When Bay Ridge summer hits -- and it hits hard, with the kind of humid July heat that makes the Verrazzano shimmer in the distance -- cold coffee stops being a preference and becomes a survival strategy.
At Pier 69 Market, you have two options: cold brew and iced coffee. They look similar in the glass. They are both cold. But they are fundamentally different drinks, made in fundamentally different ways, and they taste nothing alike.
How They Are Made
Iced Coffee
Iced coffee is exactly what it sounds like. You brew coffee hot -- the normal way, with near-boiling water and ground beans -- and then you cool it down. Pour it over ice. The result tastes like regular coffee, just cold. It retains the brightness and acidity that hot brewing produces.
The advantage is speed. You can make iced coffee in minutes. The disadvantage is dilution: as the ice melts, the coffee gets weaker and waterier. Good iced coffee is brewed at double strength to compensate, but not every shop does this.
Cold Brew
Cold brew never touches heat. Coarsely ground coffee is steeped in cold or room-temperature water for twelve to twenty-four hours. The slow extraction pulls different compounds from the beans than hot water does. The result is a concentrate that is smooth, naturally sweet, and very low in acidity.
Cold brew is not cold coffee. It is a different extraction method that produces a different drink. The slow steep removes bitterness and adds natural sweetness.
Pier 69 Market steeps their cold brew in-house. The La Colombe beans they use are already roasted for sweetness and body, which translates into a cold brew that is clean and rich without needing sugar or cream to make it drinkable.
Which One Should You Order?
- You want smooth and strong: Cold brew. The long steep produces a mellow, concentrated drink.
- You want bright and familiar: Iced coffee. It tastes like the coffee you know, just cold.
- You are sensitive to acid: Cold brew. The cold extraction reduces acidity by up to 67 percent.
- You want more caffeine: Cold brew concentrate typically has more caffeine per ounce.
- You want it fast: Iced coffee. Cold brew requires overnight steeping.
The Bay Ridge Summer Order
Here is the real advice: on a hot day, after a walk through Owl's Head Park or along Shore Road, order the cold brew. It is the drink that Bay Ridge summers were made for -- smooth, strong, and cold enough to reset your internal temperature.
Then come back the next day and try the iced coffee. Compare them. Decide which one is yours. That is how you find your drink.
And if it happens to be a Pier 69 Burger day, cold brew pairs better with food than iced coffee. The lower acidity does not compete with savory flavors the way a bright, acidic iced coffee can.
Ready for a Real Bay Ridge Coffee?
La Colombe espresso, Rishi tea, and the Pier 69 Burger. All at 10 Bay Ridge Ave, Brooklyn.
