How to Make Cold Brew Coffee (Beginners Guide)

Cold brew coffee is a smooth, low-acid alternative to traditional hot-brewed coffee, made by steeping coarse coffee grounds in cold water for an extended period. This slow extraction process brings out the natural sweetness of the beans while reducing bitterness, resulting in a rich, refreshing drink. Whether you prefer it black, with milk, or as the base for specialty coffee drinks, cold brew is a versatile and easy-to-make option for any coffee lover.

Making cold brew at home requires minimal effort but benefits from the right technique. Choosing the correct coffee-to-water ratio, steeping for the right amount of time, and using proper filtration all contribute to a well-balanced final product. In this guide, you’ll learn how to make smooth, flavorful cold brew, store it properly, and adjust the strength to match your preferences.

What You’ll Need:

• Filtered water
• Coarsely ground coffee (think potting soil consistency, or slightly coarser than French press-ground coffee)
• A large jar of your choice, depending how much you want to make at a time
• Mesh sieve or cheesecloth, optional paper coffee filter
• Food scale or tablespoon measurement

How to Make Cold Brew Coffee: Step by Step

Step 1: Weigh your ingredients

Weigh your beans for the amount of coffee you’re brewing.

• The traditional ratio for cold brew coffee is 1:8. In other words, for every gram of coffee, add 8 grams of water.
• If you haven’t already, grind your beans to a coarse consistency.
• If you’re using pre-ground coffee, you can still weigh the same ratio of coffee grounds to water.

Step 2: Pour coffee grounds into the container

Add these coffee grounds to a vessel of your choice. Common options include a French press, mason jar, or a large pitcher.

Step 3: Add water

• Pour the appropriate amount of filtered water directly into the same vessel.
• You can either pre-weigh your water in a separate container, or you can put the vessel onto your scale and tare it before adding water to weigh the correct amount.

Step 4: Mix together, cover, and place in the fridge

• Give the coffee and water a stir to make sure everything is incorporated.
• Then, loosely cover the top however you would like and place the vessel in the fridge for 14 hours.

Step 5: Filter the grounds

• After 14 hours, filter the grounds from your freshly brewed coffee with a mesh sieve or cheesecloth.
• For an even smoother taste with no grounds whatsoever, you can filter the grounds through a paper coffee filter.

Step 6: Dilute the coffee concentrate

You now have a strong coffee concentrate.

To dilute this, you can combine the concentrate with double the amount of water (1:2 ratio), or equal parts water (1:1 ratio) depending on your preference.

How Does Cold Brew Work?

During typical coffee brewing, hot water extracts many flavors (sometimes undesirable ones) from coffee grounds at a fast rate. This is why the length of brewing usually takes less than 15 minutes at a time, even for the largest quantities of coffee.

When you’re brewing coffee with cold water, the rate of extraction is much slower. As a result, it gradually extracts certain qualities of the coffee that are more desirable, such as its sweetness–and for some coffees, their floral and fruity notes.

Harsher acidic compounds stay behind. The resulting cold-brewed coffee is smoother and lighter, with a velvety body that pairs well with filtered water.

However, do not mistake this for thinking that you can heat cold brew coffee to taste better. Heating the coffee will reverse the effects that cold water had on it, changing the chemical structure of the coffee by breaking down compounds that took time to process. The coffee will taste bitter.

How to Make The Most of Your Cold Brew

• Store cold brew properly: To prevent coffee from molding, store your cold brew concentrate in the fridge. With water, it will last four days. The concentrate alone will last up to two weeks at its freshest in the fridge.

• Use filtered water: Filtered water has minerals that are better suited to coffee, and will also remove some of the chemicals that negatively affect coffee taste like chlorine and calcium carbonate. Remember, coffee is 98% water, so it’s just as important to have quality water as it is to have quality coffee.

• Use paper filters: While a mesh sieve or cheesecloth will properly filter your cold brew, a paper filter will ensure that every sediment of your coffee grounds is removed from the coffee. This will prevent the coffee from being further extracted and potentially sour.
• You can use old coffee beans: Unlike hot coffee brewing, cold brew coffee can still be made with beans older than a month. This is because the higher solubility during cold brewing can further extract flavors that hot coffee cannot within its shorter brewing period. However, avoid using any beans that may have mold on them.

Simple Cold Brew Coffee Recipes Others Love

Simple cold brew recipe

What You’ll Need:

• 197 grams coarsely ground coffee of your choice
• Filtered water
• Optional: milk and sugar

And here’s how to make it:

• Step 1: Measure 1,572ml of filtered water (around 53oz water) and add to a jar that can hold as much.
• Step 2: Add coffee grounds to this jar and give it a stir.
• Step 3: Seal jar with a lid and store in the fridge for at least 14 hours.
• Step 4: After 14 hours, give the coffee another stir, then filter the completed concentrate with a cheesecloth, sieve, or paper filter.
• Step 5: To a glass of ice, add equal parts concentrate with water. Sweeten with cream and sugar to your preference.

Cold brew tonic

What You’ll Need:

• 150 ml tonic water
• 60 ml cold brew concentrate
• Orange or lemon wheel

And here’s how to make a cold brew tonic:

• Step 1: Fill a short glass with ice.
• Step 2: Add 150ml of tonic water to the glass.
• Step 3: Pour 60ml of cold brew concentrate over the ice and tonic water.
• Step 4: Lightly tap the ice with a spoon to incorporate the concentrate and the tonic water. Stirring it with the spoon fully submerged will make the beverage overflow.
• Step 5: Top the cold brew tonic with a lemon or orange wheel.

Cold brew lemonade

What You’ll Need:

• 6oz water
• 1.5oz simple syrup
• Cold brew concentrate
• 1 lemon

And here’s how to make cold brew lemonade:

• Step 1: Juice 1 lemon into a short glass.
• Step 2: Add simple syrup.
• Step 3: Add 6oz of water to the glass and stir all the contents together.
• Step 4: Top with cold brew concentrate.

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