How to Make Cold Brew Coffee

Over the last few years, cold brew coffee has transitioned from being a niche drink for in-the-know coffee drinkers, to being an essential part of every specialty coffee shop. Cold brew is well and truly established in the mainstream, but it is still growing fast — in fact, the cold brew coffee business is growing by more than 25% every year.¹

If you’ve tried cold brew, then you probably already know why it is so popular. Cold brew has low bitterness, and a less sour flavor than traditional iced coffee, making for a smooth, naturally sweet-tasting and incredibly refreshing drink.

But cold brew isn’t just for enjoying in cafes! It’s really easy and convenient to make at home. With a jug of cold brew concentrate in your fridge, you can be ready to serve the perfect chilled coffee drink at a moment’s notice.

There are lots of different methods you can use to make cold brew at home. In this article, we’ll talk you through some of the easiest methods for making cold brewed coffee, and share with you our secrets for making perfect cold brew drinks at home.

What is cold brew coffee?

The answer is simple — cold brew coffee is coffee, brewed cold. There are lots of different ways to make cold brew, but they all rely on brewing coffee in cold water over a long period of time. With cold water, it takes a lot more time to extract all the flavors from the coffee, so it’s something that you need to make ahead of time.

Iced coffee, on the other hand, is any kind of coffee served on ice. This could include cold brew, but it usually refers to coffee brewed hot, and then cooled down to be served as an iced drink. Iced coffee can end up tasting watery or bitter if it’s not done right, which is why cold brew, with its smooth flavor, has become so popular instead.

However, if you’re in a hurry and need cold coffee now, then cold brew takes way too long to make. Unless you are one of those scientists that worked out a way to make cold brew in less than three minutes using lasers, of course. In that case, an iced brew is the only way to go, in order to get cold coffee right away.

Top tips for great cold brew

Whatever cold brew method you use, there are a few things you can do to give yourself the best chance of getting tasty results.

• The first step is to choose good, fresh coffee beans. Plenty of baristas use cold brew as a way of using up stale coffee beans — but this way your cold brew will never taste as good as it should. Use fresh coffee for the best flavor, and use your leftover coffee beans to make a scrub instead.
• Grind the coffee freshly. Coffee starts losing aroma as soon as it’s ground, so it’s best to grind just before brewing, using a good brew grinder like the Baratza Encore. For cold brew coffee, use the coarsest grind size setting to avoid any bitter, over extracted flavors.
• Make sure to use filtered water. Just like any brew method, water is the biggest ingredient, and your coffee will taste better with good filtered water.
• Experiment with different ratios. Some people like their cold brew to be really strong, while others prefer a more delicate flavor. Play with the recipes below to find the strength that’s best for you.
• Serve your cold brew coffee with plenty of ice. It’s meant to be served cold, so you don’t want your last sips to be lukewarm. If you’re worried about the ice melting and diluting your drink, either make a stronger cold brew to start with, or use leftover cold brew to make coffee ice cubes. That way, when the ice cubes melt, all you get is even more coffee, which can only be a good thing.

Concentrate or ready-to-drink?

Before you start making your cold brew coffee, decide if you want to make the cold brew ready to drink right away, or if you want to make a concentrate. A concentrate is simply cold brew, brewed to be extra strong. You can keep it in the fridge and dilute it with water as you need it — or use other mixers including milk or tonic water. The complex flavors of cold brew concentrate also makes a great base for non-alcoholic cocktails.

To make ready-to-drink cold brew, use a ratio of 1:15 — so for example use 100 grams of coffee with 1.5 liters of water. To make a concentrate, use a ratio of 1:5, and then dilute one part of the concentrate with two parts of water when you want to drink it.

You can make cold brew with anything

If you don’t want to buy brewers just for making cold brew, then you can make cold brew using just about any container that you like. All you have to do is mix coffee and cold water together, leave it for 12–24 hours, and then filter it.

A French press, such as this French press from Mibru, is really convenient for making cold brew this way. Put 30 grams of coarse ground coffee into the French press, and add 450 ml of water to make a 1:15 ratio. Stir well, cover, and leave to stand for around 18 hours at room temperature.

When the brew is finished, decant it to leave as much of the grounds behind as possible, and pour the cold brew through a paper coffee filter. Pouring the coffee through the paper filter can sometimes take a bit of time, but it’s well worth it to remove any sludge and oils from the cold brew, which can sometimes carry bitter, middy flavors.

Once the cold brew is filtered, store it in the fridge, and drink it within a few days for the best flavor.

How to use a Cold Brew Pot

While using a French press is an easy way to make cold brew at home, specialised cold brew equipment makes it even easier. The Cold Brew Pot from Cafede Kona is possibly the easiest way there is to make cold brew.

All you have to do is put coffee into the stainless steel mesh filter, add water, and wait. When the brew is finished, you just lift the filter out and you’re ready to drink right away — no messing around with paper filters required.

If you’re using the Cold Brew Pot, try using 40 grams of coarse-ground coffee and 600 ml of water. Put the coffee into the basket, then pour on the water and mix well. Pop the lid on and leave it to brew for around 18 hours.

When the brew is finished, simply pull out the metal filter basket, and the coffee is ready to drink!

