How To Make Cold Brew
Making cold brew coffee during the warmer weathers can be a great way to easily enjoy a refreshing and less acidic coffee drink. Luckily for you, the process of making cold brew does not require any special techniques and is a very simple process. However, keep in mind that cold brew coffees have long brew times that can range from 2 to 24 hours. Moreover, a higher coffee to water ratio is needed. This is due to lukewarm or cold water needing more time to extract the flavors from ground coffee.
While there is plenty of equipment on the market specially for cold brew, you can easily make it with your own jar, container, or pitcher. You will also need to prepare a 1 to 8 ratio of coffee to water. This means if you use 5 ounces of coffee, you will need 40 ounces of water.
Simply choose your favorite coffee beans and grind them into coffee grounds. Then you will pour those grounds into your chosen brewing container and add in the correct amount of room temperature or cold water. Stir the grounds and water together, cover the container, and let it sit in your refrigerator for at least 12 hours. If you prefer a stronger tasting coffee, you can let it sit longer.
Once you have your preferred coffee extract taste, filter out the coffee grounds using a regular coffee filter. Then you can store this cold brew coffee in a closed container in the fridge to enjoy for the next few days! Keep in mind that this cold brew concentrate should be good for three to five days.
Is Cold Brew Concentrate Bad
Unlike hot coffee, which is pretty much crap after a few hours, cold brew will keep in your fridge. As an undiluted concentrate, it’ll keep for up to two weeks, although the flavor quality will degrade after the first week. If you’ve cut the concentrate with water, that shortens the shelf life to a mere 2-3 days.
How To Tell If Your Coffee Is A Coarse Grind
I think of it like the same as coarse ground pepper.
How to tell visually:
- Probably something like this McCormick Grill Mates chicken seasoning, minus the long herbs.
If your grind size is too fine, you risk clogging up the filter in a cold brew coffee maker. It means that the coffee will get stuck, because there isn’t enough room between the coffee grounds for the water to run through.
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Is It Stronger Than Regular Coffee
The feeling that you have that cold brew has more caffeine than regular coffee comes from the fact that you’re drinking a concentrate version.
Cold brew generally uses a higher coffee to water ratio than other methods. So if you drink a cup of cold brew concentrate without dissolving it, you will be drinking more caffeine than you would if having a cup of coffee.
If you dilute your cold brew, you may get even less caffeine than a regular cup of coffee.
How To Make Cold Brew Concentrate
You can make cold brew concentrate very easily when youve got every ingredient at home. Youll need the following items to make cold brew concentrate at home:
- Coarsely ground coffee: 80 grams
- Cold tap water: 600 grams
- A large container or French press
I suggest using a dark or medium roasted coffee bean to make cold brew coffee in general. These coffee beans have the most amount of flavor to give in the time that theyre steeping with the water. They look like this:
When using a lighter roast for the cold brew coffee, you might not get the most flavor out of them. Lightly roasted coffee beans are best prepared with a pour over technique like a Chemex or Hario V60, where it really shines.
Amount Per Serving:Category:
Note: Coffee itself doesnt contain any calories. When you dilute the cold brew coffee concentrate with anything other than water, youre adding calories to your cold brew coffee.
I used whole milk to dilute my cold brew coffee, and the number of calories is based on adding 1/4 cup to the cold brew recipe.
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How Much Cold Brew Concentrate To Drink Water
For this to work, youre going to want to find a brewing ratio you like and stick with it. For example, in our JavaPresse Ultimate Guide, we use a 1:7 brewing ratio with 100g of coffee and 700g of water. This means our final cold brew concentrate is going to be a little more than x2 as strong as your typical hot coffee .
Medium To Dark Roast Coffee Are Ideal For Cold Brew
I generally recommend darker roasts for cold brew. These most commonly carry strong, rich tasting notes: think chocolate, vanilla, nuts, and earthy flavors.
Cold brewing tends to mute the more delicate floral notes and the acidity that lighter roasts can boast. If you love light roast coffee, you can of course feel free to try it out! If you do, Id recommend brewing for longer than the 12-hour minimum to extract the most flavor.
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How To Make Your Own Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate For Espresso Martinis
See more Ingredients / Recipes / Techniques
As you probably know, the main reason why I have this website is to share what Ive learned in the bar world with you, the people who actually read this junk But one other small reason why I record my findings here is that is serves as a record for when I need to look it up and cant find one of the many coasters, notebooks, or scraps of paper Ive written recipes or techniques down on.
This post serves that purpose.
Im tired of never remembering how I make my cold brew coffee concentrate for our Espresso Martini, so Im posting the proportions here for myself to find. And while Im doing that, I might as well turn it into a post and share it with the world.
