Cold brew
Cold brew concentrate
A 1:5 concentrate steeped for sixteen hours, which keeps two weeks and dilutes to whatever you want: black over ice, with milk, or into a tonic.
At a glance
- Total
- 15 min
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Yield
- 8 cups
- Ratio
- 1:5
- Dose
- 200 g
- In cup
- 1000 g
The build
- Coffee200 g
- Water1000 g
Equipment
- Jar or jug, 1.5 litres
- Scales
- Sieve
- Paper filter or cloth
- Bottle for storage
Ingredients
- Coffee, coarse grind
- 200 g
- Cold filtered water
- 1000 g
Method
Grind 200 g coarse, around a French press setting. Finer makes filtering a chore and adds bitterness.
120sPut the grounds in the jar and add 1000 g of cold water. Stir once until no dry pockets float.
60sCover and leave at room temperature for 16 hours, or in the fridge for 22. Room temperature extracts faster and gives more body.
Strain through a sieve to remove the bulk of the grounds.
120sFilter again through paper or cloth for a clear concentrate. This takes ten minutes and is what stops it tasting muddy on day three.
600sBottle and refrigerate. Label it with the date: it is at its best for a week and drinkable for two.
Why a concentrate rather than a ready to drink
Storage and control. A litre of concentrate takes the same fridge space as a litre of weak coffee and makes three times as many drinks, and it lets you dilute to the strength the drink needs rather than the one you guessed at sixteen hours earlier.
The ice problem
Ice is water. A tall glass of ice melts 20 to 40 per cent of its own volume into your drink within a few minutes, which is why a cold brew that tastes right when poured tastes empty when finished.
Two fixes: dilute with less water because the ice will finish the job, or freeze a tray of cold brew itself and use those cubes.
Keeping it
Refrigerated in a sealed bottle, a well filtered concentrate is at its best for a week and fine for two. Diluted and ready to drink, it is dull within three days, so dilute by the glass.
Questions about this recipe
- How do I dilute it?
- Start at one part concentrate to two parts water over ice and adjust. With milk, one to two is usually right. In a tonic, one part concentrate to three parts tonic over plenty of ice.
- Does it need a dark roast?
- No. Cold water extracts very little bitterness, so a light or medium roast that would be sharp hot comes out sweet and fruity cold. A washed Kenyan makes a remarkable cold brew.