Making cold brew at home is way easier than you think. With just a little prep work you can enjoy a delicious cup of the cold brew all week long. I usually brew a big batch over the weekend and store it in the fridge for easy weekday fix.

Cold brew is much different than cold/iced coffee… Cold/iced coffee is just a strongly brewed coffee poured over ice, whereas cold brew is coffee steeped overnight in cold water. This allows coffee to slowly infuse with water creating a concentrated concoction. Strain this brew and pour it over ice or enjoy with cold milk or both!!!

Serves: 4-5

Ingredients:

• 1 cup coffee beans whole (or coarsely ground coffee)
• 4 cups water (preferably filtered water)

How To:

• Grind the coffee beans coarsely, like french press consistency. Do not grind it too small or else the brew will be too gritty.

• In a wide mouth bottle or container add ground coffee, add water to it and stir it together.

• Let it sit for about 5-10 minutes and stir it again so that it is combined thoroughly.
• Cover it and place it in the refrigerator for about 18-20 hours.

• When ready to strain the coffee place a thin cotton cloth or very thin coffee filter over the strainer/sieve and pour the prepared concentrate into it. Do not press the coffee through the strainer, as it will make it bitter and gritty, just let it stand for a few minutes till all the coffee trickles down.

• Transfer the brew into a glass bottle and store in the refrigerator until you are ready to drink it. This brew stays good for a week in the refrigerator.

Serving suggestion:

• Serve with water– Fill the glass with ice and halfway with water. Now fill the rest with the coffee brew. Stir to combine.
• Serve with milk– Fill the glass with ice and halfway with cold brew. Fill the rest with cold milk and serve. You can also use creamer instead of milk.
• Adjust the water or milk and cold brew quantities depending on how strong you like your coffee to be. Usually, 2 parts of water/ milk to 1 part cold brew works great. My favorite is 1 part brew and 1/2 part milk over ice.
• Use coffee ice cubes instead of regular ice cubes for undiluted experience till the last sip.

Note:

• Coffee: Make sure the coffee grounds are coarse like in the French press. Finer grounds will yield more gritty and bitter brew. I usually use dark coffee to make the brew.
• Steeping time: You can steep your coffee overnight for as little as 12 hours to 20-24 hours. In case you steep it longer than that the brew might get bitter and extra strong. In which case use a bit less brew than usual while making coffee.
• Use any cotton cloth, thinner the better as the thick cloth will take really long for the coffee to filter through. You can also use thin paper coffee filters. Recommend not to use cheesecloth for straining as it won’t stain well and the brew will be gritty.
• If possible use filtered water to get a cleaner taste.
• The cold brew concentrate can be stored in the refrigerator for about 2 weeks, however, I have noticed that after a week it will start losing its flavor.
• Coffee ice cubes: Pour the un-used brew into an ice cube plate and freeze it to make coffee cubes. Use this in place of regular ice cubes while making a cold brew for undiluted experience till the last sip.