How to make cold brew using a Toddy

If you want to make cold brew on a larger scale, then Toddy is the brand that professional baristas use all over the world. Toddy are renowned for their large commercial cold brew maker which can brew several gallons of coffee at a time — ideal for cafes.

If you’re making coffee at home, however, then Toddy’s more compact 1.4-liter cold brew system will probably suit you better. Try using 80 grams of coarse-ground coffee, to 1.2 liters of water, to make a ready-to-drink cold brew, or 240 grams of coffee to 1.2 liters of water if you want to make a concentrate.

We recommend using Toddy’s ‘double filtration’ method with this brew for the cleanest, most refreshing brew. For double filtration, we use the disc-shaped reusable felt filter comes with the brewer, along with one of Toddy’s special paper filter bags.

Start by putting the stopper into the base of the brewer to seal it. Then rinse the reusable felt filter in cold water, and place it into the bottom of the brewer.

Next, take one of the paper filter bags, and place the bag into the brewer. Pour the coffee into the bag, followed by the water. Stir gently to ensure that the coffee is all wet, taking care not to tear the filter paper. Twist the top of the bag to close it, put the lid on the brewer, and wait for around 18 hours.

When the coffee is ready to drink, pull out the stopper and let the cold brew coffee flow out into the decanter. According to Toddy, the brew will stay fresh in the fridge for up to 2 weeks, but we would recommend enjoying it within a few days to get the best possible flavor.

How to make cold brew with a cold drip tower

If you’re the sort of home barista that likes experimenting with the recipes of your coffee to find different flavors, then you’ll love using a cold drip tower to make your cold brew. Unlike other cold brew methods, which involve leaving the coffee and water to infuse together over a long period of time, a cold drip tower involves slowly dripping water over the coffee — a bit like a pourover, except that it takes 12 hours to make.

The cold drip method can sometimes pull a bit more flavor out of the coffee, especially if you use a light roast. You can also change the drip rate of the water, as well as the ratio of coffee to water, giving you more options to tweak the recipe to find the best flavor for you. Best of all, cold drip towers can look attractive on the countertop.

There are several different brands of cold drip tower, but they all work in a similar way. The Mibru Cold Brew Drip Tower is the classic design, handmade out of wood and glass, making it an eye catching and beautiful brewer. Alternatively, Mibru’s steel and glass Cold Brew Coffee Maker brings a chemistry lab look to your kitchen, while the Bruer Cold Drip System has more minimal, modern lines.

To use a cold drip tower, place a paper filter into the coffee basket, and then add coffee. The amount to use depends on the size of the brewer — just remember to use a 1:15 ratio if you want to make ready-to-drink coffee, or a 1:5 ratio to make a concentrate.

Shake the coffee bed gently to level it out a little, and then place another filter paper on top. The top paper catches drips and spreads them out over the coffee bed, so the coffee can extract evenly.

Next, assemble the brewer and pour water into the top chamber. Adjust the valve until you get approximately 1 drop of water every two seconds. It may take a bit of experimenting to find the valve position that gives you the drip rate you need. Once all the water has dripped through, your cold brew coffee is ready to drink!

The Cafede Kona Ice Drip Coffee Maker uses a similar principle, but instead of controlling the dripping of water with a valve, it uses the melting ice to drip water over the coffee. You can use this brewer in a similar way to a drip tower, but instead of putting water in the top chamber, you just put in ice.

Put the whole brewer into the fridge, so that the ice doesn’t all melt right away. As the ice slowly melts, it will drip over the coffee. When all the ice is melted, the brew is ready.

The best beans for cold brew coffee

Cold brew tends to soften both the acidity and the bitterness of the coffee that you use, so it’s best to use a coffee with strong flavors.

If you’re a fan of dark, chocolatey flavors in your coffee then you could choose a darker espresso roast such as the Mokaflor Black Blend. In a cold brew, the darker roast of an espresso is perfect because the cold brew extracts less of the bitterness, but you get all the full complex flavors of the roast.

If you like more fruity and floral flavors in your coffee, then instead choose the coffees with the most prominent aromas, such as naturally processed coffees from Africa and Yemen. Subtle flavors get lost in cold brew, so go for the fruit bombs, such as this lovely Guji from Mill coffee roasters.

Beyond cold brew

Making cold brew at home is easy, which makes it a really fun method to play around with. You could try experimenting with aromas by adding spices to the infusion, or try mixing cold brew concentrate with different drinks to create new flavors. You can even use cold brew methods to make tea as well as coffee, which brings out quite different flavors from the leaves.

If you really love cold brew and often make it for large numbers of guests, then you can even experiment with the way you serve it. This compact nitrogen dispenser from Naiko, for example, lets you make creamy nitro cold brew on demand. It doesn’t need any gas tanks, but simply pulls the nitrogen it needs out of the air!

Alternatively, for big summer gatherings, why not use a slushie maker to turn your cold brew into a coffee granita? With rich, smooth cold brew and a little sugar syrup, you have a nostalgic yet sophisticated sweet treat.

However you like to drink your cold brew, and whatever method you choose to brew it with, cold brew is a trend that’s here to stay. Give our recipes a try and discover how delicious cold brew can be.

¹ Technavio 2022