On a hot afternoon, take a pitcher of cold brew out of the fridge, pour it into a glass packed with ice, and what greets your nose is often not bitter char but an intoxicating aroma like rum or ripe fruit wine. This alluring boozy note is not artificially added; it comes from the fermentation-like character the coffee grounds develop during a long, low-temperature steep, drinking like a glass of icy fruit wine that is both refreshing and captivating.

To get this wonderful boozy aroma, the key lies in the balance between extraction yield and strength. Because cold brew uses room-temperature or ice water for steeping, the water temperature is extremely low, and it dissolves compounds far more slowly than hot water. The low temperature mainly draws out small-molecule aromatic compounds and fruit acids, while those large molecules that bring bitter char and smoky off-notes are hard to dissolve out. As long as you give it enough steeping time, the sugars and aromatic components in the coffee grounds can be fully released and slowly ferment.

If the cold brew you make at home tastes weak, it is usually because the grind is too coarse or the steeping time is too short, so the extraction yield is low and the flavors have not fully emerged; if it feels too strong or heavy, it is often because the coffee-to-water ratio is too small and the high strength masks the layers; and if an annoying astringency appears in the finish, it is mostly over-extraction from grinding too fine. In that case, just adjust the grind slightly to the coarseness of fine granulated sugar and widen the coffee-to-water ratio, and the mouthfeel will return to balance.

If you want to quickly get a feel for a bag of beans, you may first use a regular pour-over as a baseline reference: take 15g of grounds with a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, that is 225ml of water, keep the water temperature at around 90 degrees, first bloom with 30ml of water for 30 seconds, then pour in stages, keeping the total time at about 1 minute 50 seconds to 2 minutes 20 seconds. By sensing its sweet-and-sour performance through this standard pour-over, you can predict whether it is suited to being brewed strong or light as cold brew.

When choosing beans, you should also consider whether the beans are suited to being drunk strong or light. Beans with high sweetness, dark berry aromas and fermented flavors are better suited to a higher-strength cold brew, full and juicy on the palate, with the boozy aroma more intense and mellow; while beans dominated by elegant floral notes and citrus acidity are better suited to a larger coffee-to-water ratio for a crisp, delicate fruit-tea-like cold brew, especially pleasant sipped in small mouthfuls, which is why medium and medium-light roasts perform particularly well.

For those who love a rich fermented boozy aroma, Qianjie Strawberry Candy coffee beans are highly recommended. Under a special processing method, these beans naturally carry a thick strawberry jam and tropical fruit flavor; for cold brew, it is suggested to use a 1:11 coffee-to-water ratio and steep in the fridge for 10 to 12 hours. It drinks with no bitterness at all, and on the palate it is like a glass of chilled grape fruit wine; as it sits in the fridge for two more days, the mellow boozy aroma and sweetness become even more pronounced.

Qianjie Blackberry coffee beans and Qianjie Sidra coffee beans also carry a tipsy charm. Qianjie Blackberry has the full sweet-and-sour of dark berries, and after cold brew maturation it shows a rich texture like blackcurrant fruit wine; Qianjie Sidra brims with delicate fermented fruit aromas and candied-fruit sweetness. These two beans are naturally high in sweetness and low in bitterness; drunk at a slightly higher strength, the mouth is full of jam-like solid sweetness, with an especially long finish.

If you prefer a bright, translucent mouthfeel, you can also try the light-drinking route, such as choosing Qianjie Gudingding Cooperative coffee beans or Qianjie Little Tomato coffee beans. Qianjie Gudingding Cooperative can steep into a clarity like jasmine tea, with a lightness of citrus; Qianjie Little Tomato has a clean, translucent sweet-and-sour. Cold brew with a larger coffee-to-water ratio of around 1:13, it drinks with pleasant sweet-and-sour, like a glass of chilled natural fruit tea.

Making cold brew is actually a very casual, leisurely thing, needing no complicated equipment, just a sealed jar, clean water and a fridge. As long as you understand how grind size and coffee-to-water ratio affect extraction, then choose the right beans according to your preferred strength, you can easily brew your own tipsy flavor in the fridge. While the weather is good, why not prepare a pitcher of rich, fruit-wine-like cold brew for yourself and quietly wait for the wonderful magic of time.