The coffee brewing method that results in the lowest acidity is cold brew. Cold brewing involves steeping coarsely ground coffee beans in cold water for an extended period, we recommend 16 hours for our Cold Brew Blend. This method extracts fewer acidic compounds from the coffee than hot brewing since the coffee is never exposed to hot water.
If you wanted a hot cup of coffee, the method that tends to produce a cup with the least acidity is a full immersion method, such as a French press or Clever Dripper
In a French press, coarsely ground coffee is steeped in hot water for 4 minutes before being pressed down to separate the grounds. This method works best with heavier, darker roasted coffees like our Dark Roast Blend, Brazil, and Sumatra.
The Clever Dripper is similar but uses a paper filter to give you a clearer cup which helps highlight the notes of our more delicate coffees like our Ethiopia, Kenya, or El Salvador.
When roasting coffee we have an inverse relationship between body and apparent acidity as the coffee roast darker. So a lighter roast will have a thinner mouthfeel with higher apparent acidity, and a dark roast will have a heavier mouthfeel with a lower apparent acidity.
I use the word apparent acidity as the coffee will still have its acidity intact but in a darker roast, your palate will not register it as sharp and apparent. While in a lighter roast, it will be sharper and more apparent.
When looking for a coffee with a lower acidity look for the altitude designation on our labels. The lower the altitude in which the coffee is grown, the lower the acidity in that coffee. Inverse, the higher the altitude in which the coffee is grown the higher the acidity level that coffee will have.