Basics
How to Make Cold Brew Coffee
Coarse coffee steeped overnight in cold water for a smooth, low-acid concentrate — the 1:10 ratio, steeping times and how to serve it.
Ingredients
- 100 g coffee, ground coarse (like breadcrumbs)
- 1 litre cold filtered water
- Ice, cold water or milk to serve
Steps
- Put the coarse grounds into a large jar or a French press and pour the cold water over them. Stir once so every ground is wet.
- Cover and steep for 12–18 hours: on the counter for a bolder, rounder cup, or in the fridge for a cleaner, brighter one.
- Strain slowly through a paper filter, a fine sieve lined with cloth, or the press plunger. Do not squeeze or press the grounds.
- Store the concentrate in a sealed bottle in the fridge; it keeps well for up to a week.
- To serve, fill a glass with ice and mix the concentrate with an equal amount of cold water or milk. Adjust to taste.
Tips
- Coarse grind, always. Fine grounds go cloudy and bitter over a long steep and are miserable to strain.
- 1:10 makes a concentrate to dilute; steep at 1:15 if you want something you can pour straight over ice.
- Cold brew is naturally sweet and low in acidity — taste it black before you add anything.
Cold brew is the most forgiving coffee recipe there is, and one of the most different. Instead of hot water and minutes, it uses cold water and hours: coarse grounds sit in a jar of water overnight, and time does the extraction that heat would normally do. Because heat is what pulls out most of the bitter and acidic compounds, the result is remarkably smooth — round, chocolatey, gently sweet, with almost none of the sharpness of hot coffee that has been chilled. It is not iced coffee. Iced coffee is hot coffee cooled down; cold brew never sees a kettle.
The ratio and the steep
Our house ratio is 1:10 by weight — 100 g of coffee to a litre of water — which makes a concentrate. Diluted one to one with water or milk over ice, that gives roughly four good glasses. If you would rather skip the diluting, steep at 1:15 and drink it as it is. Either way, weigh the coffee; cold brew hides a lot of sins, but a wildly wrong ratio is not one of them.
Steeping time is where you have room to play. Twelve hours gives a lighter, more delicate brew; eighteen gives something richer and more intense. Beyond about twenty hours the gains flatten out and a woody note creeps in. Where you steep matters too: on the counter, at room temperature, extraction is faster and the cup is bolder; in the fridge it is slower and the result is cleaner and a little brighter. Try both and see which you prefer — there is no wrong answer.
Grind and beans
Grind coarse, like rough breadcrumbs. Fine grounds over-extract during a long steep, turn the brew cloudy and bitter, and clog whatever you strain through. Any decent burr grinder on its coarsest setting will do; if you have no grinder, ask the roaster to grind for French press.
As for beans, cold brew flattens acidity, so the bright, fruity light roasts that shine in a V60 can taste a little muted here. Medium roasts with chocolate, nut and caramel notes tend to work best; Brazilian and Colombian coffees are reliable choices. Whatever you use, use it fresh — stale coffee makes stale cold brew, however long you steep it.
Straining and serving
Strain gently and do not press the grounds; squeezing pushes fine sediment and bitterness into the concentrate. A paper filter gives the cleanest result, a cloth-lined sieve is nearly as good, and a French press plunger is quickest. Bottle the concentrate and keep it in the fridge, where it holds its flavour for about a week — something hot coffee could never do.
To serve, fill a glass with ice, pour equal parts concentrate and cold water or milk, and taste. Cold brew takes milk beautifully and needs no sugar; a splash of tonic water over ice is a good summer variation too.
We make cold brew in big batches through the warm months, and it is on our menu alongside the iced latte and iced americano. If you want to try the reference glass before making your own, come and find us on Sultanahmet Square — see the menu.