The cold brew recipe
for your table
Coarsely grind 25 grams of coffee, about as coarse as coarse sea salt, and put it in a jug or a lidded preserving jar. Finely ground coffee lets too many fine particles through the sieve and makes the brew cloudy and bitter.
Add 25 cl cold water and stir once so all the coffee is wet. Cover the jug and leave it for twelve to eighteen hours: it goes faster on the counter, while it takes longer in the refrigerator and becomes smoother.
Pour everything through a fine sieve lined with a coffee filter or a clean tea towel and let it drain slowly. Don’t squeeze the grounds, because that last bit is the most bitter part.
Fill the tumbler with large ice cubes, pour the cold brew over them, and top up to taste with cold milk or tonic. Store any leftovers covered in the refrigerator.
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The story
Brewing coffee is extraction. Hot water draws almost everything out of the bean in half a minute, including the sharp acids and bitter compounds that you no longer taste afterward. Cold water works much more slowly and leaves some of those compounds in place. That is why cold brew tastes rounder, sweeter and less acidic, and you can drink it black without wanting to add sugar. You pay for it with time: twelve to eighteen hours instead of a few minutes. Want cold coffee today? Make iced coffee, hot-brewed coffee served cold.
The right glass
You drink cold brew cold and slowly, so the glass mainly needs to stay cold. Black, over one large ice cube, it comes into its own in a sturdy tumbler with a thick base: it warms up less quickly in your hand and the cube fits comfortably inside. If you top it up with milk or tonic, you need the height of a long drink glass, so there is still room for a generous splash alongside the ice. Keep any leftover coffee sealed in the fridge; carafes with lids are useful for this.
Arcoroc Granity Tumbler 27 cl (6 pieces)
Duralex Prisme Long Drink Glass 33 cl (6 pieces)
Both sets together € 36,90.
The right tools
For cold brew, besides the glass, you use a fine strainer to remove the coffee grounds, large ice blocks from an ice cube mold and glass straws. These are the bar tools we use ourselves; you can find everything in our bar tools & cocktail sets.
Glass set (our pick 01) + 3 bar tools together € 60,80.
Which drink goes well with cold brew?
Cold brew is naturally alcohol-free. If you want to turn it into an evening drink, stir in a splash of rum or coffee liqueur. Well-known bottles include Havana Club and Captain Morgan. On each drink page, you can read the percentage, what it tastes like, which cocktails it works with and which glass you need.
Variations & twists
Try mixing cold brew with tonic instead of milk: one part coffee to two parts tonic over plenty of ice makes a surprisingly refreshing drink. A pinch of salt removes the last hint of bitterness, and simple syrup dissolves much better in a cold glass than loose sugar. If you make it stronger, one part coffee to four parts water, you’ll have a concentrate that you can dilute by the glass with water, milk, or tonic. Looking for more inspiration? Browse more than 100 cocktail recipes.
Serving tip
Fill the glass completely with ice first, then pour the cold brew over it; one four-centimeter cube melts noticeably more slowly than four small cubes. Serve it black and put the milk, tonic, and syrup separately on the table, so everyone first tastes what the coffee itself tastes like.
Good to know
How coarse should you grind the coffee?
As coarse as coarse sea salt, so coarser than for filter coffee. Coffee ground too finely lets a lot of sediment through the sieve, making the brew cloudy and causing it to taste bitter after a few hours. Coarsely ground coffee is also much easier to strain, because the grounds stay together in a layer instead of slipping through your filter.
The coffee-to-water ratio
For cold brew you can pour straight away, use approximately one part coffee to ten parts water: 25 grams to 25 cl. If you want a concentrate to dilute by the glass, use one part coffee to four or five parts water. Weigh the coffee instead of scooping it, because a scoop of coarsely ground coffee weighs considerably less than a scoop of finely ground coffee.
On the counter or in the refrigerator?
Both work. At room temperature, it brews faster and twelve hours is often enough; in the refrigerator, it takes longer and you should allow sixteen to eighteen hours. Cold-brewed coffee is a little clearer and smoother in flavor, while at room temperature you get a bit more body. Leaving it for longer than a day adds little and makes it taste woody.
How long does cold brew keep?
Kept black and sealed in the refrigerator, it lasts about a week, although the flavor becomes flatter over those days. If you've added milk, finish that glass the same day. Always strain out the grounds immediately when it's ready, because coffee left in the grounds keeps steeping and becomes bitter.
Cold brew, iced coffee and nitro
Cold brew steeps cold, iced coffee is hot-brewed coffee served cold, and nitro cold brew is regular cold brew dispensed from a tap under nitrogen. The nitrogen bubbles are so small that they create a dense, creamy head; the coffee underneath is the same. You do need a nitrogen tap for that, because carbon dioxide gives you a tingling rather than creamy glass.
Frequently asked questions
How long should cold brew steep?
Twelve to eighteen hours. At room temperature, twelve hours is usually enough; in the refrigerator, allow sixteen to eighteen hours. If it steeps for less time, the coffee remains watery and sour; much longer than a day and it becomes woody. Strain out the grounds immediately afterward, otherwise they will continue steeping in the jug.
What is the difference between cold brew and iced coffee?
Cold brew is brewed cold: coarsely ground coffee sits in cold water for twelve to eighteen hours. Iced coffee is hot-brewed coffee or espresso that you then serve cold, and it's ready within fifteen minutes. Cold brew tastes rounder and less acidic and keeps for a week; the full recipe for the quick version is on our iced coffee page.
What coffee-to-water ratio do you use?
About one in ten for cold brew you drink straight, so 25 grams of coarsely ground coffee to 25 cl of cold water. For a concentrate that you dilute per glass, use one in four or five. How much caffeine is in your glass depends mainly on that ratio, not on the temperature at which you brew it.
How do you serve cold brew with milk or tonic?
Fill the glass with large ice cubes, pour in the cold brew until about two-thirds full, and top up with cold milk; one part milk to three parts coffee is a gentle starting point. With tonic, use one part cold brew to two parts tonic and leave out the milk, pouring the tonic in along a spoon so it stays fizzy.
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