How to Make Cold Brew: Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate
This homemade cold brew concentrate recipe is super easy to make at home and way better than anything you'll find at your local grocery store! Perfect for those hot summer days when you need a flavor blast of smooth, less acidic coffee. This recipe lets you batch a big jug that'll keep you caffeinated all week long.
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Equipment
- 1 brewing container
- 1 mesh sieve and optional additional coffee filter
Ingredients
Standard 1:10 ratio brew (see notes for other stronger ratios)
- 120 g coffee coarsely ground
- 1200 g water about 42 ounces, 5 1/4 cups
- pinch kosher salt optional
Instructions
Use the ratio chart in the recipe notes to get the perfect brew!
Then, follow the instructions below using the weights of coffee grounds and water.
- Coarsely grind coffee. The grind should be much coarser than what you'd use for drip coffee, sort of like raw sugar crystals vs. granulated sugar.
- Weigh grounds. Weigh your ground coffee and place in your brewing container.
- Combine grounds + a little water. Add just enough cold filtered water to cover the grounds.
- Stir to combine + add the rest of the water. Stir gently to ensure all grounds are wet and no dry pockets remain. Add the remaining water to your mix.
- Add salt. Add a pinch of kosher salt, if using. For larger batches, use up to 1/4 tsp of salt.
- Steep. Cover container and let steep for 12-48 hours either at room temperature or in the refrigerator.
- Strain. Strain your coffee through a non-reactive mesh sieve to separate it from the grounds.
- Double filter if desired. Line a fine mesh strainer with cheesecloth or a coffee filter and position over a clean container. Slowly pour the cold brew through the strainer to filter out all grounds. You may need to do this in batches.
- Store. Transfer strained cold brew to a clean, airtight container and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.
Notes
Cold Brew Ratio Cheat Sheet
Use this chart to get the PERFECT ratio of coffee beans to water, every time, depending on the strength of the cold brew you prefer! 1:10 Ratio (Drinkable As Is)| 120 | g | coffee | coarsely ground |
| 1200 | g | water | about 42 ounces, 5 1/4 cups |
| pinch | kosher salt | optional |
| 120 | g | coffee | coarsely ground |
| 960 | g | water | about 32 ounces, 4 cups |
| pinch | kosher salt |
| 340 | g | coffee | coarsely ground, 12 ounce bag |
| 2040 | g | water | about 72 ounces, 9 cups water |
| 1/4 | tsp | kosher salt | optional |
| 340 | g | coffee | coarsely ground, 12 ounce bag |
| 1360 | g | water | about 48 ounces, 6 cups |
| 1/4 | tsp | kosher salt | optional |
Straining the wet coffee grounds:
Do not worry about the wet grounds at the bottom of your coffee container. Some water will be lost to the steeping process and it's not worth it to try to squeeze it all out.A note on volume:
When you strain the coffee grounds, you'll lose a significant amount of water in the process. For instance, when testing the 1:4 ratio brew, even though I used nearly 6 cups of water to brew, when strained I ended up with less than 4 cups of coffee concentrate. On average, I lost about 1-2 cups of water volume during the brew process.Stronger ratio notes:
If you plan to make a stronger brew, such as a 1:6 ratio or 1:4 ratio, I recommend using a french press or specialized cold brew container. Due to the lower volume of water, it can be hard to extract all the coffee from the grounds when using a standard drip filter process for these ratios.Nutrition
Sodium: 8mgCalcium: 5mg
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Keyword: cold brew, no cook