Coarse Ground Coffee results in a smooth, understated beverage that can be brewed cold overnight. But aside from the grind and the brew, the actual bean matters the most in the resulting coffee’s taste.
The best coarse ground coffee is one that has great taste, excellent aroma, and effectiveness in waking you up. Stone Street Coffee’s Dark Roast is among the most recommended beans for cold brew because of their high quality, distinct taste, and smell, as well as the stimulation they provide.
In this article, you will learn more about this coffee alongside seven more options. But before judging the beans and learning more about their origins, let’s look at the criteria and its rationale.
The Criteria:
Drinking coffee is a multi-sensory experience, with the aroma being as important as the taste. They are both important factors in determining the coffee’s origin, freshness, and roast profile. Last but not least, the effectiveness of a particular coffee in brightening up your day and making you ready for it is its most significant job as well.
Let us take a look at eight options for coarse ground coffee for a cold brew and rate their aroma, taste, and effectiveness along the way for you to make the best choice possible when shopping for coffee.
1. Stone Street Coffee Dark Roast
Stone Street Coffee is a quintessential Brooklyn roastery that New Yorkers swear by. It opened in 2009 and has now expanded into a full-fledged coffee empire that boasts incredible roasteries of farms. Its dark roast coffee is considered one of the best overall, with the signature rich, creamy, and pure taste of 100% Colombian Supremo beans.
Taste: 9.5/10
Stone Street Dark Roast Coffee holds the perfect formula to make a bold, balanced, low-acid, slightly sweet cold brew or iced coffee that can be conveniently adjusted according to preference. More quantity of this coffee, along with a longer brewing time, provides you with an extra-strong flavor, one which can be lightened as well with the addition of water.
Aroma: 9.5/10
Stone Street Coffee classifies their coffee beans as “supremo,” which means that they are the largest and the best quality beans that come from Colombia. These 100% Colombian Supremo beans not only taste but also smell heavenly and are among the avid coffee drinkers’ most liked options. Dark roasting these beans brings out their nutty/chocolatey notes, which smells and tastes divine.
Effectiveness: 9.5/10
Stone Street Coffee’s cold brew blend is designed specifically to make coffee that is not only smooth but also less acidic or bitter tasting, which makes it quite popular. The fresh gourmet arabica coffee beans from Colombia used in this brew can be coarse ground right before brewing to ensure maximum flavor. Moreover, the beans are packed with a one-way degassing valve that retains all the freshness and aroma while cleansing the beans of CO2.
2. The Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Koke
The Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Koke coffee by Brandywine Coffee grows in the Yirgacheffe region of Ethiopia at the height of 1,400 meters above sea level. Drying on cherries for two days and then further drying on raised beds is all a part of the meticulous growing process of these single-origin beans that are light and contain notes of raspberry and coconut.
Taste: 9/10
The Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Koke coffee has a rich flavor infused with the aroma of mixed fruit, a fir-like wood, and honey. They exhibit intense notes of herbs along with more fragrant and cedar-toned wood. Coffee drinkers are usually intoxicated by the long, flavor-rich finish that comes with fruit notes of berry, stone fruit, citrus, and black currant once the brew cools down a notch.
Aroma: 9/10
The natural process of growing and shipping Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Koke coffee beans retains the rich taste and aroma of the soil. Their fruity undertones make for a richness-infused aroma that not only enriches its flavor but also adds to the flavor-rich finish.
Effectiveness: 8.5/10
This coffee is intended to be enjoyed as a single-origin espresso. Its rich flavor and fruity undertones make it an out-of-the-world brewed coffee that can be taken either black for utmost richness or with whitener that makes it smoother. With an above-average acidity and body, it makes one of the best and most popular cold brews.
3. Lifeboost Coffee Single Origin
Lifeboost Coffee Single Origin is one of only cold brews that checks all the factors that contribute to a good cold brew (price, ingredients, and lack of chemicals like pesticides). It is, therefore, a fantastic all-around option. With Arabica and Maragogipe beans sourced from the mountains of Nicaragua, Lifeboost’s medium roast is low in acidity and is infused with wood and sweet cocoa notes, which taste heavenly when cold brewed.
Taste: 9/10
Lifeboost Single Origin Acid-Free Coffee is not only delicious but also ethically sourced from the Mountains of Central America. As a result of each coffee bean being hand-selected to ensure maximum purity from all bird-friendly farms, the taste is low in acidity and boasts the richest and most fulfilling flavor.
Aroma Rating 8.5/10
Lifeboost Single Origin Acid-Free Coffee is grown at a high elevation in the mountains of Central America, and a single whiff of this brew takes you directly to the environment it comes from. These sun-dried and spring-water-washed beans result in the most natural and rich flavor that can come from coffee.
Effectiveness: 9.5/10
Lifeboost Single Origin Acid-Free Coffee beans are Usda Certified Organic and 3rd Party Tested for mycotoxins, heavy metals, pesticides, and 400 other toxins. These organic and low-acid beans deliver the rich benefits of coffee without the unwanted side effects, and that is what makes them popular.
4. Lavazza Dek Decaffeinated Whole Beans
Lavazza Dek Decaffeinated Whole Beans are a decaffeinated coffee blend with a smooth and fully rounded texture and incredible fragrance. Because it is decaffeinated through a natural and meticulous process, these Italian whole coffee beans deliver the most fulfilling flavor and aroma expected of rich coffee beans.
Flavor: 8/10
Lavazza Dek Decaffeinated Whole Beans deliver a rich and unmistakable flavor that owes to its all-natural decaffeination process. Composed of Arabica and Robusta beans, this blend makes the most balanced, full-bodied, and rounded blend with a smooth flavor.