Before I begin, let me just say that I am not a barista. I am not a coffee nerd, I dont know the first thing about coffee. But I drink it every day, I love it, I spend much of my time in coffee shops or making coffee at home in one of my many contraptions. But I definitely do not know what Im talking about and if youre looking for serious coffee knowledge youre best looking elsewhere. I. Am. Not. An. Expert.
That said, I do know that this process we use at the bar works very well. And we feel very strongly about using cold brew concentrate instead of espresso for our Espresso Martinis because we dont have an espresso machine. Heres how we make it.
How To Use Cold Brew Concentrate
There are endless possibilities of what to do with cold brew concentrate. Cold brew coffee concentrate is a versatile, choose your own adventure-type ingredient. So, its entirely up to you to choose what youd like to use to dilute your concentrate. You can either keep it simple with ice, add a little richness with milk, use the concentrate as a base for a coffee cocktail, or as an ingredient in your favorite coffee-based baking recipe.
While cold brew concentrate is the magic ingredient for a variety of drinks, the concentrate should never be heated up. While it could be tempting to create a cup of hot coffee thats every bit as smooth as your favorite cup of cold brew, reheating coffee drastically changes the chemical make-up. Coffee is full of compounds that, when reheated, will result in a cup that is astringent and bitter.
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Cold Brew Vs Regular Iced Coffee
If youre not a coffee fanatic, you may be wondering exactly how cold brew differs from your regular, run-of-the-mill iced coffee. Is it worth the extra time it takes to brew? In my humble opinion, yes! Homemade cold brew is:
- Smoother and more full-bodied than regular drip coffee. The oils and sugars are extracted, while bitter or sour notes are left behind.
- Less acidic. Its up to 60% less acidic than drip, making it gentler on your stomach.
- Strong: Cold brew is concentrated. You can dilute it with as much water or milk as youd like.
- Easy to make: Combine coffee grounds and water, brew overnight, and strain. Thats all!
What Is Coffee Concentrate
Coffee concentrates are an excellent way of brewing a massive amount of black coffee within a short period of time. In contradiction to alcohol explored as extracts, you can extract solids from ground, roasted coffee with water used as a solvent to make a brewed coffee.
A concentrate recipe might require 50 grams of coffee to 400 grams of cold water, while a classic brew recipe might require 25 grams of ground coffee to 400 grams of water. Just to make it clear, its the subtraction of water that makes a concentrate different from a common cup of joe.
Ingredients
- 4.5oz roughly ground coffee
- 24oz water
The beauty of homemade is that you can customize the amounts of ingredients. Using your favorite coffee , you can make cold brew coffee concentrate.
To get the best results with whole beans, I strongly recommend a coarse grind. If you can get a coarse grind with store-bought coffee grounds, awesome! But if not, no worries any coffee grounds will suffice.
The specific quantity of coffee relative to that of water is based on what youve chosen to make.
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One More Way Ive Discovered To Cold Brew Coffee
After sharing my cold brew coffee in a French press method on Instagram, I received many DMs and picture shares . Everyone was making cold brew in their French Press, except ONE! My friend showed me her new DIY brewing, no waste system she found on Amazon. I was so impressed with her system I knew I had to share it as part of my DIY Cold Brew Coffee post.
Its a 1 or 2 quart mason jar with a fitted stainless steel infuser that sets inside the mason jar! My friend told me this has changed the way she drinks coffee!
Now, I dont plan on ordering since I already have a system that works for me. But if youre looking for one, this is the cold brew system on Amazon .
How To Serve Cold Brew Iced Coffee
This recipe makes a coffee concentrate. Unless you like really strong coffee, you will probably want to dilute it with water when you serve it. I use about a 1:1 ratio of coffee concentrate to water, sometimes a little more coffee since I like my iced coffee strong.
You can serve your cold brew over ice or even heat it up for a hot cup of coffee. The smooth, less bitter flavor of cold brew makes a perfect cup of hot coffee in the morning! The easiest way to heat cold brew is in the microwave.
Serve your cold brew coffee black or with a splash of milk or cream. Sometimes Ill stir in cream, a drizzle of honey and a pinch of sea salt for a sweeter iced coffee. It tastes like an iced salted caramel latte!
Enjoy your iced coffee in the morning with a bowl of steel cut oatmeal or this whole wheat pancake recipe, or as an afternoon pick me up with a slice of healthy banana bread.
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Strain Your Cold Brew
After its done steeping, unless you used the coffee pod method, youll have to strain the coffee grounds. Put your coffee filter into a fine strainer and filter the mixture through it into a mug or jar you can store later. You can also use some cheesecloth instead of the coffee filter. The cold brew coffee concentrate should be entirely free of any remaining grounds.
