How to Make Cold Brew Coffee – a simple and easy method to make delicious and delicate cold brew coffee at home, with no special machines required!
Easy Cold Brew Coffee
Cold brew coffee is a lower acidity, less bitter version than it’s hot brewed coffee counterpart … here is a great guide for you to get started making it on your own! I have been making my coffee this way (yes, I heat it up in the winter – more on that later) and I absolutely love it. If am not drinking an Iced Matcha Latte (or a regular matcha latte in the winter) – this is what is in my cup of coffee every morning! (pro tip: you can also make cold brew in your French Press). So get ready to dig in to all things cold brewed coffee – the flavor, how long to steep it, how to use it and how to make it just as good as the local coffee shops!
Love cold brewing – try our Cold Brew Tea recipe!
Cold Brew vs. Hot Coffee vs. Iced Coffee
- Cold Brew coffee is made by brewing roughly ground coffee beans in cold water for a long period of time (think 24 hours) – steeping is generally done in the fridge.
- Hot Coffee, the stuff you are probably most accustomed to, is brewed by pouring hot water over finely ground coffee in a very short period of time.
- Iced Coffee, on the other hand, is simply Hot Coffee poured over ice.
What You Will Need to Make It:
- Coffee Beans: Some good whole bean coffee (decaf coffee works too you know!). I prefer to use a medium to dark roast.
- Coffee Grinder: An electric coffee grinder
- Mason Jars or other storage container: Mason jars (or other storage container (see below))
- Strainer: Reusable cheesecloth, thin paper filters, etc. (reusable coffee filters work too, just make sure they are as thin a possible or it will forever to strain).
- Funnel: A canning funnel comes in very handy here!
Recipe FAQs + Tips
- Can you heat it up: Yes! Just because you are brewing it in cold water doesn’t mean you cannot heat it up later. The acidity level will remain the same! I love heating mine up in the winter!
- Can you use decaf beans: Yes! You can definitely use decaf coffee beans instead of regular.
- Can you use finely ground coffee beans: In short, yes, you can use finely ground coffee beans BUT you may run into issue with filtering out all the ground during the straining process. Keeping your beans more coarsely ground will help prevent that.
- French Press: You can easily make this in a French Press as well – same method and same ratio.
- Caffeine: Here is a great article on whether cold brew has the same amount of caffeine as regular coffee.
Cold Brew Concentrate
Making cold brew concentrate is also super simple. Instead of using the 8:1 ratio of 8 cups water to every cup of grounds you would use a 4:1 ratio with 4 cups of water to every 1 cup of coffee grounds. Everything is the exact same – you can let it steep longer, just don’t let is steep too long or it may extract some of the bitterness we are trying to avoid with a cold brew coffee. Then you can cut the concentrate with almond milk, oat milk or whatever you prefer.
How to Make Cold Brew at Home:
Roughly ground some fresh coffee beans.
This is what your grounds should look like. At then end of all this, you are going to be straining out these beans so you want them to be big enough to get caught in cheesecloth or a clean dish towel.
Place ground in a clean container and add water.
Based on my experience, you are looking for 8 cups of water for every 1 cup of grounds, approximately. Obviously, if you want stronger coffee, then add more grounds or weaker coffee, add more water.
Cover and let sit in the refrigerator for 24 hours (or longer).
Strain coffee – I used a funnel with a fine mesh strainer and a couple pieces of cheesecloth folded on top of it.
I would recommend straining it a couple of times to ensure you get out as much of the grounds and reside as possible. You can store your cold brew in the refrigerator for several weeks and it will be just fine.
Or, serve it right away either as it is or play around with adding any cream or sugar or flavored syrups.
These jars below were left longer than the cold brew coffee above! How long you let the coffee beans sit impacts how dark your cold brew is!
By the way, it tastes amazing.
Best storage options for cold brew:
Why Cold Brew is Less Acidic
For me, the reason I love Cold Brew is because after years of tossing back Hot Coffee, I have developed a lovely case of acid reflux and about a year and a half ago, I had to cut out my beloved Hot Coffee. I now drink exclusively cold brew. The reason I avoid Hot Coffee is the amount of acidity that is found in it due to the more severe way it is brewed. The hot water going through the fine coffee grounds allows more acidity to be present in the final product. Acidity = hard on your stomach.
