Gas prices, right?
If you’re trying to figure out how you can tighten up your weekly budget, consider making your daily cold brew at home until this all blows over. (It will blow over, right?)
You may be thinking, But I’ll never be able to replicate how [insert the name of your favorite coffee shop] makes it.
You can and you will. Here’s why: Cold brew is actually super-easy to make. In fact, when we share the process with you in a minute, you’re going to wonder why you weren’t making it all along. And we’re not stopping there. We’re also going to give you some simple advice to level up your cold brew.
All you need to do is keep reading.
Yes, that’s all there is to it
If you’ve made coffee before, forget what you know. Cold brew cuts its own path.
For starters, you want to use room-temperature, not cold, water, although it should still be filtered. Next, dump your coarsely ground coffee into the water. This is a process known as full immersion brewing.
You’re going to let your coffee steep in the fridge for 24 hours. You can also steep on a countertop (for about 16 hours), but doing it in the fridge will ensure you end up with a smooth, balanced cold brew because refrigeration slows extraction. Sometimes, coffee that steeps at room temperature can taste pretty bitter.
Water molecules have less kinetic energy at lower temperatures. This is why cold brew needs to steep for as long as it does. But you’ll be rewarded for all that waiting with coffee that tastes sweeter and mellower than coffee’s general flavor profile. Just remember to filter the grounds out first.
That’s really all there is to it.
And this is how you refine it
The long extraction allows more of the coffee’s natural sweetness to come through. Traditionally, medium- and dark-roast coffees have worked best for cold brew because they entail longer roasting times, which increases the amount of fully developed sugars within a bean. These roasts can also taste chocolaty and nutty.
But as cold brew has exploded in popularity, coffee shops have grown more adventurous. You probably noticed we said “traditionally.” These days, you’ll find plenty of cold brew options made from light roasts. These tend to be more fruit- and flower-forward in taste.
So, it really comes down to personal preference. If you don’t have one yet, feel free to experiment.
As with brewing any type of coffee, it’s critical to start with a quality bag of coffee beans. This generally means a single-origin coffee, as opposed to a blend. By picking beans that were farmed at a specific place, you’re more likely to pick up on particular flavors. Coffees from Central and South America, for example, tend to embody those chocolaty and nutty notes, while East African coffees can be fruity and floral, and Southeast Asian coffees are often earthy, with hints of different spices.
Single-origin coffee is generally more expensive than blends are. But by making your own cold brew each morning, you should still be able to save enough money to fill up your gas tank. And you’ll have honed a new skill in the process.