How to make cold brew coffee

Subtly sweet and rich in flavour, cold brew coffee is so refreshing, it’s the perfect drink for summer.

Far from a regular iced coffee and nothing like cold coffee, cold brew is made entirely differently, with a depth of taste that may just make you a convert. Find out how to make cold brew coffee at home with nothing but a few basic kitchen essentials.

Cold brew coffee versus iced coffee: what’s the difference?

Unlike iced coffee, which is generally brewed hot and poured over ice, cold brew coffee is ground coffee that is steeped in cold water and strained.

The difference in flavour between the two is huge: Iced coffee is a very fast process, but has to be brewed to be stronger than standard coffee to make up for the dilution caused by the ice. It tends to make for a more bitter drink, because of the intense and rapid extraction of flavour from the beans by the hot water.

Cold brew, on the other hand, takes 18 to 24 hours to make. The gentle infusion process produces a drink of lower acidity, which is why cold brew coffee is naturally sweeter.

It can also be served over ice without such extreme dilution because it’s already cold. So it’s generally regarded as the better method for producing coffee you’re going to enjoy cold.

How to make cold brew coffee at home

There are a couple of ways you can make it, all of which are variants of this basic formula: cold water, coarse coffee grounds, and an overnight brew. Change one of these elements and you’ll get slightly different results.

You can buy kit to help you make it, but we rate the practical Toddy system. It’s affordable, easy to use and produces a consistently superb cup of coffee. You can even brew cold in a cafetière (or ‘French press’, to our American friends) by following the guide below and simply pressing down with the plunger after the brew is finished – the only negatives being how much you can make at one time and the effectiveness of the steel filter.

That said, you don’t actually need to buy anything to brew cold coffee at home, as you probably already have everything you need: a big mason jar, a big bowl, a sieve, and either a sheet of muslin or a roll of paper towel will see you right.

Step by step: a cold brew recipe

1. Set your coffee bean grinder to its most coarse setting, and check a little of its output before doing the full grind – you’re looking for roughly the same consistency as breadcrumbs. Any finer and you risk cloudy, grimy-tasting coffee.
2. Sterilise a large mason jar (or any large receptacle with a lid). Then, working to a roughly 1:8 coffee-to-water ratio, place your grounds in the bottom of the jar, and cover with cold water.
3. Stir gently until well combined, then cover and leave to steep for 18-24 hours, either in or out of the fridge.
4. When brewed, strain into a large bowl through a sieve to remove the larger grounds. Discard these (ideally into compost), and then, tucking either your muslin or a few sheets of paper towel into the cleaned sieve, strain back into the jar.
5. Repeat two or three times, until you see no murky residue at the bottom as you finish your pour. If you cannot seem to sift it all out, don’t worry – it simply means your grind was too fine. Practice makes perfect with these things.
6. Serve over ice, with milk and sugar, if that’s your thing. Cover and refrigerate the rest – the wonderful thing about this stuff is that, if stored properly in the fridge, it will stay good for a month or so due to the brew’s low acidity.

Prefer it hot?

All you need to do is brew a strong cold brew, then mix it with boiling water. This is a really special way of doing things – the gentle, sweet flavours survive being combined with hot water because there aren’t any grounds left in the mix.

Here’s coffee expert Mike Cooper to tell you more about cold brew coffee and making it at home: