Tired of rising coffee drive through prices but need your daily fix?
Me, too! That’s why I’ve started making my own favorite coffee drinks at home, cold brew coffee.
But what’s even better…is that cold brew coffee is strong enough to use as espresso to make just about any coffee shop coffee I want.
See our instructions on how to make cold brew coffee below.
Then also see some of our iced coffee recipes using it.
In addition, there’s a quick demo video in this post. Cheers!
You may have noticed the new thing popping up at coffee places everywhere…
this pricey thing called cold brew coffee.
It’s smooth and less acidic and costs a small fortune because it brews slowly overnight.
And while it tastes wonderful,
it’s hard to pay $5 a pop in the drive-thru.
So I learned how to make strong cold brew coffee at home, myself. Of course I did!
Not only do I drink cold brew coffee plain with my favorite dairy-free creamer…
but I also learned how to use cold brew coffee to make my own espresso drinks.
Now THAT’S a double money-saver!
And to save even MORE money,
hubby and I buy large economical bags of ground coffee or coffee beans to make our cold brew coffee even cheaper.
Sam’s Club, Costco, and GFS are great places to find bulk ground coffee or coffee beans for making cold brew coffee at home. Here’s my Sam’s shopping list.
Because honestly, cold brew coffee concentrate does take a lot of coffee grounds per serving.
Finding large economical bags truly will make DIY cold brew coffee and the fancy drinks you make with it…even more affordable.
That’s right, cold brew coffee is strong enough to work like espresso.
And I’m saving loads of money making my own lattes at home.
No more pulling out the bulky espresso machine that takes way too much space on my counter.
Making cold brew coffee at home saves the day. It saves everyday!
FAVORITE COLD BREW PITCHER
To make cold brew coffee, which I use as espresso for various coffee drink recipes, you’ll want a large enough container to make it in bulk.
This means you’ll have cold brew for days!
Over the years, we’ve used a variety of containers for brewing our coffee concentrate.
But I always make sure my cold brew is made in glass, not plastic.
BALL JAR – Wide mouth Ball jars work well. But they don’t make quite as much cold brew as I like to have on hand for a week. If it’s all you have, give it a try!
FRENCH PRESS – If you already have a French press on hand, it works well. Still not quite as big as I like, but works. Here’s the glass French press (affiliate link) we have and like.
COLD BREW PITCHER – We finally settled on an actual cold brew pitcher for brewing our best and biggest cold brew batches in bulk. Here’s the glass cold brew pitcher (affiliate) we have and love.
BEST STRAINER FOR MAKING COLD BREW COFFEE
As mentioned, hubs is a coffee snob. So he makes himself single-serving pour over coffee regularly.
Thankfully, for me…that means I can grab his stainless steal coffee strainer when I strain the grounds from my cold brew coffee.
No paper filters are needed for this strainer, which I love. Just give it a rinse when you’re done straining and use it over and over.
I use it weekly for making cold brew coffee. I share it with hubby when he wants pour over, ha!
Here is our stainless steal strainer (affiliate) for your convenience.
BEST COFFEE FOR MAKING COLD BREW
LOWER QUALITY COFFEE – While my hubby is a hot coffee snob, I’m not picky. So anytime we try a coffee he doesn’t like, into the cold brew pitcher it goes…for me. Plus, cold brew takes a lot more coffee grounds than regular coffee. That’s why I settle on lower quality for making my cold brew…costs less.
COURSE GROUND COFFEE – If you don’t have a coffee grinder at home, just buying ground coffee is fine for cold brew. But if you do grind your own, use course ground for making cold brew. It strains best.
DARK ROAST COFFEE – Hubby likes hot coffee brewed with light roast. So anytime we find ourselves with dark roast, we brew it cold for me. Dark roast with cold brewing makes for the best espresso substitute.
Now here’s how to make cold brew coffee at home. See our video in this post, too.
PLUS, see our 6 coffee recipes using cold brew below.
Mommy fuel, here we come!
HOW TO MAKE COLD BREW COFFEE
These measurements may be doubled or tripled depending on the size of container you use for brewing.
Also see our quick video in this post.
1. Put 1 cup of dark, course ground dark coffee into a large glass container. See container options above.
2. Add 3 cups of cold water and stir together the grounds and water.
3. Put lid on tightly.
4. Let the mixture brew on the counter at room temperature for 12 hours.
5. After 12 hours, strain the cold brew coffee from the grounds.
6. Pour the liquid coffee concentrate into a jar for storage.
7. Seal with a lid and refrigerate your coffee concentrate for up to a week.
PRO TIP: We put our strained coffee grounds in the compost for fertilizer.
HOW TO DRINK COLD BREW COFFEE CONCENTRATE
For cold brew coffee, use one part concentrate to one part water.
For lattes, use one part concentrate with equal part milk or your favorite dairy-free milk.
Flavor your cold brew coffee or latte with your usual suspects: creamer, sugar, syrups, whipped cream, etc.
See some of my favorite cold brew coffee recipes below!
6 COFFEE RECIPES USING COLD BREW
Honey Cinnamon Cold Brew Latte
This cold brew coffee recipe was originally posted in March 2016.