Cold Brewed Coffee is super easy to make at home, so you can conveniently have it at the ready when you need your coffee fix.
The pandemic had me making cold-brewed coffee at home. Like a lot. Like so much that it has now become a foundational part of my weekly routine. And that's largely because it's so super easy to make.
Before we dive into making your own at home, we gotta talk about the equipment. Which is reasonably priced - so much so that you'll see a return on investment within just two months (assuming you're a daily or near-daily cold brew coffee drinker :)).
This cold brew coffee at home is just begging to be paired with a hot, homemade Churro Dutch Baby.
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Equipment for Cold Brewing at Home
Original Grind Co. 1 Gallon Cold Brew Coffee Maker
This is what I use to make cold brew coffee. It has a nifty metal fine mesh sieve inside to contain coffee grounds, and a handy spout for dispensing once the cold brewed coffee is ready to serve. I’ve had this for 4 years and it’s still going strong. Highly recommend the investment.
Features:
- Easy Pour Stainless Steel Spigot Tap
- Removable Fine Mesh Sieve
- Refrigerator Safe
KitchenAid Blade Coffee Grinder
I’ve had this for 6 years and it’s still going strong. Plus you can use it to grind herbs and spices. Highly recommend.
Features:
- Clear top cover so you can see the consistency of grinds.
- Stainless steel blade allows for quick grinding of whole coffee beans.
- Stainless steel bowl has measurement markings on the inside for easy measuring.
Ingredients Needed for Cold Brewed Coffee
Let's get to the ingredients you'll need to make cold brewed coffee at home - coffee beans, roasted chicory granules, and water.
- Water - For best results, use filtered or bottled water. But I won’t tell if you want to use water straight from the tap.
- Ground Caribou coffee - I recommend buying coffee beans, then grinding right before making cold brew. I love Caribou Medium roast for cold brewing.
- Roasted chicory granules - Chicory is a must, it has a roasty flavor that really compliments Caribou coffee. The inclusion of chicory was 100% because Alton Brown said to. It was Alton who first to inspired me to cold brew at home. Check out his recipe for Chicory Cold Brew.
To make this Cold Brewed Coffee recipe exactly as I did, pick up the following ingredients:
Instructions - How to Make Cold Brewed Coffee at Home
Grind coffee beans for 5 seconds. Stop and shake it around. Grind for 3 seconds. Boom perfectly coarsely ground.
Add the ground coffee and roasted chicory granules to the metal filter in the jar. Fill with water.
Let steep for 14-24 hours; how long you should steep will depend on your personal preference. If this is your first time cold brewing, you might want to taste at intervals to determine your preference as the coffee will get stronger in flavor the longer it steeps. Remove the metal filter with the used coffee grounds and chicory when it has finished steeping to your liking.
Keep refrigerated.
FAQ
In my opinion, a medium or dark roast is best. And it's fun to experiment with flavored coffees too, like this Toasted Southern Pecan.
Yes, you can use regular ground coffee to make cold brew, so your favorite coffee is a great place to start! However, I recommend using fresh, coarsely ground coffee beans if possible - for the freshest flavor and to ensure they don’t slip through the fine mesh sieve.
Let steep for 14-24 hours; how long you should steep will depend on your personal preference. If this is your first time cold brewing, you might want to taste at intervals to determine your preference as the coffee will get stronger in flavor the longer it steeps.
Once the cold brew has finished steeping, remove the metal sieve from the Cold Brew Maker and dispose of the coffee grounds and chicory.
I don’t do this often folks so I hope you’ll appreciate that I decided to do some math. And I hope you’ll check my work.
Let’s say a large (20-ounce) cold brewed iced coffee at Caribou costs $4. I drink at least this much every day (maybe more since I have more or less a gallon at my disposal at any point in time). If I visited Caribou daily for my cold coffee fix that would be $120 a month (assuming a 30-day month). Or around $1,440 / year (30-day months, 12 months in a year).
1 gallon is 128 ounces, which is how much the Cold Brew Coffee Maker holds. There are approximately 6.4 large iced coffees in 1 gallon of cold brew coffee made at home. I make 5 gallons a month, which works out to 32 large iced coffees.
Forgive me here because I’m gonna get lazy with the math because admittedly I haven’t figured out exactly how long it takes to use up a 12-ounce bag of coffee beans. But I know that I use nearly 4 cups of ground coffee plus 2 ½ cups of chicory every month. And a 12-ounce bag of coffee beans lasts at least 2 months.
1 12-ounce sized bag of whole Caribou coffee beans = $9.50 with tax
1 1 pound sized bag of Chicory = $10 with tax
Water - free (unless you use bottled, then figure the cost of that in)
=
$19.50 for coffee supplies
Let’s say that I spend $19.50 in coffee supplies every two months. This equals $117 a year. Essentially by getting my daily Caribou coffee fix at home I’m saving $1,323 a year. A noteworthy sum but sadly cutting coffee costs won’t really help me pay my mortgage. Go figure.
Let it be known that I’m not advocating against trips to Caribou to get your coffee fix. I still splurge at Caribou once in a while. The Iced Matcha Vanilla Latte is my jam and I haven’t figured out how to replicate it at home.
Top Tips
- Grind the coffee coarsely, if using coffee beans. I swear by a 5-second grind, pause to shake, followed by a 3-second grind. It yields near-perfect coarsely ground coffee. You might see two or three whole beans but that’s fine. You don’t want to go too far because the finer the grind the more likely it is to seep through the fine mesh and into the cold coffee.
- Don’t forget to make sure the Cold Brew Maker dispenser nozzle is closed before filling it with water.
- Don't worry if you see what I refer to as "coffee sludge" at the bottom of your jar once you get to the last of your cold brewed coffee. It's normal, just discard it, then wash your jar out before using it to make more cold brew coffee.
Breakfast Pairings
Serve up some breakfast to go along with your Caribou cold brew coffee.
Caribou Cold Brewed Coffee at Home
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 gallon water
- ¾ cup ground Caribou coffee
- ½ cup roasted chicory granules
Instructions
- Grind coffee beans for 5 seconds. Stop and shake it around. Grind for 3 seconds. Boom perfectly coarsely ground.
- Add the ground coffee and roasted chicory granules to the metal filter in the jar. Fill with water.¾ cup ground Caribou coffee, ½ cup roasted chicory granules, 1 gallon water
- Let steep for 14-24 hours; how long you should steep will depend on your personal preference. If this is your first time cold brewing, you might want to taste at intervals to determine your preference as the coffee will get stronger in flavor the longer it steeps. Remove the metal filter with the used coffee grounds and chicory when it has finished steeping to your liking.
- Keep refrigerated.
Notes
Nutrition
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