Coffee Archives - Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Cold Brew vs. Iced Coffee Acidity Busting Myths

Cold brew vs. iced coffee is the difference in acidity. There is no boiling down in cold brew to help boil it down for your remembrance when you’re confronted on a menu coffee board.

And I break it down even further below. 👇

But first, here is an example of a cold brew (served ice cold) infused with refreshing mint that goes down cooling your body and benefits you and your body ache symptoms. Recipe is below 🌱

But first things first, you probably still may not know what acidity difference makes between cold brew vs. iced coffee when you’re ordering.

If acidity is a concern for you like many people 🙋🏻‍♀️ and you avoid coffee, then maybe this’ll change your mind, and you and your body 😊 can enjoy a cold brew coffee with ice like I do on a warm sticky day… that has added ice at the end.

And that serving is different than iced coffee on most coffee menu boards that is made from regular (warm brew) coffee.

…Can sound a bit like semantics, but it’s not as complicated as it sounds!

And in my life and when sharing with others, I like to break things down to simplicity…

So basically in cold brew vs. iced coffee, the acidity difference boils down to the process… it’s in and is the process.

…And that’s all you really need to know and remember the next time you have a coffee decision to make. ☕️

There’s no boiling or heat in cold brew (that remember is the process).

So when you make or order a cold brew coffee, you’re getting less chlorogenic acid in your drink cup that’s an antioxidant (🎉).

But the catch is, that’s where the acidity is high.

…So it’s only not-so-good if acidity bothers you and your body.

If it does, then it’s a double edged sword. Otherwise plain regular warm caffeinated coffee is plant-based 🌱 good for the body.

Lucky for us coffee drinkers. 🍀

And how this works is…

In warm brewed coffee, the heat tends to bring out the acidity.

And in the cold brew (process) there is no heat… (except it’s fired up ☄️in today’s popularity).

In a regular warm brewed coffee cup made from coffeemakers (like you’ve probably seen poured in orange rimmed coffee pots at diners)… those grounds could be made from the same grinds as in a cold brew coffee cup, but you’re getting more overall acidity.

And it’s not just the warm-ing vs. cold process…

The coffee roast matters too.

…Makes sense intuitively.

Some coffees are more acidic than others.

But what doesn’t make sense is…

Myth #1: that you can taste different types of acids.

Because we can’t really pick those up with our taste buds.

And coffee has many acid types…

There’s acetic, lactic, quinic, gluconic, malic and citric acid to name some.

In a light roast coffee study, the research shows that citric acid is the only one distinguishable to the human tongue… where Brazil coffee was stronger in citric acid than the Bolivian and Kenyan coffee roasts to the same taste testers.

So what does this mean for you?

Besides cold brew vs. iced coffee, picking the right roast matters for acidity.

And it’s still not what you’d naturally think…

Ahh, this second myth is interesting too…

A dark roast can be less acidic than a light roast.

When I’m out drinking coffee, I order a dark roast that has less chlorogenic, malic, and citric acids than the lighter kind.

A dark roast at Starbucks suits me and my acidic self fine. 😊

…Even though the Blonde light roasts may sound like they are less acidic.

But light doesn’t mean less acidic.

If you tend to get heartburn or have a sensitive coffee stomach where you need food to cushion before drinking 🙋🏻‍♀️, then a dark cold brew could be your best choice.

And if it’s hot out or you’re feeling hot (Pitta 😡), add some ice!

…Where cubes are added at the end 🧊

At home a neat trick is to make coffee ice cubes so you don’t get watered down coffee.

You can use traditional ice cube trays, but a fun way is to add coffee to a coffee cup and then freeze the cup for an hour or two.

From the frozen coffee, you’ll get icicle shavings with scraping from a silverware utensil.

You can add those icicle shavings to your coffee that won’t be like the big clumsy ice cubes that almost always end up sliding down your cold brew coffee glass with coffee running down your face. 😁

And at home, my morning routine is making fresh organic cold brew coffee to eliminate the acidity factor especially good before I’ve had food in my stomach. Maybe you have sensitive stomach too?

That’s how my cold brew coffee journey started… I learned to make my first batch of cold brew in Florence, Italy where mind you, delicious (acidic) coffee ☕️ is on every corner.

I saved my 1 euro coins and from that day on haven’t stopped my new calming morning cold brew practice. 🧡

Since then, I’ve learned a trick or two…

Like… these days, I use organic ground coffee mostly that’s generally even less acidic.

