Cold brewed coffee – it’s been taking the world by storm. I first heard about cold brewing a few years ago when The Pioneer Woman first posted about her perfect iced coffee. I’m one of those people whose stomach burns with the acidity of conventionally brewed coffee, and I hate the sour taste you get from brewing coffee with hot water then icing it to make iced coffee. I’d always add a ton of cream and sugar to mask the sour, usually to the point where it became milk with a touch of coffee. I thought that was how I took my coffee – with lots of cream and sugar.
This cold brew stuff? I can drink it black. Crazy, right? It’s so smooth! If you normally take your coffee black, you’re in for a treat. Besides the taste, the best thing about cold brewing is that once it’s brewed, you have instant delicious coffee without dealing with those instant coffee powders. Cup + ice + cold brew + water = delicious cup of iced coffee in less than two minutes. Prefer your coffee hot? Mix it with hot water instead or warm it in the microwave. The concentrate keeps well in the fridge, so you can brew up a large batch and be good on coffee for a couple weeks.
Everyone has their own take on cold brewing ratios, and this ratio is what works for our tastes. Feel free to experiment until you get the ratio that’s right for you!
Cold Brewed Coffee
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 18 hours
Total Time: 18 hours, 5 minutes
Yield: 12-14 cups
Ingredients
- 16 oz ground coffee of choice
- 16 cups water
- large bowl or stockpot
- french press or strainer + coffee filter or cheese cloth folded over several times
Instructions
- Place ground coffee in a large, non-reactive container such as a glass bowl or stainless-steel stock pot*
- Slowly pour water over the coffee grinds. Try to get all the grinds wet
- If not all ground coffee is wet, use a wooden spoon to slowly submerge all the grinds. Don’t stir!**
- Let coffee and water sit overnight 12-24 hours.
- Strain coffee using a French press or by pouring over filer/cheese cloth into a separate container.
- Refrigerate coffee concentrate and enjoy!
Notes
– This makes quite a bit of coffee concentrate. The concentrate lasts a week or two (some say a month!), so if this yield is too much, you can make just a few cups at a time using the ratio of one ounce of coffee to one cup of water.
* Some people recommend against using any type of metal when making cold brew. I’ve made it in a stainless steel pot successfully, but YMMV.
** When I first started making cold brew I heard that stirring could increase the acidity of the finished product. I don’t know the validity of this claim, but I avoid stirring just in case. If you try stirring, let me know how it turns out! Schema/Recipe SEO Data Markup by ZipList Recipe Plugin
To turn this cold brew concentrate into a drinkable cup of iced coffee, fill your glass with ice and fill 1/4 to 1/2 with coffee concentrate depending on how strong you like your coffee. Top off with water, milk, half and half or any combination thereof. Or if you’re like me and have an excess of flavored creamers leftover from a party, splash that in.
If you’re a coffee lover, I recommend trying it black. Or you can drink it as cream with a hint of coffee. I won’t judge.
