Make Cold Brew Coffee at Home (Easy Recipe + Tips) (2024)

On a hot summer day, it's time to make cold brew coffee at home and enjoy a refreshing morning drink to get your day started.

It's super easy to make, no special equipment needed, andyou can easily make a big batch in advancewith the coffee beans you love.

Learn all the tips to make the perfect cold-brew coffee concentrate!

I am very much into cold coffee when the temperature rises. And this cold brew coffee recipe is one of my favorite ways to make it at home.

Enjoy a smooth, rich, bold cup for breakfast with your favorite fluffyoat pancakes. Takeit to work, to the gym, or make it whenever you need a pick-me-up drink!

I often enjoy mine black. But nothing is to stop you from turning it into ahealthy coffee smoothie, coffee chia pudding, some of these amazing healthy coffee desserts,or flavored cold brew latte.

Let's make a big batch of a perfect brew together, so you are set for the week.

Why You Should Make a Cold Brew Coffee At Home

I highly encourage you to make your own cold-brewed concentrate:

• It hasbright and rich flavors.
• It's smooth, refreshing, and tastes so pleasantly calm.
• It has a lower acidity than a regular iced coffee, with many nuanced flavors and less bitter notes.
• You can pour enough to last you a few days or up to one week.
• It's all made with tools that you probably already have in your kitchen.
• It's easy to make & budget-friendly.

What Is a Cold Brew & Is It The Same As Iced Coffee?

Cold brew concentrate is an iced coffee, but its brewing process and flavors are very different from turning a regular hot brew into an iced drink.

Cold brew coffee is made withroom temperature water, usually poured over coarse coffee grounds, soaked for 12-24 hours for a more robust coffee flavor, and then strained.

And depending on the coffee-to-water ratio, you can make it quite concentrated, which you then can dilute based on taste with water or your favorite milk.

Iced coffeeis more of a flashed chilled method turning a regular, albeit a bit stronger, hot brewed coffee into an iced caffeinated drink with (flavored) ice cubes.

It's excellent when you like all the bitter compounds in your iced coffee that generally comes with your hot cup of Joe.

Today, we're making a cold brew recipe! Let's go over some basics and give you a great starting point!

What Kind Of Roast

Choosing a coffee brand and the type of roast is very personal,and depending on your location, the varieties available might differ.

I suggest usinga roast you love and are already used to drinking. It's the perfect base.

But there are a few things I've learned by testing this out:

• Normally, I like a light roast for a hot cup, but I find this too weak to make a delicious cold brew coffee—the taste of coffee was almost absent.
• I suggest going for a medium to dark roast over lighter roasts.
• You can also blend a medium to dark roast with coffee flavors that work well together.
• If you enjoy the fruity notes of a lighter blend, you will get the best results by making it more concentrated —going for a 1:3 coffee-to-water ratio and brewing it longer.

Note: If in doubt, use a larger quantity of coffee to brew initially because you can always dilute it AFTER. Unfortunately, there isn't much you can do when your cold brew concentrate is too light after steeping for so many hours.

The Grind

I tookthe advice of some local coffee aficionadosand coarsely ground my beans for the best cold brew concentrates.

The less-dense coffee groundsallow the water to flow more easily than with a fine grind and extract all those aromatic,sweeter flavorsfrom the beans.

Buy whole beans and freshly ground themyourself whenever you need a batch. It produces the best flavor regardless of how you make your coffee and stores better.

You canuse acoffee grinder and use the coarse setting.

If You Don't Have a Coffee Grinder

• Use a blender orVitamixinstead. Justgrind in quick short burstsfor 3-5 seconds on a medium-high speed (or choose "grinder" if you have that option). Do this for about 30 seconds or 6 times total. This technique producesa nice coarse grindand gets the job done.
• Most grocery stores now allow you to grind their coffee with their big grinder machines (choose the coarsest setting or French Press option).
• If you buy coffee at your local coffee shop, you can always ask the barista to ground the beans for you to make a cold brew coffee.

The Cold Brew Coffee To Water Ratio

When you ask regular cold coffee brewers or do some research online, you'll see that not everyone agrees on the coffee bean-to-water ratio.

You havesome suggesting a 1:3, 1:4, or 1:5 coffee-to-water ratio. Some even recommend carefully weighing the coarsely ground coffee in ounces. The ideal ratio is very personal.

I keep it simple and use 1 cup (80 grams) of coffee beans, then coarsely grind them for every 4 cups of water (946 ml).

It produces a pleasant and balanced coffee taste, perfect for this healthy iced coffee recipe.

Note: Ground coffee takes up almost the exact amount of space as whole beans. So the weight ratio isone-to-one.

Ingredients

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.

Here is what you need to make this cold brew coffee concentrate recipe:

How To Make Cold Brew Concentrate

See the full recipe with measurements in the recipe card.

They're really super simple steps: Combine with water, cover, and steep!

Step One (Picture 1 above) -Place your coarsely ground coffee beans in your large enough vessel with a lid. Pour in the recommended amount of water.

Step Two (Picture 2 above) -Stir for a few minutes until thoroughly mixed and you have wet all the coffee beans. Cover your large pitcher and store it at room temperature to steep (18 hours).

Step Three (Picture 3 above) -Strain the coffee. You have a few options (more on that later).

Step Four (Picture 4 above) -Enjoy a glass over ice cubes or store it in the refrigerator.

Note: Use aFrench press, a large mason jar, a pitcher for storage, or whatever is available in your kitchen with a lid or cover that is large enough to hold the beans and the water.

Recommended Steeping Time

Again,personal preferenceand how strong your coffee beans are come into play here. You can go up to 24 hours, but anywhere between 12 to 18 hours is enough for me.

You got to test this out a bit for yourself. Maybe check in after 12 hours. If it tastes too watered, then go for 15 to 18 hours, and so forth for maximum flavor.

I'll let my cold brew steep at room temperature as it will give a slightly stronger taste.

How To Strain The Coffee

You don't need any fancy equipment, and there are different ways of doing this, so here are some options:

• I use anut milk bag(affiliate link) over a large bowl to strain the coffee and transfer the liquid into a pitcher.
• You can also use afine-mesh sieveor strainer covered witha thin paper coffee filterorfine cheeseclothto filter the coffee.
• You can also use a reusable filter if you have one.
• If you own a French press, you can use that to filter out the coffee grounds.

Note: I like to save the coffee grounds and use them as a body scrub in the shower—a bit messy but so good for the skin. Sometimes I sprinkle it onto my garden soil and rake it a bit. It's an excellent fertilizer for my acid-loving plants.

Storage

After straining out the cold brew coffee, store it covered in the fridge for up to one week.

Now that your cold brew coffee is ready add it to a glass filled with ice and enjoy it with your favorite cream or sweetener.

Alternative Flavors

Take your cold brew drink to the next level with some of these healthy alternative flavors:

• Use flavored coffee beans. A salted caramel flavor is my favorite.
• Add your favorite flavored creamy milk or milk substitute for that little bit of sweetness (I love a touch of coconut cream or vanilla-flavored nut milk).
• Stir in some ground spices like cinnamon, cardamom. Pumpkin spice, allspice, cloves, gingerbread spice, or masala chai spices are other options to play around with. Start with ⅛ of a teaspoon, taste test, and work your way up.
• Other options are sugar-free vanilla extract.
• Use honey or maple syrup as a sweetener, either alone or with some cacao powder for that chocolatey coffee flavor ((or flavored collagen powder, my favorite).
• Dunk in my homemade Biscoff cookies to release their spices and sweetness into your cold brew coffee—delicious.
• And don't forget to use some of that cold brew concentrate to make a cold brew latte.

Skip the local coffee shop and make your own cold-brew coffee at home! It's so much better and cost-effective.

Pro tip: I prefer buying a brand that locally roasts organic coffee beans. If you have yet to find your favorite type of coffee or are ready to try something new, check outthese top 25 best coffee brandsfor inspiration.

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Now it's time to make your own smooth concentrate because cold brew coffee tastes amazing!

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