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What is sous vide coffee?

As the world has already embraced coffee, there are a select few that want bragging rights for the most convoluted or crazy coffee-making methods possible.

Step forward the Chicago-based barista team at Michelin-starred Band of Bohemia, who have created what could possibly be the first instance of sous vide coffee.

Sous vide is simply a cooking method whereby the food is vacuum sealed and then cooked in a water bath.

This seals in the flavour resulting in food that is succulent and exudes a whole host of flavours often lost through other cooking methods.

The team at Band of Bohemia add tarragon, rosemary, black cherry and pomegranate for a signature flavour that results in a coffee unlike anywhere else.

 

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“For the winter we are using deep, dark spices like tarragon, black cherry, and rosemary,” Band of Bohemia’s Head of Coffee and Tea, Tom Santelle told Extra Crispy.

“In the summer it was gooseberry, grape, and yarrow.” 

For the purposes of a normal brew, the longer you extract the coffee, the more natural sweetness is brought to the taster’s palate. 

So after an extended period in the water bath, the sealed coffee bag is removed and served in pour over fashion.

It’s said that the water temperature – being more controlled and gradual in temperature increase – means that the coffee has more nuanced flavours not usually picked up by other brewing methods.

We’re yet to try coffee this way, but with this guide, we’re going to teach you and give it a go ourselves!

How to make sous vide coffee

Unlike the cooking method, where water is omitted, with sous vide coffee, ground coffee and water are mixed before being sealed in a vacuum packed bag before being placed in the water bath.

Some enterprising folk are using mason jars filled to the brim. That can work too if you don’t have access to a vacuum packer.

Make sure you coffee is not too finely ground, big coffee granules are absolutely fine, as you’ll need to serve as a pour over.

Then the water bath is set to ‘cook’ for anywhere from half an hour to two hours – this is all dependent on your own preference from what we can gather – before you serve in pour over fashion.

You’ll likely need to play around, tweak and fine tune to find the optimum taste, but we imagine that a decent quality single origin would make amazing ‘sous vide brew’.

We don’t know about you, but we’re excited to give sous vide coffee a go in the very near future!