How To Make the Best Cold Brew Coffee at Home
Do you love cold brew coffee but hate the high prices at grocery stores and coffee shops? If so, you might want to consider making your cold brew coffee at home. It’s a surprisingly simple process that may be able to help you save some money in the long run.
In this post, we’ll show you how to make your cold-brew coffee in just five easy steps. We’ll also give you the lowdown on the best types of coffee beans to use and tips to ensure you get the perfect brew every time. So, grab your favorite cup, and let’s get started!
1. Gather Equipment
Before making the cold brew coffee, you must gather the necessary equipment:
- Coffee: You can opt for ground coffee or whole bean. If you opt for whole bean, make sure you also have a coffee grinder. For obvious reasons, beans labeled “cold brew” are ideal for making cold brew coffee.
- Filters and/or Cheesecloth: Filters strain out coffee grounds when pouring concentrate into the pitcher. A sieve or cheesecloth will filter out any remaining grounds. You can opt to use both to ensure your cold brew is sediment-free!
- Large Containers: You’ll need a large container to hold the water and ground coffee while making the concentrate. Containers made of glass or stainless steel are ideal for this process.
- Pitchers: You may also want a separate pitcher of some sort to store and serve the concentrate. Glass or stainless steel pitchers are great since they’re easier to clean.
2. Prepare The Coffee
Once you have all the necessary equipment, it’s time to prepare the coffee to concentrate. First, choose your desired type of coffee beans (either getting them pre-ground or grinding them yourself using a grinder if necessary) and place them in an airtight container until ready.
3. Make Cold Brew Concentrate
To create the perfect cold brew concentrate, follow these instructions carefully. First, add a few scoops of ground coffee (this varies based on your strength preferences) to your liquid. If you’re unsure how much to use, a ¼ cup of coffee to 1 cup of water is a good ratio to use. Be sure to stir the mixture until thoroughly combined before moving on.
Cover the container tightly to prevent outside air from entering. This allows the natural flavors of the ground coffee beans to steep properly. Then, place the container in a cool, dark place and let it sit for 12-24 hours to extract all the delicious flavors from the beans.
4. Filter The Cold Brew Concentrate
It is time to filter out any remaining grounds while transferring your concentrate from one container into another using cheesecloth or a filter. Make sure you line up both the strainer and cheesecloth/filter before starting this step to get maximum flavor extraction out of every last drop of your concoction.
Next, pour half a cup of cold brew concentrate into your filter while using a spoon or spatula to press down on any remaining grounds so that they don’t make their way into your finished concentration (you don’t want those extra bitter tastes).
Then once finished with the filtering process, go ahead and transfer the concentrated mixture into a pitcher for storage purposes.
5. Serve The Cold Brew Coffee
Finally, it’s time for serving. You can now add your favorite ice, syrup, milk, or creamer to your glass depending on your preferences.
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