Cold Brew is an exceptionally easy way to expand your coffee palette without wandering too far from the beaten path. A method that almost always ensures a rich, sweet flavor, cold brew is perfect for mixing with milk and sugar or enjoying as is. When making cold brew, a coffee with chocolate and nut notes is fantastic. If you are feeling particularly adventurous, look for a coffee with mixed berry notes, as well.
Before We Brew:
First, find the bag that sounds good to you. Biarte’s coffee is a perfect match for this process! Now, using a burr grinder or at your favorite coffee shop, have the beans ground coarse like would be used for a french press. If you look closely, the grounds should be more coarse than ground sea salt.
Next, purchase some cheesecloth. We will use this to strain the cold brew when we are finished.
To Brew:
First
Put 115g of ground coffee into your brewing vessel. Large mason jars, water pitchers, and other similarly sized containers work well for this.
Next
Pour 1L of water over the coffee. You do not need to stir or further agitate the coffee, as part of the cold brewing process is allowing the coffee and water to interact without interference over a long period of time.
Now
Cover your container and either rest it on the counter or in your refrigerator.
Set a timer and wait 20-24 hours for the coffee to do its thing! You can experiment in search of more vibrant, bright flavors, pull the cold brew after 20 hours. For sweeter, richer, more chocolate-like flavors, wait 22-24 hours for a brew that will satisfy the most classic coffee notes.
When it is time to pull the coffee, stretch your cheesecloth over the top of your vessel, either in a double or triple layer and pour the coffee through the cloth. You now have two wonderful things.
First, you have a delicious, concentrated cold brew to power you through another day. Second, you have saturated coffee grounds that can be composted or repurposed to fertilize your garden.
Finally
Before our process is complete, we must dilute the cold brew. Typically, add 4oz of water to 1L of concentrate, though you can add as much or as little to your brew as you like. Taste it first, then add 2-4oz at a time and find out what you like!
The concentrate itself will also mix remarkably well when diluted with your favorite milk, creamer, or milk alternative. The concentrate will last in your fridge for about two days, but once diluted, it can hold for up to 2 weeks!
Additional tips and tricks: You can use any variant of this ratio for water to coffee. If you want to make a larger batch, just multiply the numbers provided by 2, 3, 5, 10. As long as you have the vessel, you can make as much as you would like. Additionally, we encourage you to try different times, dilution amounts, dilution types. There are so many ways cold brew can work for you!