All About Cold brew
Just in time for warm summer weather, here is your complete guide to cold brew!
First, what exactly is cold brew? Obviously it’s an iced coffee, but what classifies it as cold brew versus another form of iced coffee?
It’s all in the name: cold brew is coffee that was brewed with cold or room temperature water, never hot!
In order to make cold brew, you must let the coffee grounds steep in the cold water for an extended period of time, anywhere from twelve to twenty-four hours. The slow steep is necessary since the coffee isn’t coming into contact with hot water; over the course of the steep time, it slowly releases flavors from the grounds into the water. This slow brew time also contributes to the smoother, less acidic taste of cold brew.
It’s important to know that the resulting cold brew coffee is not the final product! Cold brewing coffee results in a concentrate: it needs to be cut with either milk or water! Due to the extended steep time, cold brew has a lot of caffeine, and the resulting concentrate needs to be cut for both caffeine and taste reasons. Many coffee shops cut the concentrate at a 1:1 ratio, but, if you’re making cold brew at home, just play around the dilution until you find the ratio you like.
So how do you make cold brew at home? It’s so easy!
Make sure your coffee is ground at a coarse grind size; use filtered water; combine the grounds and filtered water in a container such as a pitcher or french press or large Tupperware tub. Let it steep at room temp— just out on the kitchen counter— for about twelve hours. A good ratio to start at is a 1:8 ratio coffee:water, but, just like all things specialty coffee, play around with that recipe until it’s the perfect ratio for your tastes. Once twelve hours have passed filter the grounds out, and the resulting liquid is your beautiful cold brew concentrate!
Cut the concentrate as we discussed above with milk or water. Add a syrup if you like! (You can find some syrup recipe ideas here.) Serve over ice!
The concentrate can be kept in the fridge for up to two weeks.
