My favorite method for making cold brew coffee at home, made with out any special equipment and only a few minutes of prep time for a smooth, dark, rich cup of cold brew, every time. So easy, anyone can make it!
Today we’re making COFFEE.
Cold brew coffee, to be exact.
You know, the trendy iced coffee that costs twice as much as regular iced coffee at your favorite neighborhood coffee shop?
Yeah, that one.
But, instead of being more expensive than regular iced coffee, we’re using a method that actually yields us TWO batches of cold brew from one bag of coffee beans. Depending on the cost per pound of your favorite coffee, it works out to about $1/serving, which is a huuuuuge difference from coffee-shop cold brew (compared to the $6 my sister just paid for a cup of cold brew this weekend when we were out).
So, let’s make it!
Here’s what you need to make cold brew coffee at home:
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- A bag of your favorite coffee. Be sure to buy whole bean, since it’s important to grind coffee much more coarsely for cold brew than you’d find pre-bagged in the store. This is my favorite coffee (I buy decaf because caffeine makes me allll sorts of sweaty and weird). Buy whatever coffee you love, ideally one that’s fair trade and organic!
- A blender, food processor, or electric coffee grinder to grind those beans! Since we’re going for a super coarse grind, it really doesn’t matter if you own an electric coffee grinder or not, and I actually prefer using the blender or food processor since you can do the entire bag at once. A consistent grind is great for hot coffee, but cold brew just needs those beans cracked open, not perfectly uniform.
- A large mason jar or other 8-cup capacity container with a lid.
- A nut milk bag, cheesecloth, or fine mesh strainer lined with several paper towels, for straining the beans out.
The process:
Dump your coffee beans into your machine of choice (blender, food processor, or coffee grinder), pulse a few times to just barely break them up (some large chunks of coffee beans is preferred- we’re doing a long infusion, and don’t want the cold brew to get cloudy or murky from too fine of a grind!).
Transfer the beans to your jar and cover with water. Shake vigorously to combine.
Let sit at room temperature for 24 hours (yes, a full 24!). A few hours more or less won’t hurt, if you need to adjust the time to meet your schedule. Stop and shake it up once or twice in those 24 hours, to make sure the coffee beans are all fully saturated.
After soaking, strain the coffee through your preferred strainer (I use a nut milk bag since I have a few kicking around the kitchen, but a fine mesh strainer lined with a few paper towels works just fine!).
The coffee gets poured into a container you plan to store it in the fridge in (I like to use a glass pitcher or a second mason jar), then the wet coffee grounds go BACK into the original mason jar, covered with water again, and left to sit at room temperature for another 48 hours.
Yes, you’re reading this correctly. We’re making two batches of cold brew out of one bag of beans. The first 24-hr batch of cold brew will be an intense, dark cold brew concentrate, while the second 48-hr batch will be a less intense (but still full-flavored) cold brew that isn’t concentrated- no need to dilute it with extra milk/cream or water.
To serve:
The 24-hour cold brew is quite concentrated, so I recommend tasting and adding either a splash of water (if drinking black), or using more milk/cream than you would in regular iced coffee. I love how dark and bold this cold brew is.
The 48-hour cold brew is more like traditional iced coffee, so it doesn’t need to be diluted at all. Just add an ice cube or two and a splash of whatever milk you like in your coffee (or drink it black, if that’s more your style).
Why make cold brew when you can just pour hot coffee over ice?
Oh, I am so glad you asked.
Cold brew tastes better than regular iced coffee, since heat can bring out the bitter and acidic quality of coffee beans. Without the heat, your beans will release all of their flavor, but very little of that bitterness. You still get a dark, bold, rich tasting cup of iced coffee, but many people find that it goes down more easily, and doesn’t have the same sour-stomach or acid-reflux type of reaction in their bodies that iced coffee often induces.
It’s also much easier to make cold brew taste exactly how you like your coffee, since it starts out so concentrated. You can just add milk/cream to get it nice and creamy but keep it extra dark and bold tasting, or you can dilute with cold water to mellow it out and make it taste more like ‘regular’ iced coffee before drinking black or adding your milk of choice.
Plus, it’s much easier to cut down on your plastic consumption when you make your own cold brew at home! Instead of wasting a plastic cup, lid, and straw per coffee, you can go completely plastic-free by drinking it out of a glass in your house, or pouring it into a travel mug (the same mug you use to keep hot coffee hot will keep iced coffee cold for hours!) and taking on the go.
So, let’s do this! Grab a bag of your favorite coffee and let’s start infusing those beans for a big batch of the best homemade cold brew you’ve ever made!
If you try out my method for cold brew, be sure to let me know how it turns out! Leave a comment below, or take a picture of your cold brew and share it with me on Instagram so I can see! Happy iced coffee season, friends!
How to Make Cold Brew Coffee
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 24 Hours (+an additional 48hrs for the second batch)
Yields: about 12 cups of cold brew
Ingredients:
- 1 12-oz bag whole bean coffee
- Cold water (about 6 cups per batch)
Instructions:
- Dump the entire bag of coffee into a food processor or high powered blender and pulse 8-10 times, to break up the beans into a very chunky, coarse grind. Stop when there are no whole beans left, but there are lots of large visible chunks of coffee beans. This will seem wrong, since ground coffee is usually very fine and uniform, but it’s perfect for cold brew!
- Transfer the ground coffee to a 64oz (8-cup) mason jar (or other large container with a lid), and cover completely with water, filling the jar as close to the top as you can. If you don’t have a 64oz mason jar, just cover your beans with 6 cups of cold water in whatever container you have that will hold it!
- Put the lid on your jar and shake well to combine the beans with the water. Let sit at room temperature for 24 hours, shaking once or twice throughout to ensure the beans are well mixed.
- After 24 hours, place a nut milk bag or a fine mesh strainer lined with cheesecloth or several paper towels into a large measuring cup with a pour spout, then pour the coffee through to strain it. Slowly pour the coffee into a pitcher (or another jar to store in the fridge), stopping before you’ve poured the last few drops of murky, cloudy coffee into your pitcher. Discard this, as it will otherwise settle back into the bottom of your pitcher in the fridge and make your last cup of cold brew mostly just murky sludge!
- Transfer the wet coffee grounds back into the original jar, cover with water again, and let sit for 48 hours. Repeat the same straining process for the second batch of coffee.
- Serve cold brew over ice, with your favorite milk or sweetener. The first batch will be very strong and concentrated, so you may want to dilute each serving with extra milk or a splash of water, to taste. The second batch won’t be as concentrated, and can be served as is.
- Cold brew technically keeps in the fridge for several weeks, though I find the flavor to be at its best within the 4-6 day mark. If you find yourself with extra that you can’t finish within a week, pour it into empty ice cube trays and freeze to use as ice cubes in your next batch of cold brew!
NOTES:
I love this method of making two batches of cold brew from one bag of beans, and find that the delayed infusion time means I always have fresh cold brew throughout the week, since the second batch won’t be ready until two days after the first. If you’re in the market for a 12-cup batch of cold brew in one go, feel free to use a giant container (or divide your coffee grounds into 2 64oz mason jars) and a full 12 cups of water per pound of coffee, then let steep at room temperature for closer to 36 hours before straining and serving. Serve this batch as is- no need to dilute with water before serving.
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