Journal
Why we steep cold brew for exactly 18 hours
Twelve hours is sour, twenty-four is harsh. We stop at eighteen.
We tried everything from ten to twenty-six hours, three batches at each mark, tasted blind. Under fourteen hours the cup is thin and sour, like underripe fruit. Over twenty-two, the bitterness of the husk starts covering the sweetness.
At eighteen hours, at 1:12 with filtered water at 20°C, our cold brew finishes on ripe plum and cocoa — dark enough to take ice without going flat.