A Guide to Cold Brew
In the world of specialty coffee, there are moments when slowing down is essential for speeding up later. Whether you're meticulously measuring your beans, waiting for the water to reach boiling point, or allowing a fresh bag of coffee to rest before grinding, great coffee demands patience.
Nowhere is this more true than when making cold brew. You gather your equipment, measure precisely, pour water, and then comes the waiting game. And wait some more. But once you nail the brew, the payoff is incredible! If you're in a hurry for your cold coffee fix, flash brew is the answer. Let's delve into creating your cold brew to be as delightful, rejuvenating, and flavorful as can be.
Cold Brew Equipment
We can begin with the brewing gear. There's no need to break the bank here—any sealable container that fits in your fridge overnight will do as a brewing vessel.
Sanitize Your Brewing Equipment
An often neglected preparation step is sanitizing your brewing gear. Bacteria love sugar-rich environments like coffee, and you certainly don't want to invite them into your brew. Ensure you thoroughly clean your jars, brewers, and filters before kicking off the process.
Water To Coffee Ratio
Like any brewing technique, maintaining a consistent brew ratio is key to consistently delicious cold brew. Our favorite ratio is 1:8—1 gram of coffee per 8 grams of water, then diluting before serving. For a liter in the fridge, aim for about 125g of coffee. If you prefer a stronger brew, you can opt for a 1:4.5 ratio.
Diluting The Cold Brew Concentrate
So far, what we’ve made is a concentrate. Diluting the concentrate is the final step. Most people prefer to drink cold brew with a concentrate-to-water ratio between 2:1 and 1:1. If you like stronger coffee, use the 2:1 dilution ratio. We prefer a little less intense, so we would go with 1:1. That yields a final brew familiar to most folks.
And, if you don't want to go through the hassle of making your own cold brew, we offer canned cold brew through our various vendors!
Check out our options on our homepage!