Perfect Homemade Cold Brew
- PREP 16hrs 10min
- TOTAL 16hrs 10min
Cold brew takes 12 to 24 hours (we recommend 16) but is completely worth it. Just 5 to 10 minutes of hands-on time the night before pays off big in the morning with a rich, ultra-smooth coffee concentrate that you can mix with water (or milk) for a great cup of iced coffee.
Our ideal cold brew ratio is 1 part coffee concentrate to 2 parts water (mixed and served over ice), but you may find that’s too strong (or, if you’re a serious coffee drinker, too weak), so play around with a ratio that works for you. One more note: Cold brew is highly caffeinated—more than your regular cup of hot coffee.
You Will Need
6 ounces (170g) whole coffee beans, about 1 ½ cups whole beans or 2 cups coarsely ground coffee
28 ounces (830ml or 3 ½ cups) cold filtered water
Directions
Make Cold Brew Concentrate
Grind the coffee beans very coarsely. If using a home grinder, choose the coarsest setting.
Add ground coffee to a 34-ounce French press and cover with water. (If it doesn’t look like all of the water will fit into your French press without overflowing—ours is filled right to the top—use a different container or reduce the water by a few ounces.)
Gently stir the coffee and water — some coffee experts say metal can affect the brew, so use a non-metal utensil if you can. Cover with the lid of the French press — without pressing down. Or, cover with plastic wrap.
Set aside at least 12 hours and up to 24 hours (we recommend 16 hours). Then, filter the cold brew concentrate by pressing down on the French press filter. Transfer the concentrate to another container and refrigerate until ready to use. (See tips below if you do not have a French press.)
Make Coffee from Concentrate
Fill a glass with ice, then combine 1 part of the concentrate with 2 parts of water. Stir, then adjust to taste with additional concentrate or water. Enjoy!
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Storing the Concentrate: Store the cold brew concentrate in an airtight jar in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. You can also freeze it in ice cube trays.
- Whole Beans vs. Ground Beans: Since we’re such coffee lovers, we have a home coffee grinder (Capresso Infinity Burr Grinder). We grind whole beans using the coarsest setting, which looks similar to coarse salt. If you do not have a grinder, ask the barista at a local coffee shop to grind the beans for you — again, ask for a very coarse grind.
- No Kitchen Scale: If you don’t have a kitchen scale at home, we’ve given approximate amounts in American cups for the coffee. This can vary since some coffee beans are heavier than others, but it is a good starting point.
- No French Press: If you do not have a French press large enough for this, simply use a pitcher or food-safe vessel that will fit the coffee and water. Cover it while it brews, and then use a fine mesh strainer covered with cheesecloth set on top of a bowl to filter out the concentrate.
- Why are only 2 cups of concentrate and not 3-1/2 cups? In our recipe, we call for adding 28 ounces (or 3-1/2 cups) of water, yielding approximately 2 cups of richly flavored cold brew concentrate. When we first experimented with cold brew, we were surprised at how much water seemed to “disappear.” That’s just a part of making cold brew coffee—the coffee expands over time and absorbs or traps some of the water added.