How to make cold-brew coffee at home: Easy steps for a smooth brew

Cold-brew coffee. Photo / Scott Suchman, The Washington Post

During summer in my hometown of New Orleans, it can be sweltering even at 7am. But I don’t sweat it. I’ve whittled down the time it takes for me to get out of bed and prepare my morning cold-brew coffee to a record low. Fill a cup with ice, splash in some concentrate and water, and I’m good to go.

I’ve never needed soaring temps to appreciate cold brew, though. I drink it year-round. It’s brighter, smoother and naturally sweeter, with less acidity and bitterness, than hot-brewed coffee. It’s also remarkably thirst-quenching.

Even better, it’s simple to prepare a week’s worth of cold-brew concentrate at home, ensuring coffee is always on hand. There’s no need to boil a kettle in an already stuffy kitchen, no fussy pour-over rituals, no expensive machinery or pods to purchase, and, surprisingly, no specialised cold-brew equipment required. Here’s how to get started.

What you need to make cold brew at home

You don’t need much to brew a batch of cold-brew coffee. All you really need is a “container or pitcher [like a lemonade pitcher], a fine-mesh strainer or cheesecloth, and the coffee”, says Catherine Mansell, director of product and programs at Current Crop Roasting Shop in New Orleans. This is precisely my long-time home set-up. I combine my coffee grounds with water in a 12-cup (3-litre) pitcher, steep it overnight, then strain it twice – once through a fine-mesh sieve, then again through the same sieve lined with cheesecloth. Straining out the coarse grounds first prevents them from clogging the cheesecloth. Happily, any very fine sediment that sneaks through the cheesecloth eventually settles to the bottom, making it possible to leave it behind in the pitcher if you’re careful not to pour out the final bit.

The only other piece of equipment worth considering is a grinder. Freshly grinding whole beans is essential for the best flavour. Aim for a coarse to medium-coarse grind that’s as uniform as possible for ease of filtering. This ensures there will be less very fine sediment that can filter through or end up clogging the cheesecloth. If you don’t have a nice burr grinder at home, I recommend asking your local coffee shop to grind your beans or using the grinder in the supermarket coffee aisle adjusted to a coarse setting. (I don’t recommend blade grinders for cold brew, as they create very fine sediment that is harder to filter out.)

Straining the coffee is done through a fine-mesh strainer, then again through cheesecloth in the strainer, helps remove sediment. Photo / Scott Suchman, The Washington Post

The best coffee beans for making cold brew

Dialling in your cold-brew recipe comes down to choosing a coffee you like and experimenting with timing and ratios. So what’s the best bean for cold brew? Ultimately it’s a matter of personal taste. If you’re looking for a place to start, choose a medium-roast, washed coffee, or a blend that includes this type of bean, especially one designed for cold-extraction brewing, such as Stumptown Coffee’s Cold Brew Summer, recommended to me by Brent Wolczynski, the brand’s director of product development and cold brew. Making cold brew with that blend will get you closest to the prepared cold brew that Stumptown sells in supermarkets, which I found to be immaculately clean and smooth, with deep notes of chocolate.

Lighter-roasted coffees can “have lots of acidity [and] typically less body”, and medium-roast-heavy blends “can really balance things out”, says Sarah Lambeth, owner and head roaster at Pretty Coffee in New Orleans. She suggests combining “a washed coffee that is floral and sweet but lacks body … with a natural-process, big-body chocolate bomb” for the best of both worlds. I’ve enjoyed experimenting with my own blends based on this strategy, but my best results have come from blends tailored by the roasters, so don’t be afraid to ask for recommendations. After all, they’re the experts.

Start with coarsely ground coffee, preferably a medium-roast and washed bean, then steep for 14 to 24 hours. Photo / Scott Suchman, The Washington Post

Ratios for steeping cold brew at home

It’s difficult to over-extract when brewing at low temperatures, Wolczynski says, making the timing for cold brew very forgiving, at least at that upper end of the time range. Too little time, however, and you can under-extract, leaving you with a weak, watered-down, sour-tasting brew, so at least 14 hours is recommended.

The final crucial variable is the ratio of water to coffee. While many recipes call for ratios as low as four to one, Wolczynski makes a case for at least an eight-to-one ratio of water to coffee by weight. As grounds dissolve in the water, “extraction starts to slow. Increasing water is going to help you increase extraction”. In other words, you can squeeze more delicious cold brew out of the same amount of beans if you use more water. One common complaint about cold brew is that recipes often tell you to use much more coffee than you do with hot-brewing methods, but this ratio aligns with what’s recommended for most hot brewing methods: about 16 to one for the final cup, assuming you dilute the concentrate with an equal amount of water (or milk).

