Cold brew coffee is latest hot trend in popular beverages

VENICE, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Food biologist Lela Buttery said iced coffee and cold brew coffee are not the same at all.

"Don't get confused with iced coffee, which is brewed coffee that's poured over ice," said Buttery, who owns Another Kind of Sunrise.

You might notice a variety of cold brew bottles in markets and restaurants. While they can be consumed cold, the distinction is how cold brew is made.

"This is where you grind the grounds and you actually steep it in room-temperature water for 15 to 24 hours, and then you drain off the grains and you have a concentrated brew," Buttery said.

Try a small batch with a French press or order a Toddy maker, which allows you to brew about 7 cups at a time.

"And it lasts a really long time, you can have it in your refrigerator up to 30 days," Buttery said.

Cold brew coffee also has more health benefits than regularly brewed coffee.

"It's higher in polyphenols, antioxidants, it's less acidic, but more caffeine," Buttery said.

That's good news for many who can't have coffee due to its acidic nature. Less acid and inflammation is a big bonus.

Another coffee craze right now is adding butter and coconut oil to coffee. Brewers at Another Kind of Sunrise mix grass-fed ghee and raw coconut butter for a cold buttery brew which imparts a creamy tasting beverage.

The coconut oil, a medium-chain triglyceride, offers an energizing, easy-to-digest, anti-inflammatory fat, in combination with butter, that also contains a good fatty acid known as conjugated linoleic acid.

"It's a good energy that your body can digest," Buttery said.

According to the research group Mintel, cold brew has been the craze since 2010 and is now up 339 percent in sales for 2015. Millennials and guys seem to be the ones buying the most.

"It's cleaner, the taste, you can taste the coffee and all the flavors just a little bit stronger than the regular old cup of Joe," Venice resident Ashlee Arden said.