Three Ways to Make Cold Brew at Home

Cold brew has become a coffee craze in the last few years. Five years ago, it would be hard to find packaged cold brew at your local grocery store. Today, a simple stroll past the dairy section will land you in front of a handful of cold brew choices. In honesty, it doesn’t surprise me. Cold brew has a unique flavor. It’s silky mouthfeel, low acidity, and those chocolaty notes naturally earn the term, “chuggable.” Cold brew is decadent with milk and flavorings like mocha, vanilla or hazelnut, or many tend to enjoy it black during an early summer afternoon. One issue with cold brew is it can be expensive, unless you make it yourself. While to some, cold brew can be a bit of a mystery, brewing up a batch at home to last for the next 7-10 days can be quite simple. Here are three ways to make cold brew at home.

Mason Jar and Cheesecloth Method

Cold brew can be made with commonly found kitchen items around the house. A simple way to make cold brew at home without having to purchase a cold brew device is to use a large mason jar (or some other sealable food-safe container), and a cheesecloth. You can use any coffee to make cold brew, but if you’re in for treat, we recommend using 70% of our Guatemalan Medium Roast with 30% of our Ethiopian Light Roast for a cold brew with a silky mouthfeel, bright stone fruit with prominent chocolate notes. It’s truly delicious.

Mix coarsely ground coffee tied up in a cheesecloth with filtered water in the mason jar. Depending on how large of a jar you are using, use a 1:4 coffee to water ratio. 1 cup of ground coffee (or 170 grams) to 4 cups of filtered water (680 grams or ml) will produce 32 ounces of cold brew concentrate, or double the recipe to make 64 ounces, which will allow you to enjoy one 12 ounce cold brew drink for 10 days. Leave the coffee to brew in the fridge for 16 hours. Feel free to shorten the brewing time for a less bitter drink, or adjust the dosage of coffee used for a weaker or stronger cup. When preparing your cold brew to drink, dilute with equal parts water or milk.

Toddy Batch Brew

The Toddy is probably the most common cold brewer among cold brew aficionados. Cafes use it along with home enthusiasts. This brewer has been around before cold brew became a craze. It’s design is simple, easy to use, and will likely yield the best results out of any brewer mentioned here. Brewing is as simple as placing ground coffee in the overhead pitcher along with water, and after the set brew time has elapsed, release the coffee through the filter into the Toddy serving carafe. The result is a delicious cold brew concentrate that will keep for 7-10 days. You can mimic the recipe listed above or experiment with any of the recipes listed on Toddy’s website (check out my favorite sweet cold brew recipe, Café sua da).

Takeya Pitcher

Cold brew is simple, but the Takeya Pitcher is another level of simple. This is a perfect cold brewer for the busy coffee lover. A couple things I like about the Takeya Pitcher is that it fits in the fridge nicely, and the clean-up is easy with little mess. It includes a plastic filter designed to fit in the pitcher with ground coffee inside. This method is similar to using a mason jar and a cheese cloth except that this brewer is designed specifically for the purpose of producing delicious cold brew. While this is our go-to, no-fuss, cold brew method, the downsides are that because of using a plastic filter, coffee fines can sometimes slip through the holes in the filter, resulting in a small amount of coffee sludge at the bottom of the pitcher. While that might turn some away from using this device, it’s simplicity and low price-tag make the Tekaya Pitcher a popular choice.

These are three painless ways to make cold brew at home. If after reading this you are still looking for that perfect cold brew method, check out our synopsis on the ancient Japanese Kyoto style cold brew. If you try one of these out and like the results please let us know by leaving a comment below.

READ MORE: Home Coffee Brewing Devices from Around the World

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