Cold Brew Coffee Recipe

There is something about a nice cup of coffee in the morning. In the winter, by morning mug keeps me warm on my drive into school. But what’s a girl (or guy) to do in the hot summer months? Years ago, I’d brew a pot of hot coffee the night before and refrigerate it over night. But last fall I was introduced to cold brew coffee. It’s mild and smooth and lends itself wonderfully to iced coffee. After a few months of perfecting my iced brew coffee recipe, I’m ready to share.

Before you begin, you’ll need to assemble the basic equipment: filtered water, coarse ground coffee, a jar and an infuser. I currently make my cold brew coffee with a coffee sock ($13.69, Amazon Affiliate link) and two half gallon wide-mouth glass jar I had around the house ($12.10, Amazon Affiliate link). In researching for this post, however, I came across this guy – a reusable mesh filter ($14.99, Amazon Affiliate link). I’m waiting for Amazon Prime Day to order it and try it out since my sock is at the max it can accommodate.

9 cups of cold, filtered water

1 1/2 cups of course ground coffee

Fill a glass jar (mason jar type) about 2/3rds full of cold, filtered water. Fill your coffee sock or mesh filter with the 1 1/2 cups of course ground coffee.

Keeping the sock open and upright, slide into the cold water, making sure not to spill grounds out into the water. Slowly add water, a little at a time (about 1/4 cup but no need to measure) to wet the grounds inside the sock. Allow the water to seep down into the grounds. Continue adding water directly to the grounds, a little bit at a time, until the grounds look completely saturated (the water sits on top of the grounds for several seconds before filtering down). I usually continue adding water until the jar is pretty much full. I like to get all the bang for my buck.

Screw the top on and wait. At this stage, you can brew in the fridge if you want cold coffee in the morning, or on the counter top if fridge space is at a premium. You’ll

need at least 12 hours for the coffee to brew, and I’ve gone as much as 24 hours. Once the time is up, remove the grounds.

This recipe makes a cold brew coffee concentrate that needs to be diluted with equal parts water. If space is tight, just put the concentrate into the fridge and add equal parts coffee concentrate and water. If you have more room available, you can split the coffee into two large jars and add equal parts filtered water to each jar.

New to cold brew?

Enjoy it just as you would an iced coffee or hot coffee. You can heat it up for a hot cup sans acid. Fill a glass with ice and top with coffee concentrate and water. Finish with cream, flavored creamer, and/or sugar (substitute) to taste.

Some modifications

Cheese cloth – Don’t want to invest in a purpose made strainer? You can use cheese cloth to strain your grounds. Simply add the grounds directly to the
You don’t need any special equipment if you’re trying cold brew for the first time. Add the grounds directly to the water. It’s a little messier (more bottles to clean and some waiting time when filtering), but you can achieve cold brew coffee with what you probably have around your kitchen.

water and mix well (I put the lid on an shook it up gently). When you’re done, strain first through a single layer (put over the mouth of the jar and secure with a rubber band) and then a double layer. The only draw back, is that this method uses three jars, but it’s easy and inexpensive.
Ratio – Don’t have (or want) a half-gallon size jar? The magic ratio is 1/3 cup grounds to 2 cups of water. I have tested the recipe to fill a half gallon wide mouth jar (so slightly more than 8 cups of water), so it’s just slightly more than the 1 1/3 cups.