Cold brewed coffee: an innovative way to prepare iced coffee at home
August 2, 2014If you’ve never heard of cold brewed coffee, then you’re in for a treat today. Cold brewing coffee is an innovative way to make iced coffee at home. It has many advantages over the ol’ standby of brewing hot coffee and then pouring it over ice or refrigerating it. Once you try cold brewing your coffee, you may never go back!
I’ve made cold brewed coffee countless times this Summer alone, and it is truly a mess-free process that requires less effort and less mess than the traditional method of making iced coffee.
Cold Brewed Coffee: Homemade Iced Coffee Made Easy!
Let’s get to the deets now, shall we? I first start with a small mason jar and add about 1/2 cup coffee grounds. Then I fill the rest of the jar with 2 cups water. This will form a coffee concentrate, a very strong concentrated coffee liquid that can be diluted to make iced coffee. Now, this jar usually lasts me several days, so it works well for me. If you are someone who likes to make iced coffee more than once a day and/or your serving sizes are particularly large, then you may want to use a mason jar that is larger. It’s all up to you.
Another point to consider is the ratio of ground coffee to water. The more coffee that is added, the stronger the coffee flavor will be. Of course, if you add too much, you may get a final product that is too bitter or overwhelming. So this ratio needs to be adjusted to your taste, but a good starting point is 1/2 cup coffee grounds to about 2 cups water.
Leave your coffee concentrate to cold-brew in the refrigerator overnight, at least 12 hours – the longer, the better!
In the morning, strain your coffee concentrate using a coffee filter to remove all the grounds from the liquid component. Then pour the liquid component into a clean mason jar and store in the refrigerator. This will keep for several days. When you are ready for your refreshing iced coffee, simply add 1/4 cup of the coffee concentrate to a glass and top with cold water and whatever else you like to jazz up your iced coffee. I prefer some whole milk / almond milk and 1 tsp of stevia!
By cold brewing your coffee, you can eliminate much of the bitterness that accompanies the hot-brewing method (the traditional way) of preparing coffee. The smooth flavor of this iced coffee is truly unbeatable!
If you have any comments or questions about this method, leave a note for me in the Comments below! If you’d like more tips about making coffee at home, check out this post with advice on making coffee at home , this post with even more coffee tips, this post with ideas for a pumpkin coffee drink, or this post with international coffee flavors.