Cold brew is a unique type of coffee: instead of using hot water to brew the coffee, it uses cold—or, if not, at least room-temperature—water to brew the coffee. This makes for an essentially different drink that has different properties and a very different flavor profile.
Delicious as it may be, cold brew can actually be pretty expensive. Coffee shops sell a reasonably priced cold brew, but buying at stores to drink at home can be pretty hard on your wallet. So this article is going to take care of that by helping you learn how to make cold brew at home using a mason jar!
To get in the right mindset before making cold brew coffee, let’s learn a little about it.
Cold Brew History and Interesting Facts
Interestingly enough, cold brew is perceived as a new and exciting way to brew coffee. But no, cold brew has been around for centuries! It was actually discovered sometime around the 18th century in Japan.
Coffee, which was very new at that time, was a sensation in the higher classes. It traveled the world all the way from Africa to India, to China, where a wealthy lord sent it as a present to a Japanese aristocrat.
This person had never seen coffee before and the gift came with no instructions—it just said that it was the hot new thing in China, and that was it. The aristocrat scratched his head and thought that since it was winter, he could store it in a ceramic jar filled to the brim with water. He could figure it out later.
He was in for a pleasant surprise when, days later, he went to check on the beans. He found a jar full of actual brewed coffee!
- Cold brew uses a coffee-to-water ratio of 1:2, making it closer to espresso than to any other type of coffee. Espresso’s is 1:1, while French press’ is 1:13.
- Cold brew is often used at cuppings because it allows different flavors to come out in coffee. Beans with fruit-like flavors expressed these better through cold brew rather than other brewing methods.
How Can I Make Cold Brew in a Mason Jar?
Now, it’s time we get to learning. Don’t worry; at first, it might sound a little confusing or overwhelming, but cold brew coffee is actually the simplest, easiest of all brewing methods. All you really need is patience because it takes around twelve hours for it to brew. Aside from that, as long as you follow the recipe to the letter, you should have no trouble at all.
Things You Will Need
- A mason jar
- 150 grams of ground coffee
- 300 ml filtered water
- A colander
- Patience
How to Make It
- Grind your coffee. It should be coarse or medium coarse.
- Once you’re done grinding, you have to sift the grounds in order to get rid of the fine particles; this is a very important step and can make the difference between muddy coffee and clean, good coffee. Do like this for about a minute or until you see no more particles remaining.
- Pour the grounds into the mason jar.
- Fill the mason jar with water.
- Then, close the lid and pop in the freezer.
- Check at ~8 hours and stir a little.
- Once 12 hours have passed, filter the coffee using a colander.
- Enjoy!
FAQ
Can I Use Less/More Water?
Yes, you can. The ratio in this recipe is 1:2, but you can take it to 1:1 if you need it more concentrated or to 1:3 if you need the opposite.
It might be attractive to take it even further and use a 1:4 ratio; after all, it yields little coffee for the amount of ground coffee that you’re using, so it feels like you want to get more coffee out of it. But beware of this because it will just result in watery coffee that’s not nearly as pleasant to drink.
The logic of using more water and simply steeping it for longer might seem fine in theory, however, in practice, it just doesn’t work that way. The flavor is lost and thinned out because of all the excess water.
Can I Add Creamer or Milk to Cold Brew?
Milk is only recommended if you’re using a low 1:1 ratio of coffee to water. Otherwise, even if it’s concentrated, it will still feel a little too diluted.
You can indeed use creamer as it’s very thicker. Cold brew does great with homemade creamers as well as powdered creamer, dairy or not.
Although it should be said that cold brew is traditionally best enjoyed black because of its unique flavor; it’s not the type of coffee you use to make a latte—it just doesn’t have the right flavor for it. Instead, enjoy it by itself for a better experience.
Can I Make Codd Brew in a Big Batch?
Yes! The great advantage of using mason jars is that they’re usually really big, so you can make a whole lot of coffee without being constrained to the small sizes of regular brewing methods. Most regular home brewing methods allow for three to four cups at most. But cold brew? You can make one or two quarts at a time!
The trick to making big batches is just sticking to the same numbers. Stick to the ratio, and everything will go smoothly.
Should I Use a Cold Brew Coffee Maker?
You can—but there’s no real need if you’ve got a mason jar. Cold brew coffee makers are usually nothing more than containers with a dedicated space for grounds. There is nothing you can do in terms of aiding extraction; cold brew coffee was already in its final form back in the 18th century when it was discovered by accident, and there haven’t really been any new inventions that improve upon it.
The only arguable good cold brew coffee makers are the slow drip ones—and even then, they aren’t necessary to make good cold brew.