Cold Brew is gently brewed in cold water so the amount of acidity is much, much smaller, which means I get drink it and not get sick (yay me)!
Cold Brew and Whole30
It is also an awesome addition to any Whole30, which limits what you can put in your coffee to tame the bitterness (think – creamer). Cold brew is so much less bitter and easier to drink black than hot coffee – I highly recommend cold brew if you are starting a Whole30 and struggling with the whole coffee thing! But I also have this awesome Whole30 Vanilla and Cinnamon Creamer you can try too!
Serving Suggestions
And here is a collection of 20+ Whole30 Compliant Coffee (and coffee creamer) Recipes if you love coffee/cold brew as much as me 🙂
Made this recipe and loved it?! We would love it if you would take a minute and leave a star rating and review – it is also helpful if you made any substitutions or changes to the recipe to share that as well. THANK YOU!
Don’t forget to check out my Instagram account for some behind-the-scenes action! Or give me a follow on Facebook or see what I am pinning on Pinterest!
Other Recipes You Might Like
Cold Brew Overnight Oats
Cashew Coffee Creamer
Cold Brew Coffee Smoothie
How to Make a Matcha Latte
How to Make Cold Brew Coffee
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Refrigeration Time: 24 hours
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 24 hours 5 minutes
- Yield: 8 cups 1x
- Category: Coffee
- Method: Refrigerator
- Cuisine: American
Description
How to Make Cold Brew – how to make cold brew coffee in your own home – no fancy equipment necessary!
Ingredients
Cold Brew Coffee
- 1 cup (4 ounces) roughly ground coffee beans (medium to dark roast)
- 8 cups filtered water
Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate
- 1 cup roughly ground coffee beans (medium to dark roast)
- 4 cups filtered water
Instructions
- Coffee Grounds: Take grounds and place them in a sterilized glass container.
- Water: Add water.
- Shake: Give it a good shake to mix everything up.
- Refrigerate: Place cover on container and let sit in the refrigerator for 24-48 hours.
- Strain: Strain cold brew mixture by taking another mason jar (or large bowl) and placing a funnel on top. Place a piece of cheese cloth on top of that and then pour the cold brew mixture through the cheesecloth/funnel.
- Serve/Store: Serve immediately or store in refrigerator for several weeks.
Notes
- How to Coarsely Grind Coffee Beans: I simply place mine in my coffee grinder and pulse a few times. Don’t get too hung up on how they look – as long as they are somewhere between whole beans and finely ground you will be just fine!
- Small Batch: Your can cut down the ratio to 1/2 cup roughly ground beans and 4 cups of water.
- What Works for You: You will also figure out what ratio works best for you (everyone has their own personal preference) – but this is a very “typical” ratio. From here determine if you like your cold brew stronger or weaker. To make it stronger allow it to brew longer, use more grounds/less water, use a stronger type of bean. To make it weaker, use more water/less grounds.
- Can you heat it up: Yes! Just because you are brewing it in cold water doesn’t mean you cannot heat it up later. The acidity level will remain the same! I love heating mine up in the winter. To heat up simply place in a small saucepan or teapot and warm up to the desired temperature.
- Can you use decaf beans: Yes! You can definitely use decaf coffee beans instead of regular.
- Can you use finely ground coffee beans: In short, yes, you can use finely ground coffee beans BUT you may run into issue with filtering out all the ground during the straining process. Keeping your beans more coarsely ground will help prevent that.
- French Press: You can easily make this in a French Press as well – same method and same ratio.
- Caffeine: Here is a great article on whether cold brew has the same amount of caffeine as regular coffee.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup
- Calories: 0
- Sugar: 0 g
- Sodium: 0.6 mg
- Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 0 g
- Protein: 0 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Keywords: how to make cold brew coffee, cold brew coffee recipe, cold brew coffee
Originally published on June 7, 2018 – updated with new photos on July 7, 2021.
Laurie says
How are you coming up with 12g carbs for this? lt’s just coffee beans and water.