Aroma: 9/10
These beans boast an exceptional fragrance with notes of roasted corals and barrique. It also contains tasting notes of dried fruit which further enrich this smooth blend. It is a creamy dark roast and is quite popular amongst the masses because of its smooth flavor.
Effectiveness: 8.5/10
The Lavazza Dek Decaffeinated Whole Beans medium roast is blended and roasted in Italy. It is also produced in a nut-free facility, so all you get is exceptionally blended and roasted coffee. With its perfectly fragrant aroma and creamy dark roast flavor, it is considered one of the best options in decaffeinated brews.
5. Tiny Footprint Coffee Organic Cold Press Elixir
Tiny Footprint Coffee Organic Cold Press Elixir beans are the world’s first carbon-negative coffee. A portion is donated to the proceeds to fund reforestation in Ecuador’s Mindo cloud forest for each pound of this coffee that is sold. These beans are 100% arabica and are grown in the shade at high altitudes, which adds to their flavor, aroma, and richness.
Flavor: 9/10
Tiny Footprint Coffee Organic Cold Press Elixir has a rich, sweet and silky richness with subtle undertones of bright fruit and floral patterns. These are infused in a cocoa-like body and make up the perfect concoction of richness and smoothness.
Aroma: 8.5/10
These carbon-negative and earth-positive organic cold press beans bring with them the taste of positivity and a love of the environment apart from a rich taste and aroma. Tiny Footprint Coffee uses 100% Organic Shade-Grown Arabica Coffee infused with a whiff of nature and fruity and floral undertones.
Effectiveness: 9/10
The Tiny Footprint Coffee Organic Cold Press Elixir beans are craft roasted in vintage 90-kilo German-built Probat drum roasters that are retrofitted with modern fuel-efficient ribbon burners, which deliver perfectly roasted brew every single time. This rich blend is crafted perfectly for cold brew, with a mixture of light and dark roasts spiked with the best Ethiopian coffees.
6. Lifeboost Organic Light Roast
Lifeboost Organic Light Roast is not your regular mass-produced, blended coffee filled with chemicals and additives. Rather, it is one of the healthiest and best-tasting coffee endorsed by specialists and coffee lovers alike. Every Lifeboost Organic Light Roast bag guarantees beans from a single origin.
Taste: 9.5/10
Lifeboost Organic Light Roast is one of the cleanest, purest and healthiest coffees with a rich and smooth flavor. Each bag of this blend is filled with beans from the same farm, the same plant, and the same roast profile, which adds immensely to its texture.
Aroma: 9/10
Lifeboost Organic Light Roast is amongst the 2% of the world’s coffee that is grown in shade. Without the sun beating down on its rich and complex texture, this coffee has the most intoxicating aroma that gets you hooked.
Effectiveness: 9/10
Lifeboost Organic Light Roast is grown free of Mycotoxins that usually grow in coffee beans and trigger numerous medical complications. This shade-grown coffee is natural, pure, and free of pesticides and therefore encompasses all the naturally occurring benefits of coffee in its mouth-watering taste.
7. Coffee Bros. Cold Brew Blend
Coffee Bros. is a company founded by two brothers with an overflowing passion for high-quality coffee. Their Cold Brew Blend is a perfect example of the quality sourcing and small-batch roasting that their brand is famous for. Naturally processed 100% Arabica beans are used for Coffee Bros. Cold Brew Blend, which makes it one of a kind.
Taste: 9/10
Coffee Bros. Cold Brew Blend is a concoction of 100% Arabica beans that are sourced from Minas Gerais, Brazil, and Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia, two of the premier growing regions of the world. These beans are naturally processed, which accounts for their smooth brew infused with flavors of chocolate, berry, and brown sugar.
Aroma: 7.5/10
Some coffee lovers deem the aroma of Coffee Bros. Cold Brew Blend to be a little too overpowering. However, most people feel greatly attracted to the inherent sweet smell that results from the careful and meticulous roasting of these naturally processed beans.
Effectiveness: 9/10
Coffee Bros. Cold Brew Blend is perfectly crafted to bring the sweet and juicy flavors wanted by every coffee lover in a refreshing cold brew. The natural circumstances around this brew emphasize its purity and effectiveness, making it quite popular amongst the masses.
8. Café Du Monde Coffee (With Chicory)
Cafe du Monde is a French coffee shop operating in New Orleans since 1862 and is quite popular amongst tourists because of its famed chicory-infused cold brew. Its bitter dark roast is limited by the crafty infusion of chicory root, which, although not enjoyed by everybody, is quite a distinctive approach to coffee.
Taste: 8/10
Café Du Monde Coffee (With chicory) has a distinct bitter flavor of a dark roast which is effectively limited with the help of softened and ground chicory root. This cold brew is known for its signature mellow flavors that come with a smooth and light body and low bitterness.
Aroma: 8/10
The softened chicory root added to this cold brew adds a sweet tobacco-smoke aroma which effectively enhances its already rich flavor. The addition of dairy brings about a new and rich aroma in this textured brew.
Effectiveness: 8.5/10
Café Du Monde Coffee is inexpensive and readily available. The naturally sourced beans are exceptionally tasting when brewed, either cold or hot, and are very smooth in texture. Although these beans have less caffeine due to dilution, which is chicory, they are quite effective in serving their rich purpose.
Final Thoughts
Cold Brew coffee tastes the way it tastes because it is infused by the coffee grounds‘ essence over a long time at a lower temperature. Getting the right roast is then as critical as getting the right beans. All of the above options are excellent candidates for your next cold brew, but to find the one you’ll live forever, I recommend getting a bad of each and checking in with your personal preferences.