Cold brew coffee at home
As the weather gets warmer it’s not always easy to go for a hot cup of coffee. Even your favorite coffee may not be as enjoyable when it’s nearly the same temperature outside as it is in your mug. But thankfully, we don’t have to worry about only drinking hot coffee. Cold brew is the savior of all coffee drinkers in the hot summer months. All of the flavor and caffeine you could ever want in a simple, refreshing beverage. Cold brewing is just like it sounds; coffee being brewed with cold or room temperature water.
Not using hot water has a few benefits. Cold brewing doesn’t draw out acidity in coffee that can be unsettling to your stomach like using hot water can. Cold brew is typically brewed as a concentrate, so you can cut it with water or milk to make each cup taste just the way you like it, or drink it straight if you can handle it. Another benefit is you can store your concentrate in the fridge for up to two weeks so it’s ready to go when you need it, not having to make a new batch every time you want iced coffee. The positives of cold brew can go on forever. It’s really easy to make too.
To start a batch, all you need is brewing vessel, a filter, filtered water and some coffee. You can use a large jar, a french press, or an actual cold-brewing setup. In the past I’ve used a french press to separate the grounds from the coffee and pour through a paper filter to clean up some of the sludge, even a nylon cheesecloth in bigger batches to keep the grounds contained.
AS FAR AS A GOOD STARTING RECIPE WHEN MAKING COLD BREW CONCENTRATE, A 1:5 COFFEE GROUNDS TO WATER RATIO IS A SAFE PLACE TO BE.
We recommend grinding one of our 12oz bags on a coarse setting and adding about 60 fl.oz. of filtered water. If your vessel isn’t quite that big, you can shrink it down to 6oz of coffee to 30oz of water, or even smaller. Make sure all of the grounds are saturated evenly, then the waiting begins. Anywhere from twelve to twenty-four hours is the extent of time it takes for the coffee to finish steeping. This is all based on personal preference. We like to brew our cold brew for 18 hours.
Once enough time has passed, separate your grounds from the concentrate. Spent coffee grounds are a good compostable material that can be used for gardening and have many useful health benefits that I won’t mention here, but there are a ton of uses out there. Now you can taste the concentrate and add as little or as much water or milk as you’d prefer and enjoy! We sell the Toddy Cold Brewing System on our online store if you’re interested in something designed specifically for cold brewing at home. It’s a simpler, better way to enjoy coffee in the warmer months. Happy brewing!