Erin says
Hi Laurie! Ah thanks for catching that – just an error when we put “ground coffee beans” into our nutrition calculator – for whatever reason. Just fixed it – thanks!
Nelly says
Can I use a coffee filter to strain if I don’t have a cheesecloth?
Teena says
Is that just a quart sized jar?
Chantel says
This is a great easy recipe to use! I just made my first batch, but the water looks more like tea. What do you recommend? Thank you for sharing this recipe that will save me some $$.
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Erin says
Hi Chantel! So figuring out how to get your own perfect combo/ratio can take a little experimentation 🙂 If you like a darker cold brew you can use a different kind of coffee bean, increase your amount of coffee grounds and you can also lengthen how long you leave the coffee in the water before straining! Hope that helps!
Norman Ernest Krauss says
Haven’t tried it yet…but I will…looks tasty! Also battling with acid reflux…this way is gentler like you said…can’t wait…want to add some good sweetened heavy cream to it…will be like a fancy dessert to start the day with…thanks!)
Darina Panicharova says
Does cold brew contain as much caffeine as the same amount of normal coffee?
Erin says
Hi Darina! Such a good question! The answer is – it depends 🙂 Here is a great article from The Kitchn that goes into the science of it! https://www.thekitchn.com/does-cold-brew-coffee-have-more-caffeine-than-hot-coffee-221222
James says
Your coffee pictures look decadent! Love this recipe!!! Thx for sharing, I’ll definitely try it this weekend!
Erin says
Thank you!!
Lindsey says
Do you warm up the cold brew on the stove in a tea pot? Or what is your method for doing so? Thanks!
Erin says
Hi Lindsey! I usually just put it in a little sauce pan and heat it up on the stove top!! A tea pot would work too though!!
Emmi says
So my biggest question is, why not use reusable steeping bags for this process?
Especially since your whole beans are roughly chopped or smashed, not really “ground” at all.
I plan on using a reusable large tea steeping bag, so I don’t have to spend so much extra time pouring so much cold steeped coffee through a bunch of messy cheese cloth. Maybe run it through cheese cloth after extracting the steeping bag, to ensure a smooth grittiness end result.
Many if not All cold brew recipes I have run across seem to all use cheesecloth, which is great, but also extremely messy if I choose to make a large batch of cold steeped coffee.
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Lanny says
Hi Erin,
Thks for the recipe. I was given a bag of finely ground coffee by a friend and I have no idea what to do with it as I do not drink coffee at home. But seeing yr post tempts me to try this cold brew.. I wonder if I can use finely ground coffee for this method? Thank you
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Erin says
Hi, Lanny! So short answer – yes, you could use finely ground coffee BUT you might end up struggling to remove all the little grounds, even after straining through a cheesecloth. So just be aware of that – maybe double or triple strain it through the cheesecloth to try and remove as much as possible! Hope that helps! 🙂
Ashley Judd says
I love making homemade cold brew; it’s in my weekly meal-prep routine!
Erin says
Yay!!! So glad to hear that, Ashley!! 🙂
Lani says
This is such a great idea! I’m going to try it today. As a GERD sufferer, this could be life giving. Thank you for all your excellent work.
Erin says
Yay!!! Hope it helps!!! :). Thank you!!
Lisa says
Where did you get the glass pictured? I’d love to get one! Thanks!
Erin says
They are from Crate and Barrel!
Athena says
I don’t feel as bad now when I see your ground coffee looks as irregular as mine…lol. I’ve just been using my little french press, but your Mason jar looks so much cooler. I’ve been doing 1/3 cup coffee and 1 1/2 cups water but I do like my coffee strong. I just made my first successful dairy-free ‘bulletproof’ frappuccino analog today!
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Erin says
Yay!! Yes, don’t worry about what those coffee grounds look like! And I love how you have found a mixture that works for you!!!😊
Ben says
Great guide to making coldbrew at home! We spent some time making a guide for serving suggestions, feel free to add it if you think it would be helpful to your readers!
Some of the mixed drinks on there are delicious!
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Erin says
Thanks, Ben!
Tom says
A must try!
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Erin says
It definitely is! Let me know how you like it!!