How to Make Cold Brew Coffee at Home
Our updated cold brew method: 18g of coarse coffee to 150ml of cold water, steeped in the fridge for 18 to 24 hours, filtered and diluted 1:1. Includes a 1-litre batch, how long it keeps and how it differs from iced coffee.
How do you make cold brew coffee at home?
Mix 18g of coarsely ground coffee with 150ml of cold water, steep it in the fridge for 18 to 24 hours, then filter it through paper. You get about 110ml of concentrate, which you dilute 1:1 with water or milk over ice.
What you need
- 18g of coffee, ground coarse
- 150ml of cold filtered water
- A jar or a French press
- A paper filter, such as a V60 paper, and a kitchen scale
Method
- Grind 18g of coffee coarse, about the size of coarse sea salt.
- Put it in the jar, pour in 150ml of cold water and stir until every ground is wet. Very fresh beans release gas and float, so stir again after a minute.
- Cover and steep in the fridge for 18 to 24 hours.
- Strain out the grounds, then pour the coffee through a paper filter.
- Dilute 1:1 with cold water or milk, pour over ice and drink.
What is the ratio for cold brew?
Brew at 1:8, one part coffee to eight parts water by weight, which is 18g of coffee to about 150ml of water. That makes a concentrate. Diluted 1:1, the overall ratio lands close to the 1:14 our brew ratio guide uses for hot pour-over.
Our 2019 version of this guide used 1:12 for drinking straight and 1:6 to 1:8 for milk. Brewing every batch as a 1:8 concentrate gives you one recipe for both: add water for an iced black coffee, or milk for an iced latte.
How do you make a big batch of cold brew?
Multiply the recipe by five: 90g of coffee to 720ml of water fits a 1-litre jar. After filtering you have about 500ml of concentrate, enough for five or six glasses once diluted.
A 300g bag covers three batches this size, and the method doesn't change.
What grind size should you use for cold brew?
Use a coarse grind, about the size of coarse sea salt. If you buy pre-ground, choose the French Press grind. Coarse grounds filter cleanly and keep the brew from turning muddy over a long steep.
How long should cold brew steep in the fridge?
Steep it for 18 to 24 hours in the fridge. The window is forgiving, so an hour or two either way won't show in the cup. Pull it much earlier and it tastes thin; leave it well past a day and it can turn flat and woody.
Our 2019 method steeped at room temperature for 15 to 18 hours with a slightly finer grind, and that still works. We now steep in the fridge because a Malaysian kitchen often sits near 30°C, and the fridge gives the same result batch after batch, with no need to move the jar later.
How do you filter cold brew?
Filter in two stages: strain out the grounds first, then pour the coffee through a paper filter. The paper catches the fine sediment that makes cold brew taste muddy and keeps extracting in the bottle.
- French press: press the plunger down, then pour the coffee through a paper filter into a clean bottle.
- Jar: pour through a fine sieve or a cloth, then through a paper filter set in a V60 or a funnel.
Let the paper drip in its own time. Squeezing or stirring it pushes fines through and clogs the filter.
How do you dilute cold brew?
Start at 1:1, equal parts concentrate and cold water or milk, poured over ice. Taste it, then adjust: less water for a stronger, kaw cup, or more for a lighter one.
- Iced black: 110ml of concentrate and 110ml of cold water over a glass of ice.
- Iced latte: 110ml of concentrate over ice, topped up with milk to taste. Add the milk gradually. You can always pour more in, but you can't take it out.
How long does cold brew last in the fridge?
Filtered concentrate keeps for about a week in a sealed bottle in the fridge and tastes fullest in the first three or four days. Once you add water or milk, drink it the same day.
Start with beans from 5 to 7 days after roasting, up to about day 30. Every bag we roast carries its roast date, so you can check before you grind. Our roast date guide explains that window.
Which coffee should you use for cold brew?
Pick a medium to dark roast with chocolate or caramel notes. Light, floral coffees are harder to extract in cold water and can taste thin and sour as cold brew.
- Shipper Blend: a medium roast with dark chocolate, passionfruit and sugarcane, from RM39.
- Brazil Rancho Grande: a sweet, smooth natural Brazil at a medium roast, from RM45. Good for cold brew drunk black.
- Black Forest: our dark-roast house blend, from RM39, for a heavier cup.
- Canelé: a medium-dark blend with very low acidity, built for milk, with vanilla, caramel and ripe berries, from RM35.
We roast each of them to order in Kuala Lumpur and ship within 24 hours of roasting.
What is the difference between cold brew and iced coffee?
Cold brew steeps in cold water for many hours and is never heated, while iced coffee is brewed hot, as a pour-over or an espresso, and cooled over ice straight away. Cold brew tastes smoother and heavier, with soft acidity. Hot-brewed iced coffee keeps more of the coffee's brightness and aroma, and it takes minutes instead of a day.
To make an iced pour-over, brew 18g of coffee with 150g of water at 93°C straight onto 110g of ice in the server. That is the same 260g total as our hot pour-over recipe, with part of it as ice. Grind a step finer than usual, because less hot water passes through the coffee.
For an iced latte, pull 18g in and about 36g out as in our home espresso guide, pour the shot over ice and top up with cold milk.