How to make cold brew at home

The good weather is setting in, you want a good iced coffee, we understand you! Cold brew has been growing in popularity for a few years now. Many of you love it, with or without milk, with or without sugar, but did you know that it's really very easy to do it yourself at home? Eh yes! We even give you the recipe a little further down.

What is a cold infusion (or more commonly called cold brew)?

Here are some interesting features:

• Cold infusion has the advantage of being almost without bitterness.
• Cold brew is a very caffeinated infusion, therefore energizing.
• The cold infusion allows the fruit and tasting notes to be tasted in a pleasant and punchy way, as the bitterness is practically absent.
• You will get a tasty cold coffee that will not be bland.

Here's how to try cold brew at home! What's good is that we don't need any special equipment.

You will need:

• 450g coarsely ground coffee (filter or French press for grinding)
• 2 liters of room temperature water
• 1 glass container that seals well

Note that it is possible to split the recipe in half for a smaller quantity.

Steps to follow :

1. Put the ground coffee in the glass container.
2. Add half the water and stir.
3. Add the second half of water and stir again.
4. Close the airtight glass container and let everything infuse, at room temperature, between 12 and 15 hours, depending on the taste you want.
5. Filter the mixture using a coffee filter in a colander or a very fine metal filter if you have one. You can also get a small reusable cotton filter to be zero waste. At this point, you can brew directly into the cotton filter by wetting it before putting your coffee inside to steep. However, you won't be able to make a large batch of cold brew using this filter since it's small.
   Access here the reusable filter for cold infusion, available on our website!

Tips for serving

The cold brew can be appreciated as it is, with milk, with sugar, it is according to your tastes. Personally I like to add a little touch of maple syrup! Fill your glass with ice cubes, add cold brew and whatever else you desire, it's that simple! If you want to keep the real good taste of coffee, without the ice cubes that melt and add water to your coffee, I advise you to make cold brew ice cubes!

We did some infusion tests with our coffees and here are our favorites:

• Des Jardins , a blend specially designed for cold infusion (notes of tropical fruits and chocolatey pecan) dark roast;
• Costa Rica (hazelnut notes) dark roast;
• Villalobos (vegetal notes, cherry) dark roast;
• 1653 (cocoa, woody notes) dark roast.

You can keep your cold brew infusion in the fridge for about 10 to 12 days in a closed container.

Good summer!

SARAH-EVE ,
Barista expert, trainer & writer on our blog. Meet Sarah-Ève every day of the week in our Limoilou branch!

Check out his story here...
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