And when you add the tips above, you get a much lower acidic coffee.

So when you put all the smarts together, you can make and drink organic dark roast cold brew.

And what I love most about a morning cold brew coffee is that you can mix in flavors without the heat changing the flavor profile.

…Like the mint cold brew coffee ingredients below

Or… for a fruity twist you can add fruity flavors like peach that’s one mellow smooth coffee flavor.

That will give a fragrant note, and pleasant-light sweet taste instead of a bitter coffee after taste.

…I think it would make a light perfume to wear good for sticky days 💭

And on other idea notes… if you have extra peaches, you can also make refreshing fresh peach juice.

Another good cold brew drinking juice idea is a watermelon coffee idea you can sip on… that goes really well on a warmish afternoon like iced tea.

That’s the only good coffee watered down I’d recommend. 🍉 And an even better idea, add mint to your watermelon coffee or make a pure mint iced cold brew coffee like this one here.

Mint Iced Cold Brew Coffee

Course beverages

Cuisine American

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

mint leaves, chopped
1 drop peppermint oil
cold brew coffee
chocolate almond milk, unsweetened

Instructions

Blend ingredients and enjoy!

Orange Coffee You Can Make at Home

Orange coffee as in orange juice in the coffee is a powerful tasting combo. You may be scratching your head wondering how that odd combo is… that works unlike other citrus.

Below I share a couple orange photo inspiration as to what brought this on me…

And I understand if you need a ‘lil nudge because we’re used to separate cups and glasses for the two drinks.

Part of a popular American breakfast has both OJ and coffee.

But you gotta admit adding orange juice to your coffee sounds convenient (one less cup). ☕️

If you’re at a breakfast buffet, it’s one last cup you have to carry.

I’d say… also a smart idea that makes sense for boosting the immune system during holiday travel season… and calming anxious moods that oranges do. It’s good to carry one on ya!

Plus, orange 🍊 adds a nice flavor to your black coffee. Think of it like orange and chocolate or cocoa… another drink idea. 💭

Oranges brighten up your cup o’ joe choices.

And if you’re a Vata, you love the variety and oranges!

In a cup of coffee ☕️, the orange flavor comes through nicely… half orange (or at least 1/3) to half coffee makes it a brightened, pleasant taste…

The best way is with liquid orange juice you can freshly squeeze or mix with prepared juice. You can also use orange zest if you don’t mind the solid textures.

Those are the best ways for the zesty flavor punch to come through.

And the home healthiest way is with fresh orange juice and cold brew coffee.

…Cold brew coffee has less acidity than regular brewed coffee ways. And fresh orange juice has less acidity than concentrated juices you would buy at the grocery stores.

If acidity is a concern, you can add spices like cinnamon and ginger to help tone down and counteract effects.

The caffeine in coffee btw is loaded with antioxidants that are good for not only quick cognitive reasons, but also improving heart health.

We all love that! ❤️‍🔥

And when you use fresh whole oranges, you bypass sugar added to processed orange juice from concentrate.

You get the Vitamin C and A antioxidants plus minerals and fiber.

Orange juice sales ramp up in the cooler winter months when people are thinking about ramping up on Vitamin C for cold and flu season.

And as helpful nature would have it, oranges are winter fruits.

That’s a great way to start the morning!

They support happy hormones and reducing stress hormones. Gotta love that too! 😀

Your choice of orange is based on your preference and where you are.

For a sweeter orange, you could select a blood orange, navel orange, or a Cara Cara orange.

You can also sometimes find oranges year-round depending on if there’s a good sunshine season.. That’s why Florida and California are the abundant king and queen orange states. ☀️

A Florida orange has thinner skin than California navel, and are more like Valencia oranges that are the most common kind internationally and around the world.

You can tell where you are located just by the oranges in the stores and trees. 🍊

…Like these Spanish ohh-ahh orange trees I saw. Can you imagine these fresh ones for breakfast?

I had my first Sevilla orange for the first time years ago and it was coffee life changing. That was one of the years I spent Thanksgiving overseas.

And then back home n the States, had Sevilla orange coffee that was inspired by my fun visit to Spain.

…As fun as these peppermint arches in Cordoba. 🎪

Coffee Milkshake with Cold Brew (3-Ingredients)

Coffee milkshake is a nice option along with many coffee drinks out there… coffee lattes, macchiatos, cappuccinos… and the list keeps growing as coffee interest grows. ☕️

I was a late coffee bloomer if there’s such a thing… starting a morning routine decades into life.