How to mix up cold-brew concentrate

The lovely thing about cold-brew concentrate is its versatility. You can tailor it to your strength preference by simply diluting it with more or less water or milk, or you can use it straight as a cold espresso replacement in all sorts of drinks. I love to make potent Vietnamese iced coffee by pouring concentrate over ice and stirring in a spoonful of sweetened condensed milk. Or when I want to manifest the arrival of autumn, I add warming spices to my coffee grounds during the brewing – cinnamon is my favourite, but nutmeg and clove are also great – and finish my drink with oat milk and maple syrup.

The possibilities are endless. Patrick Brennan of Congregation Coffee in New Orleans turned me on to the idea of making my own lavender simple syrup. Add cold brew, ice and milk, and you’ve got yourself an elegant iced lavender latte. We also talked about a cold-brew cafe brûlot they used to serve at Brennan’s, his family’s flagship restaurant and a renowned Crescent City brunch institution. They transformed the old-school classic – traditionally made tableside by flambéing brandy, orange liqueur, orange peel and spices, and adding in strong, black coffee – into an iced cocktail. Armed with my cold-brew concentrate, a cinnamon-and-clove-infused simple syrup, Grand Marnier and brandy, I’ve been experimenting with the recipe. More often than not, though, if cocktail hour calls for a zip of caffeine, I’ve been keeping it simple. Cold-brew, ice, Kahlua and cream, stirred together in a rocks glass to make a variation on a White Russian. Feeling fancy? Shake it over ice and serve it up as a cold-brew martini.

Cold-brew concentrate can be mixed with water (left) or milk (right). Photo / Scott Suchman, The Washington Post

Cold-brew coffee

You can make excellent cold-brew coffee – smooth, invigorating and thirst-quenching – at home with no specialty equipment. Plus, cold brew lends itself naturally to being made before, so you can have the concentrate on hand for up to two weeks. To extract more coffee from the beans, use a relatively high ratio of water to coffee (eight to one by weight). Grinding the coffee coarsely expedites the filtering of the cold brew, while double-straining – first through a fine-mesh sieve, then through cheesecloth – removes even the finest sediment, as well as much of the oils, and produces the cleanest, brightest cup.

Servings: 15 (makes about 7½ cups cold-brew concentrate)

Total time: 25 minutes, plus at least 14 hours for steeping

Variations: Instead of a fine-mesh strainer, you can use a nut-milk bag for the first strain, which will make the second strain through the cheesecloth go a little faster. To use the nut-milk bag, add the coffee grounds to the bag before setting it in the pitcher and adding the water. For the first strain, simply lift the nut-milk bag out of the pitcher, and give it a gentle squeeze to release all of the concentrate. Then strain again through the cheesecloth as directed above.

Notes: Use a burr grinder or the supermarket coffee-aisle grinder to achieve a coarse to medium-coarse grind, or ask your local coffee shop to grind the beans for you. We like to use a store-bought blend intended for cold brew, such as Stumptown Coffee’s Cold Brew Summer.

Make ahead: The cold-brew concentrate needs to steep at least 14 hours and up to 24 hours before straining and using.

Storage: Refrigerate the cold-brew concentrate for up to two weeks.

INGREDIENTS

For the cold-brew concentrate:

10 cups (2365g) filtered water

285g coarsely ground coffee (see Notes)

For the cold-brew coffee:

Ice

½ cup (120ml) cold-brew concentrate

½ cup water, or milk of your choice

Half-and-half, for serving (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Make the cold-brew concentrate: In a 3-litre pitcher, combine the water and coffee, and gently stir to ensure all of the grounds are moistened. Cover the pitcher, and let sit at room temperature for at least 14 hours and up to 24 hours.

Set a large fine-mesh strainer over a large bowl and slowly pour the coffee mixture through. Let sit for 5-10 minutes to extract as much coffee concentrate as possible, then discard the coffee grounds.

Rinse the strainer and pitcher thoroughly. Set the strainer over the pitcher and line it with four layers of cheesecloth. (If your strainer is too large for the pitcher, use a smaller one or do this step over a clean bowl, then decant the strained concentrate into the pitcher.) Working in batches, gently pour or ladle the concentrate through the lined strainer, using a flexible spatula to gently scrape the bottom of the cheesecloth as necessary to pass the liquid through.

Make the cold-brew coffee: when ready to serve, in a large glass filled with ice, combine the cold-brew concentrate with the water or milk. (If using water, add milk or half-and-half, to taste, if desired.)

Nutritional information per serving (½ cup coffee concentrate and ½ cup water): eight calories, 0g fat, 0g saturated fat, 0g carbohydrates, 3mg sodium, 0mg cholesterol, 1g protein, 0g fibre, 2g sugar.

This analysis is an estimate based on available ingredients and this preparation. It should not substitute for a dietitian’s or nutritionist’s advice.