Cold brew coffee is just what it sounds like, coffee that is brewed at cold temperature for an extended period of time. It tends to be a smoother drink and less acidic than hot brewed coffee even
if it is cooled to room temperature and added to ice.
Some folks say cold brew 'tastes weird' but here's the thing, cold brew can be created in two ways: Brewed into concentrate or brewed into drinkable coffee. Often times the cold brew you buy in the grocery store is concentrated. So you need to add water, milk, or something else to dilute. In my opinion, this is how it is for regular coffee too, it is brewed to perfection by the person who brewed it, yet it might not be
brewed to perfection to
you.
Items needed:
- A large container that can hold liquid
- Coffee
- Water
- Some sort of filter
- Time
Brewing Instructions
1. I prefer buying coffee beans and and grinding them relatively coarse. I sometimes like to get flavored coffee (there's this
vanilla crème brûlée coffee that I can get from a local shop here that is divine). However, if all you can get is a container of already ground grocery store coffee, that will work too.
2. Inside the container you want to mix the coffee and water. Here's where your preference comes in:
- For concentrate, you want to mix the water and coffee at a 1:8 ratio (1 gram of coffee for every 8 grams of water ). Reduce the amount of water for a much stronger concentrate. Large containers work great for this.
- For a straight up brewed coffee then you want to mix the water and coffee at a much smaller ratio, depends on your preference but 1:12 ratio is probably the best you need. Mason jars work as you can make tomorrows coffee the day before.
3. Put the container in the refrigerator and forget about it for 18 to 24 hours.
4. Filter the grounded coffee from the brew. There are many filters that can be used.. cheese cloth, filter basket, fiber filter.
5. Make your coffee
- For concentrate, dilute at a 2:1 or 1:1 concentrate-to-water ratio. Add whatever you like and enjoy!
- For straight-up brewed coffee, do as above without the dilution.