It was a bitter acquired taste to my younger self.

But I realized after some years into the happy habit, around the 7-year switch (like allergy changes), that my gut couldn’t keep up with my cup o’ java demand… so I switched to homemade cold brew coffee.

Because I didn’t wanna give up my new healthy routine.

Afterall, black coffee is a healthy plant-based antioxidant beverage choice. Tea has its own special place in my drink world, but after noon. 🕛

…And with a cold brew coffee milkshake, you don’t have to choose, you can enjoy anytime of day!

It’s a great treat option (…yes/maybe?) especially when it’s still warm temperatures outside. And that can be closer to year round in these climate change days.

…So why not?

A coffee milkshake like this one is different because it has soft serve-style ice cream, and cold brew coffee.

Cold brew takes minutes to make or “brew.”

And just seconds if you’ve been on the cold brew coffee bandwagon for a while, and have your setup and coffee grounds available.

…I could make you a nice cup in a minute and it’d be ready to drink in that same minute. 😊

I started making cold brew daily in 2019.

That’s when I discovered that I could not have a regular morning coffee routine because of the acidity. Whether it was the fasting day next morning or it was breakfast time, my stomach needs water and food first!

…Maybe yours is like that too.

But I can enjoy cold brew coffee at ease with some small food (like a banana, yogurt, or some fiber) in the gut.

So if you have a sensitive gut or lining, that’s something to consider… and maybe you don’t have to give up a coffee habit or coffee morning routine if you don’t wanna.

…And this light creamy coffee milkshake is a nice complement.

You can keep adding cold brew to your milkshake that can be a breakfast shake (or more like a light cappuccino). 🧋

And it’s a healthy breakfast dessert drink because it’s light but also has egg protein. 🥚

With a plant-based milk like almond milk added, this does your body good. 🌱

Since cold brew coffee is less acidic in the process, you can start your morning with any ground coffee that you can sift through the coffee filter, that is “the brew” process in cold brew.

You can use light, medium, or dark black coffee grounds. Whatever suits your fancies.

And to top it all off, the optional sweet zhugh is chocolate shavings. If you use dark chocolate then you gain some additional healthy polyphenol anti-inflammatory points. 🎉

That’s all the sugar needed in this coffee milkshake drink, if any.

It’s not loaded with sugar like so many cool coffee beverages you buy that give even my inner child a sugar skin crawl attack just looking at how many grams of sugar. 😮

This milkshake can have no added sugar and be wickedly good!

…And not only is this a low-sugar beverage, you gotta love that this is 3-ingredient easy shake steps… where you focus mostly on the drinking enjoyment!

Coffee Milkshake with Cold Brew

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

⅓ cold brew coffee
⅓ milk (unsweetened almond milk recommended)
⅓ cup scoop of ice cream

Instructions

Hand mix ingredients. Enjoy!

Earth Day Layered Plant Based Cold Brew Coffee

Earth Day drink is in order for earth day that’s year round! 🌱

This special earth day drink is an evolving and refreshing drink good for mornings and afternoons.

You can see it start with defined drink layers. One layer that you can choose is organic cold brew coffee.

This Earth Day drink is a daily earth day reminder.

As the iceberg ice cube melts, it’s blending into the Earth Day drink that now looks like the ocean. 🌊

It’s starting to get green. This is a lot like our icebergs melting, creating warming and climate change.

Btw, this is an outdoor-allergy-free drink. 😊

It’s plant-based kind you want around daily as a reminder.

This plant-based drink can be the new reminder.

Arbor Day was an annual day and event to plant a small tree that was a reminder of our earth.

And when you take it in and of the freezer you are reminded.

This greening effect is the same drink put back in the freezer and brought back out the next day with a little more water (less ice cube).

You can make your own Earth Day drink as a reminder of your health, earth, and life. 🌱

If you like healthy shakes, you’ll love these fruit shake recipes 🍓

Earth Day Layered Plant Based Cold Brew Coffee

This planet-reminding changing drink is a fun and delicious beverage.

Course beverage

Cuisine American

Ingredients

black cocoa
cold brew coffee
plant-based milks (almond milk, cashew milk, etc.)
gluten-free flour (coconut or almond flour)
blueberry tea
blueberries
Pandan (gel works best)

Instructions

Layer and freeze each layer before adding another layer.
Layer 1: milk
Layer 2: layer with black cocoa, gluten-free flour, and milk (or cream) that's more creamy and good for beverages.
Layer 3: cold blueberry tea
Layer 4: cold brew coffee (or coffee of choice)
Layer 5: milk
Add a few blueberries if you like.
Make plant-based pandan ice cube. Add pandan mixed with water and freeze
Add the ice cube to the top frozen layer.
Bring drink out to regular room temperature about 10-15 minutes before you want to consume if semi-frozen and 30 minutes or longer if frozen solid. Watch your planet beverage change before your very eyes! For kids, you can swap cocoa or chocolate milk for the coffee layer.

