No doubt, even if it didn’t taste fabulous, the cascading effect of this beverage makes nitro coffee incredibly appealing. Prepping a nitro cold brew at home is a sure-fire way to impress (indeed, astound) your flatmates.
In this piece, we’ll be taking you through the step-by-step process of how you can make nitro cold brew coffee at home. We’ll show you how you can use a professional Nitro Whip with N₂ chargers. This nifty nitro coffee machine produces delicious, rich and creamy coffee, without breaking your bank account.
What Makes a Nitro Coffee?
Thanks to its stunning, stand-out visuals and decadent taste, nitro coffee has become a firm favourite in speciality cafes. Its popularity has been consistently rising for the past few years, which has made it a popular option behind the bars of specialty cafes and commercial coffee shops alike.
It may look super fancy, but a nitro cold brew coffee is simply a cold brew coffee that’s been infused with nitrogen. The nitrogen imparts two important elements to the drink: an extra richness and sweetness to its taste, and an incredible visual element, made up of millions of cascading micro-bubbles.
Why Is Nitro Cold Brew So Popular?
Aside from our shallow obsession with its appearance, there are four key reasons underpinning nitro cold brew’s rise to fame:
- All of its components can be prepared in advance in bigger batches.
- It can be served in no time at all, straight from a tap on a bar.
- Due to its creamy, velvety texture, it’s an appealing option for people who usually prefer milky coffee.
- The cascading effect of nitro coffee is so intriguing that many people want to give it a go for that reason alone!
Several years ago, the number of nitro coffee tools available on the market were incredibly limited. In fact, many early advocates of the brew method ended up building their own system by adapting tools that were designed for the craft beer world.
Now, in 2020, things are completely different – you can choose from several consumer products (priced at under €200). Or, there is a range of different coffee brands that have started selling pre-made nitro coffee in cans.
Whipping Up a Nitro Coffee at Home
If you fancy attempting to make your own cold brew (before you settle with the premade option), then you’ve got two kinds of machines to choose from – a keg style and a whipper style. From these options, the two main nitro coffee makers that are currently leading the way:
- NitroPress from London’s Hatfields (costing around €145),
- Nitro Whip from Austrian iSi (costing around €135).
Making nitro cold brew at home is actually far less complex than it sounds. In essence, it requires you to first, make cold brew coffee, then second, infuse it with nitrogen. We’ll be detailing these steps in more detail below.
Our Nitro Cold Brew Recipe
Step 1: Making the cold brew coffee
First, pick the right method to make cold brew coffee. We are using the TODDY Cold Brewer (other machines are available, of course), combine 120g of coffee and 720ml of room temperate water, to create a brew ratio of 1:6. We let it steep for 16 hours before filtering it out.
Step 2: Infusing cold brew with nitrogen
Once you’ve made your cold brew coffee (and got your hands on a nitro coffee dispenser), it’s a really simple process. Pour your coffee into the flask, close it, charge it with Nitrogen and shake it a few times. Then, pick a nice transparent glass, pour in the coffee and admire your luxurious nitro coffee.
