Easy Homemade Cold Brew Coffee | Iced Coffee
Oh MYYYYY! There is something about cold brew coffee that is just so perfect. Out with the hot coffee, in with the cold! HA! Who am I kidding? Hot coffee is always in. But there is definitely a season for cold coffee and that season is NOW! Are you with me?
Today I’m sharing how I make an incredibly easy and delicious cold brew coffee. Ya’ll know I’m about saving money, and keeping things simple, right? ;)
If the bitterness of regular coffee turns you off, you might actually like cold brew coffee. Because it is brewed slowly and without the use of hot water, there is very little bitterness to it. It’s usually described as being “smooth” and I would agree with that.
Perfect Cold Brew Coffee
I’m going to share two recipes with you, actually. The first one makes a pretty large batch and is considered “regular strength”. It’s the perfect option if you don’t add a lot of milk or creamer to your iced coffee. The large batch size is also perfect to keep in your fridge for up to a week. The second option is to make it “double strength” which is made using twice the amount of coffee grounds and is great if you like to add lots of milk or creamer to your iced coffee. You can also add more ice cubes and it won’t taste watered down like the regular strength. :)
Steeping the coffee grounds
Cold Brew Coffee Regular Strength
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups freshly ground coffee beans (a bit on the courser side is best)
12 cups of cool water
Directions
Get yourself a very large bowl. I prefer a glass one with a lid.
Grind your coffee beans so they are a bit on the course side. Pour them into your glass bowl and pour the cool water over the ground beans. Be sure all the coffee grounds have been thoroughly saturated with the water, giving it a quick stir if necessary. Cover the mixture with the lid and allow it to steep overnight. This ideally should be about 12-18 hours. There’s not really a specific science, it’s more about just letting it infuse a good long time, and then straining it off when you have a few minutes. Don’t wait more than a day and a half, though, or the mixture could get moldy on you. Eww.
Once it’s done steeping it’s time to strain off the coffee grounds. I do that by using an old cut up tea towel that I attach to my pitcher with a rubber band. I prefer doing it that way over using a sieve because I feel it gets out all the very find coffee grounds.
I use a ladle to scoop the coffee into the towel—I find it’s much less messy than trying to pour it in. About half way through I detach the rubber band and clean off the cloth. It clogs up after awhile from the coffee grounds and drains really slow. So it just helps speed up the process. Keep pouring in the coffee and letting it filter through until it’s all finished.
Straining out the coffee grounds using an old cut up tea towel, secured around my pitcher with a rubber band.
Discard the coffee grounds in your compost and your cold brew is ready for the fridge!
If you wish to add a little sugar go ahead and do that before you put it in the fridge, while it’s still room temperature, so it mixes in better.
Cold Brew Coffee Double Strength
For the double strength, we’re going to use a quart mason jar and make a small batch.
Ingredients
1 cup course ground coffee
3-4 cups water
Directions
Dump your fresh ground coffee beans into a quart sized mason jar. Fill the rest up with cool water. Give it a little stir so all the grounds are completely saturated. Cover with a lid and allow it to steep over night.
Then, just like with the regular strength, you’re going to strain it off and store it in the fridge!
How to take your cold brew coffee to the next level
Now here’s the fun part—taking your cold brew coffee and turning it into fancy iced coffee! The skies the limit so use your imagination. Here are a few of my favorite ways to spice it up.
Other ideas include:
Lightly sweeten with organic sugar or honey. Just be sure to do this before you put the freshly strained coffee in the fridge. Otherwise you’ll be stirring and stirring to get the sugar to dissolve.
Sweeten with stevia
Milk of your choice (coconut milk adds a nice flavor)
Whip up a batch of my French Vanilla Coffee Creamer for a decadent iced coffee
Or for a really exotic flavor check out my Cardamom Rose Coffee Creamer
Also—if you like adding lots of ice, but don’t like the watered down taste, freeze leftover coffee and use those as your ice cubes. It’s brilliant and tastes amazing. Or you can make your cold brew double strength like I mentioned above.
Adding spices to your cold brew
Here’s a brilliant idea if you want a little bit of flavor without actually adding a creamer. My personal favorite is using cardamom, but feel free to test out different spices!
After you’ve ground your coffee, throw in a few spices before adding the cool water. You will be infusing the spice taste right along with the coffee and it’s amazing.
How much of each spice will depend on how strong you like it, but I’d say use roughly 1/4-1/2 teaspoon of the ground spices per quart of water.
Some awesome spices to try:
Cardamom pods (I use about 5 crushed pods to a quart of water)
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Orange peel
Ginger root (fresh or dried)
Cayenne
Of course, you can mix and match these to get other flavors so go crazy! I’d love to know what flavor concoctions you try!!
WHERE TO PURCHASE
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If you are unable to grow your own herbs or spices, or find ingredients locally, then here are two of my favorite places to buy bulk ingredients:
This company is where I purchase the majority of my seeds. Great selection of heirloom and/or organic seeds:
