So you want to make cold brew coffee at home? Great news! You’ve come to the right place. There are several ways you can make it.
I switch between all three methods depending on what I feel like using. But either way, I get a really good cup of cold brew coffee every time.
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Iced Coffee vs Cold Brew Coffee
First, let’s cover the difference between iced coffee and cold brew coffee. You may sometimes hear them used interchangeably. Though both are cold coffees, they are not the same.
Iced coffee is made by brewing hot coffee with any preferred method, from a French press, Chemex or Aeropress to even a Keurig or other standard drip coffee maker. After brewing the hot coffee, adding ice to it will result in a cup of iced coffee. This is the fastest way to make cold coffee.
Meanwhile, cold brew coffee is not brewed hot. Instead, brewing it requires at least 12 hours of steeping coarsely ground coffee beans in water. It takes longer to make, but offers a different flavor profile than you would get from simply putting ice in coffee to make it cold.
What’s the best cold brew coffee beans?
So you’ve decided you want to make cold brew coffee. What coffee beans should you use?
A lot of coffee brands put out cold brew specific coffee beans, but you can actually use any coffee bean you want. If you want to make cold brew coffee at home right now, you don’t have to use whole coffee beans. You can make cold brew coffee using any pre ground flavored coffee if you have it at home already.
However, I recommend using whole dark roasted coffee beans and coarsely grinding it right before making the cold brew.
If you are looking for a whole coffee bean to start with, I’d recommend starting with Stone Street’s Colombian Cold Brew. Stone Street Coffee Company roasts their beans in Brooklyn NYC and you can get it off Amazon.
My favorites that I’ve been brewing recently are from Blue Bottle’s Cold Brew Collection, specifically Three Africas, a blend of two coffees from Ethiopia and one from Uganda. Blue Bottle is based in Oakland, California with cafes in NYC and few other cities in the US, Korea and Japan. You can get Three Africas on their website. The beans are delivered super fresh with about 24 hours between roasting the coffee and shipment to you.
I like making cold brew coffee all summer long. You’ll never be bored as you try different beans to experiment with and find your favorites.
Cold Brew Coffee Ingredients
No matter which method you choose, you’ll need the following ingredients and tools you’ll need:
- Coffee beans (whole bean)
- Coffee grinder
- Filtered water
Coffee Beans
As mentioned above, you can use any of your favorite coffee beans. You do not have to purchase a specific coffee bean. But if you purchase ground coffee beans, make sure it’s coarsely ground. Or if you are purchasing whole coffee beans, make sure you have a coffee grinder.
Recommended: Stone Street Colombian Cold Brew or Blue Bottle Coffee Three Africas
Coffee Grinder
I use and recommend using a burr grinder to grind your coffee beans. (Versus a blade grinder, burr grinders give you more control and you can make small adjustments to make slightly different grind sizes, plus you take it with you in your carry on bag when you travel.) The longer brew time, the coarser the coffee beans should be. A coarser grind will also be easier to filter.
Recommended: Hario Skerton Burr Grinder
Filtered Water
I use filtered room temperature water. You can either steep it in the fridge or at room temperature. When steeping it out at room temperature, I leave it for about 12 hours. In the fridge, I like to let it steep a little longer at around 16 hours. I haven’t tasted any noticeable differences between room temperature and the fridge.
Recommended: Brita Water Filter Pitcher
3 Ways to Make Cold Brew Coffee
Now that you have the three basic tools and ingredients, coffee beans, coffee grinder and water, you can now pick between the following three brewing methods. You likely already have one of these items at home:
Primula Cold Brew Coffee Maker
At a glance, use this method if you…
- Don’t want to add any milk, creamer or coffee syrup
- Or only want to a put a dash of milk, creamer or coffee syrup
- Easy to store in the fridge
- Fast clean up
The Primula Pace Cold Brew Coffee Maker is a borosilicate glass carafe with a removable mesh filter. This is an all in one cold brew coffee maker. You don’t need to purchase any additional filters and you can pour the cold brew from the coffee maker directly into your cup and store it back in the fridge.
To use it, grind your coffee beans, place the beans in the filter, set the filter inside the carafe and pour water over the beans. Close the lid and store it in the fridge. About 12-16 hours later, you have cold brew coffee.
I usually put one cup of coarsely ground coffee and 5 cups of water. It is not as concentrated as the other methods here, so it’s a method to use if you prefer drinking your cold brew coffee black, or just with a little dash of milk, creamer or coffee syrup.
Don’t forget to take out the filter after the coffee is brewed.
Read More: How to Make Cold Brew Coffee with Primula Iced Coffee Maker
French Press Cold Brew Coffee
At a glance, use this method if you…
- Don’t have a Primula or equivalent iced/cold brew coffee maker
- Already have a French press at home
- Want to make cold brew coffee concentrate
The French press method is another easy method to make cold brew coffee. If you’re a coffee lover, you likely already have a French press at home, so now you don’t have to just use it for hot coffee.
I usually make a cold brew concentrate with the French press method, since my French press isn’t as large as the Primula.
To make cold brew, I put one cup of coarsely ground coffee and 2 cups of water in the French press and cover it, but do not press the plunger down just yet.
Let the coffee and water steep for at least 12 hours, press the plunger down and pour the concentrate into a mason jar. Store it in the fridge. This concentrate yields enough coffee for about 5 days, depending on how strong I feel like having my coffee.
Read More: French Press Cold Brew (An Easy Cold Brew Coffee Method!)
Cold Brew Coffee in a Jar
At a glance, use this method if you…
- Don’t want to spend any money on extra coffee gear
- Already have a jar or pot laying around
- Have a sieve at home
- Want to make a cold brew coffee concentrate
For this method, use any jar you have sitting around the house. I found a pasta sauce jar and took the label off.
You can also use a stockpot, like a 6 quart one from Le Creuset if you want to make more coffee than what a jar can hold.
For the jar, I put the same amount of coffee to water as the French press method – one cup of coarsely ground coffee to two cups of water to make a cold brew concentrate. Then, let the coffee steep for at least 12 hours. Get another jar (I use a mason jar) to pour the concentrate into. Place a sieve on top of the mason jar and pour the concentrate in, filtering out the coffee ground.
How long will my cold brew coffee last?
I keep the cold brew concentrate I make for a maximum of 7 days. I store it in mason jars. But it’s usually gone by then.
Health Benefits of Cold Brew Coffee
Cold brew coffee is not only easy to make and tastes delicious, but also has a few health benefits.
Just like coffee made with any other coffee brewing method, cold brew coffee contains essential nutrients, may increase cognitive function, may help burn fat, may protect against Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, type 2 diabetes and heart related issues can strengthen the bones, lowers risk of gout and may prevent growth of melanoma cells.
Read More: Is Coffee Good For You? 25 Benefits (and Disadvantages) of Drinking Coffee
In addition to these shared health benefits, cold brew coffee has additional benefits, including that it is less acidic than hot coffee, according to Harvard News. A study was conducted to prove this. It stated that acidity in coffee has been linked to indigestion and heartburn and after running a few tests, they found that hot brew coffees contained higher concentrations of acids than cold brew coffee.
Usually sugar or creamer is added to coffee to mask the acidic taste sometimes found in coffee. Since cold brew coffee isn’t as acidic or bitter as hot coffee, you won’t need to add any extra sugar into your daily food and drink intake.
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