Cold Brew Coffee, Overnight
Cafe-style cold brew coffee. Just right for coffee lovers
There’s something satisfying about a cool, caffeinated kick of cafe-style iced coffee. But whatever you do, don’t make it by chilling freshly made hot coffee. What you need is a cold brew, which is really easy to make and only takes 24 hours.
This recipe makes a long-lasting brew in a big batch. The coffee grounds steep in cold water for a long overnight brew. This mellows the bitterness and acidity, making the coffee unbelievably smooth and rich in flavour. You can drink it straight, if you like espresso strength, or diluted.
Cold Brew is great for making ahead, and is good either straight-up or jazzed-up.
Whether you’re looking to hone your cool caffeine skills or simply take your morning chug to the next level, here are a few things to do before you brew.
Ingredients
1 cup of roasted coffee grounds. You can use any old cup because it’s the ratio of coffee grounds to water that matters rather than the unit size itself. I use vacuum-packed coffee grounds for a cafetière but you can grind your own beans on a coarse setting if you want.
3 cups of filtered cold water
Instructions
1. Put the ground coffee in the bottom of resealable jar. I like to use a large airtight lever-arm storage jar. Pour over the cold water.
2. Close the lid tightly and give the jar a few shakes to blend the coffee and water. Stir if you prefer. Just make sure all the coffee is wet. Afterwards, you’ll see the wet coffee floats at the top. That’s ok.
Shake to blend the ground coffee and cold water
Ground coffee floats at the top
3. Put the closed jar in the fridge for 24 hours. Don’t let it steep for longer than 24 hours because bitterness of the grounds will be drawn into the liquid.
4. Carefully strain the coffee concentrate through a coffee filter. You may need to do this in batches, using a fresh filter paper each time. You can just as easily use some cheesecloth and a fine-mesh sieve. Never squeeze or press the coffee residue to get all the liquid out. This will release unwanted bitter particles into your cold brew and risks breaking the filter paper causing a horrible mess.
5. Transfer the filtered cold brew to a clean, airtight jar or bottle. Keep in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Pass the coffee concentrate through a coffee filter
Bottle the finished cold brew coffee