Coffee Mead

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

BigStone777

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2008
Messages
66
Reaction score
2
Location
Zhengzhou, China
Before I started brewing (just several weeks ago), i asked a friend if one could make anything by fermenting coffee or coffee beans... he said there really isn't anything fermentable in coffee.
Well, now that i have been reading on this stuff, could one make mead using coffee instead of water? Or what would happen if one added a few cups of coffee beans to second fermentation?

There is actually a way to make coffee, called 'cold brewing'. that is, you put coffee beans in a bottle of water, and put it in the fridge for a long time. The flavor eventually comes out, without even heating the water or grinding the beans...
 
I made a German Chocolate coffee mead a few months ago doing just that. As you said, I cold brewed some crushed flavored coffee beans and made mead with the diluted coffee. It's only 6-8 months old and I haven't tried it yet. It had a very nice aroma when it was bottled though.

IMG_1337.JPG
 
Details man... Details!

I am curious about this... How much coffee? How much water? How long did you cold-brew? (And why not just regular brew?)

Cheers!
 
BS777: Where are you finding coffee in China? Four things Chinese seem to neglect:

Beer
Coffee
Bread
Cheese

Which also happens to be four of my favorites... Been able to make the first three myself (coffee grows here), but still coming up short on the cheese...

我有一点不高兴
 
I have a mead idea I've been coming up with in my head including coffee. I'll let folks know when I nail it all down and do it. Maybe in the next month or two.
 
BS777: Where are you finding coffee in China?

Where i live in Zhengzhou City, theres a market for restaurants and hotels to buy their equipment like crazy big woks and stuff that you don't see in the normal shops. Among other things, they sell coffee beans in clear plastic 'coffee bags', and no labels or brands on the bags, really cheap but descent quality. I pay 25 yuan a bag, and I think its just under a Kg of beans. They have several kinds, my favorite of which is Brazil. I got some Cuban coffee at one point, and it was amazing... but they stopped carrying it. Right now the coffee i have is Peets, brought to be from the US. I dont have a source for cheese, though I bet a western restaurant here would sell me some...

I have an international trade company in HK, and a friend with a tea factory in FuJian... I've been thinking about making my own brand of coffee beans for export... and of course to share with my friends in the mainland... Question is, if you buy a coffee plant from Cuba or Columbia, and grow it in southern China, can you label it as Cuban or Columbian coffee?

我每天很高兴。
 
I have an international trade company in HK, and a friend with a tea factory in FuJian... I've been thinking about making my own brand of coffee beans for export... and of course to share with my friends in the mainland... Question is, if you buy a coffee plant from Cuba or Columbia, and grow it in southern China, can you label it as Cuban or Columbian coffee?

我每天很高兴。

Climate has much more to do with the end product than the plant when it comes to coffee. I would think you would end up with different beans in HK than you would elsewhere, even using the same plant. You might be better off either working on a deal to import beans or cultivate your own HK Coffee image.
 
ChshreCat is correct: the variety would be where its grown (Fujian Coffee)

I think in Fujian, you would have trouble with arabica (too far north?) but robusta might work... Both are thriving here, and some are trying to encourage farmers to shade-grow it under the sprawling rubber plantations. Perhaps all they need is a committed buyer / exporter?

Shade grown / organic: now that's a seller...

Lets talk ;)
 
Details man... Details!

I am curious about this... How much coffee? How much water? How long did you cold-brew? (And why not just regular brew?)

Cheers!

I made a 5-gallon batch of traditional mead so I could experiment with adding flavor during the bulk aging phase. One was a Metheglin using spices, another was a Metheglin using elderberries, herbs, and dried flower petals. The last was the coffee mead.

I cold steeped 8 ounces of freshly ground German Chocolate coffee beans for 14 hours. I added one cup of the steeped and strained coffee to one cup of a 50-50 honey water mixture and added it to one gallon of traditional mead which had fermented to dryness.

OG on the traditional mead: 1.106 which fermented to .996. The final product after the addition of the coffee/honey was 1.006.

Cold steeping is the preferred way to use coffee in recipes since it allows you to extract the coffee flavor without bringing out the oils and acidity that come with traditional hot brewing.
 
What about cold steeping actually right in the must? Would that be ok, to just add the beans right in there and let them cold steep during the aging process? If it got too strong, that doesn't concern me. The stronger the better...
Would it make a difference?
 
Besides having far less control over the finished product, I don't know exactly what effect it would have to cold steep directly during fermentation. If you're going to do that it might be better to do so during the secondary stage, much as you would with oak. There may be some incompatible components in the coffee beans that hinder fermentation but, then again, maybe not. I don't really know.
 
Seriously though - whats all the fuss about cold steeping? Why not brew up a pot of good ole' Mr. Coffee (or Kāfēi Xiānsheng if you prefer) and dump it in the must?
 
Ahhh. But I like that harsh bitterness ;) . At 6am it really cuts through the fog. Though maybe not a good idea in my mead.
 
EUREEEEEKA!

It just hit me: Coffee Mead!

