How to Make 90-Minute Cold Brew Coffee With the Fellow Aiden
Spring has arrived, which means it’s time to start thinking about coffee recipes that are best enjoyed while taking in some fresh air or lounging on a patio.
As many baristas and frequent café visitors will attest, cold brew becomes incredibly popular during the warmer months, when most people are seeking a refreshing alternative to their favourite cup of coffee.
Cold Brew vs. Iced Coffee: What is the Difference?
Iced coffee (as its name suggests) is created by chilling hot, highly concentrated coffee over ice, a made-to-order beverage that is punchy, bright, and slightly more acidic.
Cold brew, on the other hand, is made using a very slow extraction process in which coffee grounds are “steeped” in cool water for hours, even days. This results in a rich consistency, sweeter flavours, and less acidity.
Why Does Cold Brew Take so Long to Make?
Unlike most methods, cold brew does not use hot water.
Hot water is paramount to fast extraction, rapidly dissolving coffee’s soluble materials (i.e., acids and aromatic compounds) to produce the final cup in only a matter of minutes. By taking heat out of the equation, cold brew relies on time rather than temperature, resulting in a fundamentally unique flavour profile.
Like most things worth savouring, cold brew coffee requires a significant amount of patience: a standard recipe takes around 12 to 24 hours of preparation time before achieving that classic smooth, full-bodied concentrate.
The cold brew process rewards patience over technical skill. This largely “hands-off” method allows you to prep everything beforehand and steep the grounds in the refrigerator overnight so, by afternoon, you’re ready for a coffee break.
However, if you are looking for a quick shortcut (or want to prevent your coffee from tasting like all the collective leftovers in your fridge), the Fellow Aiden’s Cold Brew Feature can get you the same results in only 90 minutes.
How Does the Fellow Aiden Make Cold Brew so Quickly?
By breathing the rules – just a little bit.
Aiden begins with a “bloom cycle” that actually does use hot water, which jump starts the extraction process without completing it. This is followed by 90 minutes* of slow dripping of cold or room temperature water from the tank.
90 minutes is the default, but you can set a custom brew time anywhere between 1-3 hours!
As a result, the Fellow Aiden Coffee Maker gets you a 90-minute cold brew coffee with all the flavour intensity and sweetness you can expect from a 12-24 hour extraction time.
Quick Tips for Making the Perfect Cold Brew.
- Always grind using a coarse setting: finely ground coffee, similar to what you’d use for pour overs or electric brewers, can easily become over-infused. Coarse grounds make sure that the extraction does not happen too quickly, avoiding bitterness and astringency.
- Don’t forget about the water: when brewing anything, it’s easy to let your attention fall entirely to the coffee while neglecting your water quality. And yet, water makes up most of the final product by an average ratio of 1:16. We recommend using filtered water, where possible, because it removes impurities that otherwise flatten coffee’s flavour complexity.
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Plan for ice: on the Fellow Aiden, it’s important to note that cold brew will be finished at room temperature. If you plan on enjoying right away (like we did), choose a slightly higher coffee to water ratio, which can easily be done through creating a custom Cold Brew Profile on the Fellow Aiden. You’ll essentially be brewing a concentrate, ready to be served over ice without diluting the flavour.
Or, brew another batch ahead of time to make coffee ice cubes!
Our Fellow Aiden Cold Brew Recipe
Prep time: 10 minutes
Steeping time: 90 minutes
Servings: 3 cups*
Coffee to water ratio: 1:12
*We chose to make a smaller batch with a slightly higher concentration! Using the Fellow Aiden, just choose your preferred batch size (from 1-10 cups), your preferred ratio, and the machine will automatically calculate how much coffee to add!
Ingredients:
- 37.5 grams whole-bean filter coffee (we used Piedra Blanca by Atmans Coffee)
- Filtered water
- Cold Brew System
- Coffee Grinder
- Coffee Scale
If you are seeking the required gear without the top-shelf price tag, here are some excellent and cost-effective alternatives to the grinder and scale we used to make this recipe:
- Coffee grinder: Timemore Chestnut C5 PRO Manual Grinder ($159.00)
- Coffee scale: Nuttii Geo-C Lite Digital Coffee Scale ($27.00)
Preparation
Create your custom Brew Profile
- From the main menu, navigate to "Edit Profiles" and select "Create New".
- Inside the new profile, adjust the brew ratio from the default 1:16 to 1:12.
- Check the box next to “Cold Brew”.
- Select “Save”.
Grind your coffee
- Using an extremely coarse setting – we went to 7 on the Ceado Chameleon – grind the whole-bean coffee of your choice according to your batch size (see next step).
- Note: If you're opting to stay within the Fellow ecosystem, the Ode Grinder can absolutely get you within the grind consistency you're looking for. We suggest starting with setting 10 if you own the Ode Gen 2, and setting 9 for the Gen 1.
Start Brewing
- Insert the Batch Brew basket and paper filter.
- From the main menu, navigate to Guided Brew and select your new Cold Brew Profile.
- Choose your batch size, the Aiden will calculate the precise weight of coffee based on the 1:12 ratio. Add the grounds to the basket.
- Close the lid and start brewing!
In only 90 minutes, you’ll have homemade cold brew coffee! Serve over ice, get creative with additional garnishes and bitters, or use as a flavourful base for a refreshing mocktail.
Enjoy right away, or refrigerate inside an airtight container for 7-14 days.
Our opinion of the recipe (and why we chose a light roast).
We chose Piedra Blanca, a honey-processed single-origin coffee roasted by Atmans. With tasting notes of cherry, mandarin, and lime, it’s a lighter roast than what you would typically use in a cold brew recipe.
Most people will advise using dark or medium roasts for achieving that smooth, full-bodied quality synonymous with cold brew. And many choose to follow this rule because light roasts come with the assumption that coffee will end up tasting sour or acidic, especially when iced.
Just like a pair of coffee mythbusters, we set out to disprove this theory by creating a cold brew recipe with a light roast. The results, to our delight, were very successful.
Brimming with citrus and stone fruit, this coffee has a fruit-forward sweetness. The acidity is present, yet crisp and refreshing, providing a light seasoning that balances the cup without overpowering it.
The texture was tea-like and delicate, perfect for enjoying on a warm day. You could certainly drink this cold brew recipe as-is with a few ice cubes, although we could not stop ourselves from brainstorming the ways it could be used for a more elaborate beverage.
Our Cold Brew Mocktail Recipe
According to our coffee team, Atman’s Piedra Blanca as a cold brew would be excellent served with a rich layer of vanilla cold foam on top (we used around 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream, 1 tbsp of 1883 Vanilla Syrup*, and the Subminimal NanoFoamer), and garnished with a fresh sprig of rosemary to give it a lush appearance inspired by Spring.
*Our syrup to cream ratio is only a suggestion: we recommend taste-tasting beforehand to make sure the sweetness level is to your liking.
This part is easy: find a milk pitcher or bowl, add your heavy cream and syrup, and whisk using the NanoFoamer until you reach a light whipped cream-like consistency. Gently scoop the mix over your cold brew and enjoy.
Once you're done taking photos, muddle the rosemary lightly with your straw for a subtle woody, herby flavour, perfectly complemented by the Atman coffee's delicate sweetness.
Happy brewing!
