Homemade Cold Brew Coffee
Cold Brew Coffee may be something you already love, or perhaps you are yet to give it a try — either way, you can rest assured that it is a remarkably easy thing to do once you know how. Making this at home has very few steps to it, and none of them are challenging! Well, other than maybe leaving it alone for long periods of time, or not drinking it all at once!
So let us get stuck in with the nitty-gritty, shall we. Here is everything you are going to need, and need to know, for making your very first batch of Homemade Cold Brew Coffee. Please remember, as you will see, there is a wide-ranging steeping time in which to find your personal happy point — as such, results will vary! So experiment to get the right point for you!
Equipment
Okay, so obviously you cannot just magic this into existence with nothing, so here is a short list of things you are going to need;
- Ground Coffee (Or Coffee Beans to grind yourself, or Coarsely Ground Coffee — your preference.) Around 50g is a starting point for you to gauge from.
- Cold Water (This can be tap or bottled, does not matter.) Say 400ml to get you going.
- Jug/Container x2
- Filter Paper
- Funnel
- Fridge
That should just about do it, though remember that you can add your own extras to make your Cold Brew Coffee truly special — flavourings, ice, little boba balls if that tickles your pickle, milk, cream, be adventurous! It really will not cost you much if one or two of these go a bit sideways.
Method
Alrighty then, now for the fun part where you get to learn just how simple it is to make your very own Cold Brew Coffee. Trust me, you are going to love it.
Step 1
Take one of your Jugs/Containers, and add in the Coffee Grounds, and then pour in the Cold Water on top. You will find if you search around online that the Cold Brew Coffee community is divided over whether or not you should stir this. The answer? Try it both ways and see what works best for you. Some will say stir vigorously and leave to steep for 5 minutes, while others will demand that you do not stir at all and leave it to steep for 24 hours.
Personally, I would give it a light swish around for a few seconds just to get the Coffee Grounds off the base of your container and involved in the mixture, instead of any compacting at the base and not seeing a lick of moisture. Then, leave it in the fridge overnight. Effectively, the longer you leave it to steep, the more flavour will be extracted from the Coffee Grounds — to a point. Beyond 24 hours is not really going to do too much, at least not on this scale, whilst if you left it for an hour or two in the fridge you are still likely going to enjoy it.
Find your own happy.
Step 2
When you are comfortable with the time left for steeping in the fridge, you are ready to strain your Cold Brew Coffee. Grab your next Jug/Container, put the funnel in it, and then add your Filter Paper into the funnel.
Once this is set up, steadily pour your steeped mixture through the filtered funnel into the new Jug/Container. This will catch the floating Coffee Grounds and separate them out from your Cold Brew Coffee.
Allow this to fully drain through the filter paper, and if there are still Coffee Grounds in your Cold Brew Coffee, repeat the process through new filter paper in your funnel until you are happy with the result.
Step 3
Technically, that is all there is to it! You now have a Container of Cold Brew Coffee, ready for you to utilise as you see fit. You can keep this stored in the fridge for the next few days, or as long as the next week or maybe two — but the flavour will likely deteriorate the longer it is left.
When you want to serve it, you can just pour out a glass as you see fit!
Step 4
However, if you do want to take this a little further, now is the time to add all your personal embellishments to truly make this your very own Homemade Cold Brew Coffee! And each serving can be different!
Add to your glass — the one you will be pouring into to drink from — the extras you want. Be that ice cubes, vanilla extract, honey, boba balls, whatever it is that floats your goat. Then, pour in your Cold Brew Coffee. The order is not important, as long as this is going into the serving glass and not the Jug/Container — otherwise the whole batch will be affected, and it may affect its shelf-life in the fridge. Only adapt when you are drinking it, and only adapt what you are drinking at the time.
Final Thoughts
I hope that you found this guide on Homemade Cold Brew Coffee useful! Feel free to comment on your favourite Cold Brew styles, or how well you got on with following this guide!
For other content here at Showing You the Whey, why not have a look at How to Clean your Fridge! Or maybe cleaning is less important to you than How to Safely Pack your Fridge!