Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate

Cold brew has a reputation for being fussy. It isn’t. There’s no machine involved, no thermometer, and no technique you can get wrong. Coarse grounds go in a jar, water goes on top, and the fridge does the rest overnight.

What comes out is concentrate rather than a finished drink. It’s strong on purpose, so it stretches a long way once you dilute it. We keep a jar going through summer and top it up as it runs down.

Why cold water tastes different

Hot water pulls flavour out of coffee quickly, and it doesn’t discriminate. The bitter and acidic compounds come out along with everything else. Cold water works slowly and leaves most of those behind, which is why cold brew tastes rounder and sweeter than the same beans brewed hot.

That matters more with flavoured coffee. There’s nothing sharp fighting the vanilla or the blueberry, so the flavour sits right at the front instead of competing with acidity.

Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate Recipe

Easy Cold Brewed Coffee

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Servings: 8

Course: Drinks

Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients

  

• 100 g Little Black Sheep Coffee
• 700 ml Water

Equipment

• 1 Sealed Container (ex. French Press or Mason Jar)
• 1 Coffee filter/Cheesecloth

Method

 

1. Add 100g coffee grounds to a sealable jar/container
2. Pour 700ml water gently over grounds
3. Carefully mix to ensure all grounds are wet
4. Seal container and seep in fridge for 16 hours
5. Strain grounds using a filter or cheese cloth
6. Serve diluted with equal parts water, ice or milk
7. Store for up to 5 days in fridge

Notes

Use a coarse ground, similar to salt or sand texture

Add water gently to avoid grinds getting stuck to side of jar

Add water/milk to taste after brewing

Add a hot water sugar slurry to concentrate to sweeten

Adjust water/coffee ratio to taste

Which beans to use

Any of ours will work, but they don’t all behave the same way cold.

• Vanilla goes creamy and almost dessert-like. The easiest one to drink black.
• Blueberry gets noticeably jammier cold than it does hot.
• Choco Hazelnut is the one to reach for if you know you’ll be adding milk.
• Original Blend if you want straight coffee with none of the flavour.

Grind coarse. You want something closer to sea salt than powder. Anything finer slips through the filter and leaves grit in the bottom of the glass.

How to serve it

Start at equal parts concentrate and water, then adjust from there. Over ice with a splash of milk is the standard version. Some people go two parts water to one part concentrate for something longer.

If you want it sweet, don’t stir sugar straight into cold liquid. It won’t dissolve and it’ll sit at the bottom of the glass. Dissolve it in a small amount of hot water first, let that cool, then add it.

Storing it

Five days in the fridge in a sealed jar. Strain the grounds out before you store it, otherwise it keeps extracting and turns bitter.

A batch this size makes about eight servings once diluted, so it’s worth making on a Sunday and not thinking about it again until Thursday.