Exactly as it sounds, coffee brewed with cold water.
This gentle brewing style and use of cold water leads to a coffee that is sweet, smooth and has low acidity.
The great thing about cold brew is you can do it without spending much money on equipment and you can leave it to brew overnight.
There are many brands of cold brewing devices on the market, with our brewer of choice being the Toddy Cold Brew System because its affordable, durable and has an effective cold-water filtration process.
Recipe
Ready to drink, served black:
- 1:12 ratio = 165g coffee : 2 litres water
- Brew time = 12-18 hours
- Yields about 1.8 litres
Concentrate. This will make a stronger cold brew and you can mix it with either water or milk:
- 1:8 ratio = 250g coffee : 2 litres water
- Brew time = 12-18 hours
- Yields about 1.6 litres
What you need
- Domestic Toddy Cold Brew System (2 litre) - this comes with all the bits you need.
- Ground coffee (coarse grind)
- Water
Method
- Wet the felt filter and place into the bottom of the unit.
- Insert the rubber plug into the bottom of the unit.
- Pour about 200ml of water into the toddy unit. This will prevent the coffee from sticking to the bottom.
- Add the ground coffee slowly and gently.
- Gently pour the rest of the water over the coffee. Pour in circular motions to make sure all the coffee is wet. If you need to, very gently stir so there is no dry coffee.
- Place the lid on the top of the unit and leave at room temperature for between 12 and 18 hours.
- Remove the plug and decant the brewed coffee into the carafe.
- Place the lid on the carafe and pop into the fridge.
If you’re using the ready to drink method, grab a cup, add ice and kick back and enjoy.
If you’re brewing a concentrate, you’ve got a few options… grab a cup, add plenty of ice and pour in equal amounts of the concentrate with either water, sparkling water or milk of your choice.
Tips
- To achieve a super smooth mouth feel, add in additional filtration by using Toddy paper filter bags in addition to the felt filter.
- Avoid disrupting you brew by stirring too much.
- Use filtered water if you can, it is cleaner and tastes better.
- Make sure you use coarsely ground coffee, this will make sure your cold brew isn’t over extracted, as finer ground coffee will speed up brewing.
- Cold Brew can be kept in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.
- There are commercial cold brew systems for cafes and coffee shops wanting to offer cold brew on a larger scale.