How To Make Cold Brew Coffee – Organic Healthy

How to make cold brew coffee can seem too easy. Even a child can make the adult drink at home. Below are the steps to make an organic healthy batch.

how to make cold brew coffee is easy enough with a jar, filter, and coffee filters.

Cold brew coffee is the easy coffee you can drink daily if you’re a cuppa joe in the morning type of person and want to be more healthy.

…Funny story, I was in Florence, Italy for several weeks where 1 euro delicious espresso coffee is on every corner. But one day, I was feeling the effects.

I learned I had to eat something first. And if you’re like me, Italian or regular coffee and especially espresso is too strong and the acidity tears up the stomach.

From that discovery and day on, I started making cold brew coffee from the Italian grocery store coffee. I didn’t want to give up my daily routine.

Below you’ll get the easy how to make cold brew coffee steps and my detail tips to get the best cold brew.

Organic cold brew coffee looks like regular coffee. — You can use the information below s to make your organic cold brew coffee and routine. ☕️

But first, let’s talk about why you’d want to switch from regular coffee…

Brewed coffee (or the regular coffee process) yields a more acidic coffee than cold brew in the process.

So if you want a lighter feeling coffee with a medium taste, then cold brew has its body health benefits.

…And why I do organic coffee cold brew daily.

Organic coffee is preferred because the bulk of coffee is sprayed with pesticides.

So if you’re noticing brain fog or blips in short-term memory has got you these days and you don’t know why, if you drink coffee, then the non-organic coffee could be the offender.

Just something to consider switching to organic coffee for a month to see if you feel a difference.

Organic coffee to buy can be more expensive and slightly harder to source, but you get to ask yourself what your health is worth and if you want to make the additional search effort.

These are just a few organic cold brew coffee benefits:

☕️ You can make and drink cold brew coffee faster than you can wait for hot coffee to brew (and wait for it to cool some).

☕️ Cold brew also has health benefits. It’s less acidic through the cold brew process than regular hot coffee or espresso. This is good especially if you have a sensitive stomach or gut lining, and feel heartburn effects from coffee.

☕️ With cold brew, you may not need to eat your first meal first before your first cup as it’s more gentle and doesn’t need the food buffer.

…Many of us wake up groggy and tired, and we want our coffee first thing. But first we need a soft pillow of food in our stomach, that’s not the preference when you’re not quite awake and ready yet for eating.

So that’s where cold brew ROCKS… and is ready for you as you can make the day before or batches days or a week in advance and refrigerate!

☕️ If you gave up on coffee because it tears up your stomach or gives you heartburn, then cold brew coffee could be a good option so you can bring the healthy drink back. This point can’t be emphasized enough. ‼️

Or if you want a lighter cup of coffee during your day that won’t affect your sleep at night, cold brew coffee could be the way to go!

☕️ Cold brew coffee is great for hot weather days as your coffee is served cold. You make at room temperature and then refrigerate.

Making cold brew at home is also a mindful, relaxing activity. And it doesn’t have to end there…

If you know me, you know I like to zhugh up any food or beverages (probably from my catering background), so I’ll share how I do that too below!

What you will need:

-Ground coffee

-Mesh catcher (with a lip or rim)

-Coffee filters

-Spoon

-Water

-Deep bowl at least 6” high/deep OR pitcher with a large opening almost or just slightly larger than the mesh catcher diameter is ideal (but as long as most the mesh catcher sits inside the pitcher, it’ll work).

If you use a pitcher, you won’t need another pitcher to pour your finished coffee into as your cold brew coffee can go straight into the pitcher and fridge.

How to Cold Brew Setup:

Bowl: Find or buy a right-size mesh catcher that works comfortably for your cold brew coffee prep setup, where the coffee filter fits in easily.

Rest the mesh catcher to then rest on top of the bowl.

Set the coffee filter to sit in the catcher as flat or parallel to the table surface as best it can, so you don’t have coffee and water in the filter dripping or tipping over. Then you have your bowl setup.

home cold brew coffee setup.