Right - I know that's what we have been talking about - but screw brewing... hell screw roasting, I'm going straight for the coffee cherries!

It's been used as a medicine and an ingredient in wine. It's been linked with revolutionary ideas.

Archaeology seem to indicate that people have been eating coffee cherries for the last 4,000 years or so. The ripe red coffee cherries also had a fairly high sugar content, so people being what they are they fermented them to make a sort of wine. There is some evidence that this was a trade item in early Roman times. The first coffee drink was almost certainly alcoholic!
- From Coffee for Connoisseurs

High sugar content... great flavor... COFFEE!!!

BigStone - I've got an idea for an export product ;) Lets talk.

*rushes out to pick coffee cherries*
 
EUREEEEEKA!

BigStone - I've got an idea for an export product ;) Lets talk.

*rushes out to pick coffee cherries*

Driftless- You're in FuJian, right? What part? I go to a town called ShunChang quite often, which is near WuYiShan and NanPing. My friend owns a descent tea factory and a couple tea mountains in WuYiShan... He is willing to help me create my own coffee brand for export, using his factory and equipment...
 
Nope- actually I'm in Yunnan... A little farther away from any ports, but a lot closer to coffee central.

There is a yunnan coffee brand here, but they haven't quite figured out how to do a dark roast...
 
EUREEEEEKA!

It just hit me: Coffee Mead!

Right - I know that's what we have been talking about - but screw brewing... hell screw roasting, I'm going straight for the coffee cherries!



- From Coffee for Connoisseurs

High sugar content... great flavor... COFFEE!!!

BigStone - I've got an idea for an export product ;) Lets talk.

*rushes out to pick coffee cherries*

Where in the world do you get raw coffee cherries? I like the way you think, but I'm not sure you'd be able to get enough to make a significant batch. Maybe a one gallon tester? If you do this, send me a little bottle. Even if it isn't all that good, telling the story of how it was made and what it was made out of would be entertaining as hell at parties :p
 
Where in the world do you get raw coffee cherries?

China.

No - seriously, China. Although it does have its setbacks when it comes to brewing, there are also a lot of interesting possibilities... Fruits I had never heard of (and whose English names I haven't learned yet...), jungle honey, though it is a bit hard to find DAP, or other additives...
 
In regard to Coffee Mead... what would happen if you started out with regular mead, and dumped your leftover coffee in there each day? Ok, every time you mess with the fermenter is a chance of introducing nasties into the must... yes, i know. Um, so you boil the coffee, cool it, and add it...? Hm, but black coffee doesn't really have ferment-ables or sugar in it... so would that just water down any good thing you had going on? or maybe the coffee, being an anti-oxidant, would help or hurt the yeast...? The acid in the coffee should help, shouldn't it, i guess depending on the pre-existing Ph levels...?
Just thinking out loud...

On a side note, I've been thinking about making some green tea mead... tea and honey go together quite well, and both are good for you... Unless theres a recipe to follow, I'll just do a 1 gal test batch...

EDIT: Ok, the more i think about it, the more stupid it sounds... but i still want to do green tea mead, maybe rack onto fresh ginger...
 
EDIT: Ok, the more i think about it, the more stupid it sounds... but i still want to do green tea mead, maybe rack onto fresh ginger...


I did a "Tonic" mead, which used Yerba Buena, Hibiscus, Green Tea, Ginger and Camomile. came out pretty good, with quite a "tea-like" flavor. I dig one out when a friend of mine is feeling a bit under the weather, cures 'em right up.
 
In regard to Coffee Mead... what would happen if you started out with regular mead, and dumped your leftover coffee in there each day?

EDIT: Ok, the more i think about it, the more stupid it sounds...
Hmmm... creative - but risky... And I see two holes in the theory: 1) Leftover coffee??? Who are we kidding? and 2) As you pointed out - you start seriously altering your ratios... lots more water. And the used grounds would be just that - used.


but i still want to do green tea mead, maybe rack onto fresh ginger...
I just sampled my ginger as I racked it to the secondary: 3 gallon batch with one full frozen ginger root grated and pre-boiled 30 minutes in the water for the primary and then strained out. That zip puts a smile on my face - and I think a hint of green tea would slide in nicely.
 
I have my first Cyser thats about ready to be racked for bulk aging... i may add some more honey, maybe also some ginger, cinnamon, and green tea (thinking about boiling those 3 in 1lb of honey, and racking onto it). We will see. I wouldn't normally boil honey for mead or Cyser, but maybe will this time so as to avoid adding too much water.
Depending on the strength of the stuff i rack onto, i will either leave it all in until bottling time, or rack again in a month. Any suggestions with that?
Yes, I am aware that adding this adds sugar, and will likely make it ferment a little more and do more bubbling. I like bubbles. Yay for bubbles!
 
... i may add some more honey, maybe also some ginger, cinnamon, and green tea (thinking about boiling those 3 in 1lb of honey, and racking onto it).
Although I have used cinnamon in a cyser (in stick pieces form), I have not used the other items you're considering.

