERLY
Enjoying drinks means washing up. This can be a real challenge, especially with tall, delicate cocktail glasses. But it doesn't have to be. Bar owners use professional dishwashing machines to avoid watermarks, smears and damage. In this article, we bring together ‘7 tips for clean glasses’ and explain how restaurateurs should deal correctly with glasses.
THE TOP 5 COFFEE COCKTAILS OF 2019
ESPRESSO AND TONIC
Style factor: urban and hip
Fashion factor: top cult drink of the moment
Ingredients and method:
Pour 60 ml cold drip coffee (see below for recipe) and 100 ml tonic water into a shaker with a little lemon zest and mix thoroughly. If desired, garnish with an attractive curl of lemon peel. Alternative: half a slice of lime. Place one half into the glass and balance the other on the edge.
HOMEMADE COLD DRIP COFFEE
You will need: 100–200 g light roast coffee beans, 1 coffee grinder, 1 cold drip coffee machine (such as the ‘Dripster’ – a device that looks a little like something from a chemistry lesson with its glass flasks), ice cubes and at least 10–12 hours.
Pro method: grind the coffee beans as coarsely as possible. Place the ground beans in the cold drip machine and fill the container above with ice cubes. Over the course of several hours, the ice-cold water will drip onto the freshly ground beans and slowly filter through. The result is an intensely flavourful coffee extract with a variety of fruity and floral aromas which emerge.
Cheat method: you can also brew your ‘cold drip’ coffee in a cafetière. Simply put the freshly ground coffee into the cafetière and pour ice-cold water over it. Allow to brew for several hours. Before using it, push the plunger down until the coffee grounds are squashed together.
By the way, this method of making coffee was pioneered by the Dutch in the 17th century and is particularly gentle on the beans.
BLACK RUSSIAN
Style factor: elegant and smart
Fashion factor: new twist on an old classic
Ingredients and method:
First place three (or more) ice cubes in a glass. Then add 20 ml vodka, 40 ml cold brew coffee and 20 ml water. To finish, carefully top with a circle made from 20 ml cream. This one is real eye candy, no garnish required.
COFFEE SOUR
Style factor: a gentleman's drink
Fashion factor: always in
Ingredients and method:
Place 40 ml whisky, 30 ml lemon juice, 30 ml orange juice, 10 ml sugar syrup, 20 ml Cointreau and 60 ml cold brew coffee in a cocktail shaker and mix well for about 20 seconds. Repeat, adding ice cubes. Now pour through a tea strainer into a pre-chilled champagne glass. To finish, squeeze out and zest an orange skin over the coffee sour. Top tip: brush the edge of the glass with orange zest for an extra kick.
COCKTAIL TRIVIA
‘Sour’ refers to any cocktail made with schnapps or liqueur, lemon juice and sugar.
COFFEE BRAMBLE
Style factor: a celebration of summer fruits and colours
Fashion factor: this summer's high achiever
Ingredients and method:
First, place 5 or 6 blackberries in a copper mug and mash with a muddler. Now add 60 ml cold brew coffee, 40 ml rum, 30 ml lemon juice and 20 ml sugar syrup and stir. Fold in some crushed ice with a spoon then fill the copper mug to the top with crushed ice. The perfect garnish? A sprig of lavender and a couple of blackberries.
COCKTAIL TRIVIA
‘In the traditional sense, a cocktail can contain anywhere up to 90 ml alcohol. Anything more than that is a long drink.’ – Maren Meyer, bartender (Hannover)
THE ‘COFFEEANER’*
Style factor: classy and sensible
Fashion factor: still a trendsetter
Ingredients and method:
The ‘Coffeeaner’ combines mildly acidic notes with a mellow sweetness. Simply place 20 ml raspberry syrup, 20 ml lemon juice and 60 ml espresso in a shaker with ice cubes. Shake until a fine foam forms then pour into an elegant glass. Garnish with fresh raspberries and a little lemon zest. Zesty!
* Source: coffee at work GmbH & Co. KG
Cold brew drinks are the hottest trend of summer 2019. Some are even calling it the ‘cold brew revolution.’ If you want to keep it traditional: these summer drinks will get you your money's worth!
BONUS TRIVIA
It is said that cold coffee makes you beautiful. But where does this saying come from? In the 18th century, upper class ladies like to drink their coffee cold because the steam from a hot coffee would have ruined their make up! These days cold coffee is all the rage once more!