Or…

Pitcher: You can put your filter/catcher ontop of a wider-opening pitcher. If you use a pitcher, you want most of the bottom half of the catcher to sit inside the pitcher so your coffee brewing doesn’t spill over in the sides.

organic cold brew coffee strained into and stored in a large jar.

So then you have your setup from one of the options above.

Good job!

Next, you can bring on the ground coffee grinds. See what I did there… ground grinds. 😊

I like to make cold brew coffee in the morning to get a good whiff of the coffee grounds, and as a sensory experience and relaxing mindful activity. 🧡

You can even pull out your setup the day or night before if you just want to make a cup in the morning or a batch for a couple days.

Mind you, the fresh-made coffee will be room temps warmer than when you refrigerate, but that’s actually better for your stomach in the morning when you’re getting your day started.

The stomach prefers room temperature liquids, and preferrably a big glass of plain water first.

And then in choosing coffee types, use ground coffee types. It’s easy to get enamored by coffee flavors, packaging, and brands, but be sure it’s “ground” otherwise they’ll be “whole” and you’ll need to make the grounds.

It’s better to use a mix of superfine ground coffee and a coarser ground coffee so the grounds don’t fall through the filter. Or find one that is just perfect for you and stick with it.

They stay grounded 😉

How to Make Cold Brew Coffee

To start making cold brew coffee, pour your ground coffee mix (about 1/2 cup to ¾ cup coffee grounds total for a large batch) in the filter. Every coffee grind is different. You can use less if you just want to make a cup.

You can start with 1/4 cup coffee grounds to make a cup or two of coffee. These will be the strongest cups from the grounds.

With a spoon, mix the ground coffees up a little in your catcher-filter setup before you pour in water to possibly prevent fine ground coffee from falling through the filter.

Pour cool water over the coffee grounds. Filtered water is good. The cold water is the process secret to keeping the coffee from becoming more acidic (healthy benefit). You can use room temperature water and it will be fine.

After you refrigerate it will be served “cold brew.”

In the beginning, the water will go through the filter fast and you will get a light brown/caramel trail of coffee water in your pitcher or bowl.

That won’t be the final coffee you’ll be drinking.

When you keep pouring into the catcher-filter, then the darker coffee color comes out that you were probably expecting.

Troubleshooting: If your ground coffee mix sends some of the grounds through the filter or you accidentally spill some grounds in your ready-made coffee, then you can simply start over with a new coffee filter in a second bowl.

The second bowl can catch the second round of coffee being made that sometimes can turn out better. Pour your first setup coffee and coffee grounds into the filter of the second.

So back on track… from time to time, take a spoon and stir the coffee ground and water in your filter, trying not to have coffee water overflow.

Keep pouring water as it filters down. And if you pour into a cup, watch it drip darker coffee after the first half of a cup or so.

More Coffee… thinking ahead for tomorrow

Then if you want to add more ground coffee, you can make a bigger coffee batch or a pitcher with your current setup.

This less potent coffee is good for lighter coffees.

…I like to make cappuccinos with after the first two cups of cold brew coffee.

You can make foam or froth milk (I find unsweetened coconut milk the easiest to get a good froth with a frother), or you can use a little whipped cream.

Then I add a dash of cocoa, cinnamon, pumpkin spice, or cardamom.

Oh, and one final cold brew coffee benefit: If you make cold brew coffee at home, you’ll never again be without coffee if the machine doesn’t work! You can always make your own instant coffee without a machine.

You can also pair your plant-based coffee habit to some great plant-based breakfast ideas to break away from the sugar breakfast habits or adding sugar to coffee. Sugar we know accumulates and works to destroy the biome.

So organic cold brew coffee and healthy eating together can be a better habit.

Easy Cold Brew Coffee

Course beverages

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10

Servings 2 cups

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Equipment

1 regular paper coffee filter
strainer for filters
pitcher or large deep set bowl

Ingredients

¼ cup ground coffee for 2 cups of stronger coffee
water

Instructions

After you have your cold brew coffee setup, pour water through. The first 30 seconds of water pours will go right through. Examine if you're getting the medium to dark brown coffee color (if not, pour the watered down coffee into a temporary glass and then pour through again). If the coffee is too finely ground or too coarse, this can happen. If too fine, add/blend about a tablespoon of a slightly coarser ground coffee to the filter. This should even out the coffee grinds.
Keep pouring water and pour your first cup of coffee (will be the strongest). You can keep going until the cold brew coffee is weaker strength or turning lighter color.