Assuming your cyser tastes fine, I would urge caution when adding spices (any spices) as it can easily be overdone - learned the hard way. Also, sometimes the flavor combinations we think will be great, come out something quite different when mixed into meads other than traditional mead.

One method you might like to consider is to make a strong "tea" of the 3 flavors using a small amount of water - say 250-400 ml. Boil it down to ½ volume, remove from the heat, cool slightly, and then mix-in the honey. Keep a record of the amounts of each ingredient used.

Once the mixture is cooled to <100°F, draw a small sample from your cyser (~100ml). Now add a measured amount of your "tea" - say ~1-2ml. Mix thoroughly, and lest rest for an hour.

Now taste a small portion of the flavored test sample, taking your time to evaluate it. Adjust the sample to your liking, but keep a record of the volumes used, and wait at least an hour between subsequent tastings. Keep in mind "less is more".

I realize this seems like a lot of time & effort, but you'll be considerably more pleased with the results than just guessing at what seems right... ;)

Once you have a sample that you like, you can ratio the amount of the "tea" to be added to the remaining volume of mead with some confidence it will produce what you wanted... :tank:
 
One method you might like to consider is to make a strong "tea" of the 3 flavors using a small amount of water - say 250-400 ml. Boil it down to ½ volume, remove from the heat, cool slightly, and then mix-in the honey. Keep a record of the amounts of each ingredient used.

Thats actually the method i was thinking of using, so i would be controlling how strong or weak it turns out, rather than guessing. The specific instructions you gave are useful. Thanks. I may do that tomorrow.
 
...depending on which coffee you use I guess... hm, is there a coffee extract that could be used maybe? I am thinking more about the honey/ green tea/ ginger thing.
 
2) As you pointed out - you start seriously altering your ratios... lots more water. And the used grounds would be just that - used.

Ok, what about boiling the coffee to get rid of some of the water, and make it stronger? I'm talking coffee, not leftover grounds...
 
Ok, what about boiling the coffee to get rid of some of the water, and make it stronger? I'm talking coffee, not leftover grounds...

Okay - I am curious about the coffee concept. Since I am still not convinced that french-roast and mead belong together...

But if cold steeping is all the rage for brewing purposes, why not just dump some ground un-brewed coffee in your primary, or secondary, and let it do its thing for a few days... Save a lot of boil time, brew time, etc. Those grounds will just sink to the bottom eventually.

Sidenote: Just collected about 2kg of coffee cherries (apparently we are just in between fruiting events...) and am considering whether to add the skins. The skins have an earthy vegetation taste, while the the pulpy insides hold the sweet goodness... Of course, if there was a way to use the mucilage for mead, and save the coffee beans for roasting, then I would I have the perfect circle...

Just thinking out loud after another night of unbridled baijiu drinking...:drunk:
 
I know this is an old thread, but did anything ever come of all this coffee mead talk - and if so, how was it?

Would certainly be interested in people's recipes if some good came of it?
 
I'm curious how summersolistice's came out now that you've brought this up.
There was a place here that did a coffee mead using an Ethiopian Harrar from a local roaster(Bnektar & Chazzano).
As much as I like coffee, I can't really say it was my favorite mead to taste. It tasted good, smelled a little weird (I just don't like the smell of old coffee) and I'm not sure what I'd serve it with.
 
If you cold steep coffee beans in alcohol (vodka maybe?), the presumably this would avoid the "old" taste to the coffee? Think fresh coffee beans would be better for this, but I've no idea where they can be obtained in the UK.
 
Good question, I don't know if they hot steeped or cold steeped. I've used coffee once in a beer where I cold steeped, but someone recommends de-oiling espresso.

Try searching for roasters or a green coffee bean source if possible. Roast your own, it's pretty easy to do and pretty darn tasty.
 
I am leaning towards trying this with a 5 gallon batch of mead made with 4 gallons of liquid... (Then, adding 1 GALLON of freshly brewed gourmet - fresh roasted - fresh ground, etc. coffee during the first part of the cooling process....)
I am hoping the natural anti-oxidants in the coffee would not "kill the yeast" or anything....
I will definitely be experimenting with this concept... (Had to join this web site just because this thread showed up on a search engine...)

The reason for this approach would be that the HIGH HEAT of boiling messes with coffee... For excellent coffee you want the temperature just below boiling when you introduce it to the coffee grounds... (So no reason you can not boil the water first and then add it to the coffee to make sure it is close to sterile and does not introduce "nasties" to the mead...)

Being only 20% coffee it would probably make for a HORRIBLE cup of joe... (but I could definitely see people sensing a "hint of coffee" when trying to describe the flavor of the mead!! LOL)
I have my own coffee roaster and good sources for green beans... Right now I'm pretty weak on the "mead" side of things so I'd be happy to get together to work on this with someone who has more mead brewing skills to work on this concept... (I'm located in Apple Valley, CA)

Wonderbird
 
Most problems with bad taste of "old coffee" is that you do not want to subject coffee to heat for too long... Ugly things start to happen... If/when I try making a coffee mead I am going to introduce the coffee during the "cooling cycle" of the mead so that the coffee is not subjected to the heat of the boil...
 
Back
Top