PRO TIP: If you have a pour-over coffee maker such as Chemex or a drip coffee maker, theyre perfect for this application. Instead of a strainer with a filter, you can use the pour-over dripper. Its easier than setting up a strainer and its ready to store when you finish straining.
How To Make Cold Brew Coffee
To make cold brew coffee, coarse coffee grounds are immersed in water for a minimum of 12and up to 24hours , explains Rounds. “Hot water tends to pull out more of the acidity in coffee, while cold water will not. Keeping the water cold during the whole process means that the coffee will take much longer to dissolve but will produce a less acidic, sweeter, and richer coffee,” says Rounds. The best kind of water to use for cold brew coffee will be one that has plenty of minerals in it in order to help the coffee extract tap water generally works well: “Whatever you do, don’t use distilled water, which contains no minerals,” says Jessica Easto, author of Craft Coffee: A Manual .
Cold brew coffee can be made directly in a mason jar or using a French press, but if you want a specific cold brew system, Easto and Rounds are both fans of the Toddy Home Model : “Their equipment is easy to use, clean, and incredibly affordable,” says Rounds.
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Cold Brew Concentrate: What Is It And How To Make It At Home
Cold brew coffee is a summertime staple. In fact, its such a staple that you can buy it in stores these days.
Cold brew coffee is simply coffee that has been brewed using cold water for a long period of time. The process of brewing coffee this way results in a surprisingly smooth, tasty cup of coffee.
Making your own cold brew at home is easy to do and allows you to control the ingredients. This article will explain what cold brew concentrate is, how its made, and how you can make your own at home.
Read on to learn more about cold brew concentrate and how it differs from regular cold brew coffee.
Not Just Iced Coffee: 5 Ways You Can Use Cold Brew Concentrate
Garrett Oden
Cold brew is unlike any other type of coffee. Its smooth, its approachable, and its extremely versatile.
Since its made in the form of a concentrate, you actually have a lot of flexibility when it comes to making drinks with it, since the flavors can be tasted even when you mix the concentrate with other liquids.
I want to help you make the most out of your cold brewing experience, so Im going to show you the five primary ways you can use your concentrate to make a variety of fun, refreshing, and creative coffee drinks.
Lets see them!
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Watch How Fast Your Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate Drains Through Your Filter To Help You Determine If You Have The Right Grind Size
It takes a bit of experience to be able to easily recognize the perfect grind size, so if it’s your first time making cold brew coffee, try to aim for a French press coffee grind size if you are familiar with that.
If you use this OXO cold brew coffee concentrate maker, it should take about 10-12 minutes for the coffee full drain through. If it takes longer than that, then the coffee grind size is probably too fine. If it takes quicker than that, then the coffee grind size is probably too coarse.
Is Cold Brew Coffee Stronger Than Regular Coffee
Whether cold brew coffee is stronger than regular coffee depends on what you mean by stronger. Cold brew coffee is concentrated because its meant to be diluted, then served over ice or otherwise cold. So, when brewed, its definitely a little stronger-tasting and has a higher concentration of caffeine. When diluted and served, its sweeter and milder than other brewing methods.
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How Is It Different From Iced Coffee
The main difference between these two cold caffeinated drinks is the brewing method. Iced coffee is slightly stronger, brewed with hot water, cooled and served over ice. Cold-brew is brewed with cold water over a long period of time.
Cold brews tend to be smoother and milder than most other coffee brewing methods. Brewing cold highlights a lot of flavors that are overpowered in regular coffee brews such as drip or espresso.
Caffeines ability to dissolve depends on temperature. At higher temperatures, significantly more caffeine will dissolve than at cooler temperatures.
Joseph Rivera, Coffee Chemistry
Cold-brew has a little less caffeine than most other brews in the same water to coffee ratios. There is a misconception that it has more, but thats not true.
How To Strain Your Cold Brew
I strain my cold brew 2 ways:
- Using a coffee filter
- Brewing directly in a french press.
If I’m using a coffee filter to strain, I place it into a coffee dripper or small sieve. Then, I put it over a liquid measuring cup, and pour the concentrate through it. Simple, right?
In case you notice your coffee filter is starting to tear or the cold brew started to strain too slowly, replace the coffee filter.
If I’m using the french press, I mix water and coffee directly on it, cover and place in the fridge, only pressing it when the time is done. Just know that using a french press can give you a more cloudy cold brew coffee.
You can also use a cheesecloth or nut milk bag to do it, if you’re having problems straining your cold brew with a coffee filter.
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