Homemade cold brew coffee is amazing. For the vast majority of you out there, this will not be new information. But I only recently discovered this.
I’ve never been a coffee drinker. Like not at all. I realize that this is pretty unusual. In the past, I’ve even made efforts to like it. I was obviously doing something wrong.
Enter: cold brew.
Don’t get me wrong, I still love my Iced Chai Lattes. They’re delicious. But they can’t come close to the cracky goodness that cold brew provides.
Doctor it up however you like!
My MO is to pour some cold brew over (lots of) ice, add a splash of half and half and a bit of sugar free syrup (salted caramel, please). Do this and I’ll be in caffeinated heaven.
If you like to drink it black, have at it. You can add whatever milk (dairy or otherwise) you’d like, and sweeten it (or not) to your heart’s content. It might also be fun to freeze some cold brew into ice cubes and use that instead of regular old watery ones, that way your cold brew never gets diluted!
Cold brew is very easy to make, but requires some planning
Making a batch of homemade cold brew requires you to think ahead just a little bit. It’s not quite as easy as brewing up a hot pot of coffee and pouring it over some ice. You’ll want to let it sit for 12 hours at room temperature before straining and drinking. Let it sit even longer if you’d like a stronger brew.
Letting your coarsely ground coffee steep for a long period of time, in room-temperature (or sometimes cold) water, results in a less acidic product as compared to brewing methods that require hot water. Basically, cold brew is smoooth and delicious.
This cold brew will keep in the fridge for about 2 weeks. But let’s be honest, you’ll be making a new batch sooner than that.
- 1 cup coffee, coarsey gorund
- 8 cups filtered water
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Combine the ground coffee and filtered water in a large container with a lid. I use a plastic pitcher.
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Let the coffee sit for 12 hours (or longer, if you'd like stronger cold brew) at room temperature.
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Strain the cold brew (see notes) into whatever container you plan to store it in. Refrigerate it until you're ready to use it.
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Pour the desired amount of cold brew over ice.
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Add your desired amount of milk/creamer/half and half/etc. and/or sweetener.
Notes:
- I like to strain the cold brew through a fine mesh sieve lined with a coffee filter.
- My current favorite way to drink my cold brew is with a splash of half and half and little bit of sugar free salted caramel syrup.
