May 04, 2016

Making Cold Brew Coffee

Making Cold Brew Coffee

The word’s been getting out about our Cold Brew coffee, so I thought I’d share with everyone our simple recipe for making this delicious beverage! Cold brewing coffee unlocks some fantastic notes otherwise lost or covered up with traditional hot water extraction. It also significantly reduces the acidity of the final product, which makes for a smoother taste that is easier on your stomach. Here’s what we serve as our go-to Cold Brew:

 

Step 1

Gather your ingredients: 1 part Guatemalan Bourbon or Lionheart coarse ground, 4 parts cold water. In literal terms? It’s as easy as 1 cup of ground coffee to 4 cups of cold water. Or you could do 1 ground 12oz bag to 1 gallon of water.

Step 2

In a glass, stainless, or food safe plastic container mix these two ingredients. You’ll notice your coffee slowly rise to the surface (if it’s freshly roasted and ground). This is called the bloom, and you want to be sure to stir that back into the water until it stops rising. I like to stir it in, wait one minute, stir again, then come back in ~20 minutes and stir it back in a final time.

Step 3

Once you’ve combined ingredients and stirred the coffee under a couple of times, you’ll want to cover the container and let it rest for 16-20 hours. You can just leave it on your counter! Check your cold brew ~20 minutes into the infusion to make sure the grinds are mixed in and haven’t risen to the top again. If they have, stir them back under.

Step 4

Once the 16-20 hours have passed, it’s time to filter the grinds out. I like to use a fine metal filter and run it through 2-3 times. This leaves a nice, rich mouth-feel. Paper filters can be used but I like a cold brew with more dissolved solids in it.


Step 5

Enjoy the cold brew however you fancy! You can put it over ice, or heat it in a saucepan for hot coffee. You may find you want to dilute the cold brew to fit your desired tastes, especially if you heat it up. Once completed, refrigerate the final product and it will keep for ~2 weeks.