Everywhere you look, people talking ’bout cold brewed coffee, like it’s something new or something!
It’s NOT new, but cold brew IS pretty awesome stuff.
Also, known as toddy coffee, cold brew is named after the brewing method, not how you drink it. Because the flavor is extracted by cold water over a long period of times, cold brewed coffee tends to be low acid, smooth, and clean tasting. perfect over ice, although it’s also great hot!
Yes, although it starts off cold, you can also drink it hot. You just have to make it concentrated enough to hold up to the hot water you need to add to bring it up to temperature. I make mine pretty strong, so I can add two to three parts hot water (just off the boil) to my cold brew concentrate and still have a hot cup.
For iced coffee, I mix it one to one coffee and cold water, then pour over ice. If you like espresso over ice, try it straight over ice, rocks-style, or even ‘neat’ like a cocktail!
Homemade Cold Brew Coffee Ingredients
Coffee beans – 16 coffee scoops, 90 grams, or 1 1/3 cups of whole beans, coarsely ground
Filtered water – about 4 cups, room temperature is just fine
Tools
A one quart jar or pitcher with a lid
Kitchen strainer
Quart sized or larger bowl or measuring cup
Coffee filter and basket used for pour-over coffee
Refrigerator
Optional, but helpful
spoons, scoops, canning jar funnel
Directions
Grind your beans coarsely, even more coarsely than you would for a French press. For comparison, I grind 20 seconds for drip, 10 seconds for French press, and just 5 for cold brewing. There will be big chunks of beans. That’s good.
Put the beans in a jar and add water, stirring to sink the floating beans.
Cover the coffee and put it in the fridge for 48 hours.
Strain the coffee through a kitchen strainer into a large bowl or measuring cup. Discard the grounds.
Filter the coffee though your pour-over filter and paper filter cone into a clean jar.
Use your concentrated cold brew coffee immediately for iced or hot coffee. Store leftovers, covered, in the refrigerator.
Iced Cold Brew Coffee
Fill a class with ice and add cold brewed coffee, straight or mixed with some water. Add half and half, if desired.
Hot Cold Brew Coffee
Boil water. Add some boiling water to your cup to preheat it. Empty the cup and add a small amount of cold brew concentrate to the cup. Add two, three, or four portions of very hot water (just boiled) to your cup. Add half and half, if desired.
Cold brew coffee is delicious and easy to make. I hope you enjoy yours as much as I did making the video!
Roland