Cold brew coffee is hands-down the easiest way to make coffee: all you need is water, beans and a bit of patience!
These days you can find dedicated devices such as the Toddy or the Hario Mizudashi cold brewers. However, you don’t have to have any of those to make coffee using this method; all you need is a container (glass preferred) and a filtering device (like a V60, Chemex, AeroPress or even a French Press).
Here’s our step-by-step guide (or jump onto this guide’s Frequently Asked Questions):
Method for 1L3L cold brew
Gear
• Cold brew device, or
• Brewing container, filtering gear and storing container
• Grinderℹ︎
• Scales
• Stirring tool
• Mug(s)!
Goods
• 83250g of coffee beans
• 13kg (L) of cold/room-temperature water ♨︎
• Extra water to rinse any paper filters
ℹ︎: If you don’t have a grinder, that’s OK! You can always use pre-ground coffee, though we recommend freshly ground because it does elevate the flavour of each brew.
♨︎: In our recipes, we measure water in grams because we use scales, and it’s easy to achieve precision this way. However, if you don’t have scales, the conversion is easy: 1g=1mL.
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Get your gear ready.
If you’re using a jar or standard container, it’ll need to be larger than the amount of coffee you want to end up with. We also recommend it can be covered, so the brew doesn’t absorb any smells in the fridge or room.
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Grind 83g of coffee (for 1 litre) or 250g of coffee (for 3 litres).
For cold brew, we always use a 1:12 ratio (coffee:water). The grind size should be similar to that for pour-over or filter, about the same as coarse sand.
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Combine the grounds with 1 Litre or 3 Litres of water and mix gently.
Water can be straight off the tap/filtering device. Give it a good stir so all the coffee is wet.
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Wait.
You can leave it to brew at room temperature, but we recommend the fridge for about 8-11 hours. You can also experiment to find the length you prefer.
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Filter out the grounds.
If you’ve got a Chemex or Hario V60 filter, pour the liquid through that to filter out the grounds (don’t forget to rinse it with boiling water beforehand). Pour slowly, and replace the filter paper if it gets too full.
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Add ice cubes and/or m*lk, and enjoy!
Store your cold brew in a bottle or closed container in the fridge. It’ll keep for 5-10 days depending on the freshness of the beans.
Tips & notes
Scale it up or down using a 1:12 ratio.
This cold brew coffee recipe scales up and down easily, as long as you stick with the ratio of 1:12 (coffee to water). No matter how much you’re brewing, the wait time is still the same: around 8-11 hours inside the fridge.
This ratio accounts for added water from the added ice cubes.
The result is a brew that sits on the stronger side, which mellows a bit once there’s some added water melting from the ice cubes. If you prefer to avoid this, increase the coffee ratio or make cold-brew ice cubes beforehand (or drink it without any ice at all).
Add m*lk to your cold brew.
Top up your coffee with a dash of cow or alternative milk. This dulls the flavour in lightly-roasted single origins, so we recommend using an espresso blend (like Pacemaker) or our decaf if you like your cold brew like so.
Go beyond.
Cold brew is also perfect to start combining to make other drinks and cocktails. Try it with tonic water or cocktails.
