The warm and hot months are a great time to drink cold brewed coffee! If you though cold brewing coffee is challenging, then at one point you were mislead; making cold brew is VERY easy, and you don't need any specialized expensive equipment! If you have a French press, you can make delicious cold brewed coffee at home.
Before we begin with the recipe, let us recommend KLLR's top 5 coffees for cold brewing:
-1907 (our favorite!)
-Vintage (our 2nd favorite!)
-Africa (the one with the dude with the shades)
-Natural Africa (the one with the girl with the long hair)
-Prairie Sun
Good dark roasted coffees make DELICIOUS cold brews, as they yield rich and sweet dark chocolate notes without burnt flavors. Good light roasted coffees make DELIGHTFUL cold brews, as they yield sweet fruity notes along with milk chocolate flavors. Don't feel obligated to use those 5 coffees exclusively, use your favorite KLLR coffee, as they all make great cold brews!
For your equipment, you are going to need:
-A french press.
-A coffee grinder.*
-A scale to weigh your coffee and water.**
-A paper coffee filter.
-A pouring container like a pitcher, a coffee pot, or even a Chemex.
We like to use 4 oz of coffee for 32oz of water, or a 1:8 ratio, but you can always use more or less coffee depending on your taste! Always weigh your coffee first BEFORE grinding, as it give you an accurate weight. Here are the steps to make cold brewed coffee:
1. Grind your coffee fairly coarsely, about the same grind size as a hot French pressed coffee.
2. Add the coffee to the French press, and add the first 8 oz of water, or enough to saturate the grounds; stir the coffee and the grounds; add the remaining 24 oz of water, and gently stir again to make sure all the coffee grounds are evenly in contact with the water. Cover the top of the French press with plastic wrap, as the plunger/filter lid will likely not fit.
3. You can let the coffee brew at room temperature or in the fridge:
-If brewing at room temperature, we recommend a minimum brew time of 8 hours and maximum of 12 hours; this prevents over-extracting too many bitter flavors, but room-temperature brewing allows for a richer, silkier, and more chocolatey coffee.
-If brewing in the fridge, we recommend a minimum brew time of 14 hours and a maximum of 16 hours; this method preserves any fruity flavors the coffee has, and it is a sweeter brew with a lighter mouthfeel; this method also makes the coffee more ready-do-drink after steeping, as it will already be nice and cold. Fridge brewing is our favorite method of brewing.
4. After the coffee is done brewing, plunge it with the French press's plunger/filter lid. After plunging, pour the coffee through a filter and into a pouring container of your choice; by running the coffee through a filter, you will get rid of any excess sediment that can make for an unpleasant drinking experience.
To store the cold brew, we recommend rinsing the french press and putting the filtered coffee back in it for easy refrigerator storage. If you feel like the coffee is too strong, add a little cold water to balance it out. Serve the coffee over ice, and enjoy!
*If you don't have a coffee grinder, we can always grind to a cold brew setting if you order through kllrcoffee.com, just make sure you leave a note before checking out! If you purchase coffee at the grocery store, pick a whole bean coffee and grind your coffee on a coarse setting using the grocery's store grinder.
**You don't need to purchase an expensive coffee scale, any kitchen scale will work perfectly!