How to Make Homemade Cold Brew Coffee
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
With the summer sun beginning to sizzle, it’s time for Homemade Cold Brew Coffee—a creamy, slightly sweet, ice-cold, refreshing coffee with just a hint of spice. Nothing can compare to this deliciousness, whether it’s a morning wake-up or an afternoon pick-me-up.
Want to save this recipe?
Enter your email, and we’ll send it to your inbox. Plus, you’ll get delicious new recipes from us every Friday!
And seriously, it couldn’t be easier to make at home, customized just for you.
Imagine a refreshing cold glass of perfectly brewed ice-cold coffee just waiting for you tomorrow morning.
Keep reading for expert advice on 6 cold brew mistakes you’ll want to avoid.
But first…
Cold Brew Coffee: 3 Ingredients
Mix coarsely ground coffee beans, freshly grated cinnamon, and brown sugar. Cover with water and steep overnight or up to 24 hours before straining. Serve in a tall glass filled with ice. And a straw. Always, for me, a straw. Maybe add milk or creamer. It’s that simple.
Easy? Yes!
You can be your own barista and easily make cold brew coffee at home with either a lidded jar or a French Press.
Plus, at the bottom of this post is my favorite recipe for cold brew coffee.
How to Make Homemade Cold Brew Coffee with a French Press
Starbucks shows how to infuse your cold brew coffee with a touch of sugar, spice, and citrus.
How to Make Homemade Cold Brew Coffee with a Jar
6 Common Mistakes You Make with Homemade Cold Brew Coffee
Huffington Post recently compiled a list of 6 common mistakes we make with our homemade cold brew coffee.
1. Using the “Good” Beans:
“It would be a mistake to ‘waste’ your super-fresh, super high-end, single-origin beans on cold brew. But how old is too old? ‘You can still get a quality batch of cold brew with beans that are several weeks old. I wouldn’t let them get too far out (as in months), or you will start to notice some pretty lifeless qualities’.”
2. Grinding the Beans too Fine:
Because you’re steeping coffee beans for upwards of 124 hours, you should grind the beans coarsely. Coffee that is too finely ground will over-extract (steeped too long), which means it will be bitter.
3. Using the Wrong Ratio:
The basic formula for cold brew is one pound of ground coffee beans to one gallon of water. A more home brewing-friendly ratio is a quarter-pound of beans to four cups of water. Scale down or drink up.
4. Water Temperature:
The water temperature doesn’t matter as much as you think. Use whatever temperature you’d like.
5. Not Diluting the Concentrate:
The standard time for steeping, says Phillips, is 24 hours. Be aware that will result in an intensely flavored (and caffeinated) coffee concentrate. When you’re ready to drink, dilute it with water (adding cream or alt-milks will also cut the intensity). When made according to the 1 pound:1 gallon ratio, your cold brew will contain roughly twice the amount of caffeine as hot drip coffee.
6. Storing it Too Long in the Fridge:
As an undiluted concentrate, cold brew coffee can be stored in the fridge for up to two weeks, although its flavor quality will degrade after the first week.
Don’t Miss These Recipes
- Iced Cold Brew Coffee with Homemade Vanilla Creamer
- Cold Brew Fudgesicles
- Blackberry Greek Yogurt Popsicles with Honey
- No Churn Irish Coffee Ice Cream
If you try this recipe, I’d love to hear your comments and consider giving it a 5-star rating. Explore the recipe index for more easy, delicious ideas, and stay updated by subscribing to our newsletter and following us on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube!
Homemade Cold Brew Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup coarsely ground coffee beans
- 3 cups water
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- Serve with milk cream, or half and half
Instructions
- Into a large lidded jar add coarsely ground coffee beans, cinnamon (freshly ground is amazing!), and brown sugar. Add the water, stir to combine, and cover with a lid. Refrigerate overnight or 18 to 24 hours to steep.
- The next morning, when brewed, strain into a large bowl with a coffee filter lined sieve. Discard coffee grounds. You may need to repeat the process until there is no remaining residue. This may happen is the coffee grind was too fine.
- Serve over ice with added milk, cream, or half and half. Refrigerate the remaining cold brew in an airtight container, which will keep for 2 weeks — if it lasts that long.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.