If your summer coffee tastes bitter, the problem might not be the beans — it might be the heat. Hot water pulls out the bitter compounds in coffee fast. Cold water pulls them out slow, and leaves most of the bitterness behind. That’s the whole secret of cold brew.
Cold brew isn’t iced coffee. Iced coffee is hot coffee poured over ice. Cold brew never touches hot water at all. You steep coarse coffee grounds in cool water for 12 to 16 hours, strain it, and you get a smooth, naturally sweet concentrate that keeps in the fridge for about a week.
What you need:
- 1 cup coarse-ground coffee (about the texture of raw sugar)
- 4 cups cool, filtered water
- A big jar or pitcher
- A fine strainer and cheesecloth, or a nut milk bag
How to make it:
- Combine the coffee and water in the jar. Stir gently so every ground is wet.
- Cover and let it sit at room temperature for 12 to 16 hours. Overnight works perfectly.
- Strain it twice — once through the strainer, once through cheesecloth — to catch the fine sediment.
- What you have now is concentrate. Serve it over ice, cut 1:1 with cold water or milk, and sweeten if you like. Most people find they need less sugar than with hot coffee.
Three tips that make the difference:
- Grind coarse. Fine grounds over-extract even in cold water and turn muddy.
- Don’t rush it. Eight hours gives you weak coffee; sixteen gives you the full, chocolatey cup.
- Start with a good roast. Cold brew forgives a lot, but it can’t fix stale beans. Fresh-roasted beans are the whole point.
Which roast to use? If you like it smooth and chocolatey, start with our House Blend or Cowboy Blend. If you want something brighter, Breakfast Blend brings a little more life to the cup. Any of them work — pick the flavor you already love hot, and cold brew will show you a softer side of it.
Make a batch tonight, and tomorrow’s coffee is already done. That’s the best part: one jar on Sunday covers your mornings all week.
Fresh-roasted, small-batch coffee — order at quadrinaskoffee.com.