How to Make a Cold Coffee Brewer

Why is cold-brewed coffee so delicious? When you cold-brew coffee you get only the flavor from the ground coffee, without the oils and acids that can make hot coffee taste harsh and bitter. The result is a cup of coffee that tastes just like the smell of the fresh grind. You probably already have the necessary supplies for cold brewing in your kitchen, so grind some coffee beans and follow the steps below to prepare your coffee.

Things You'll Need

• 2 to 3 oz. coffee beans, or ⮮." to 1 cup ground coffee
• 2 large (24 to 32 oz.) Mason jars
• Coffee filter

Instructions

1. Pour the ground coffee into one Mason jar and fill the jar with water. If you have a large French press, use that instead because it will be easier to filter the grounds.

2. Stir the grounds to moisten them so they don't clump together at the bottom. Cover the jar and let the coffee brew from 6 to 12 hours.

3. Open the jar and filter the coffee into the second jar. The messiest method is to hold the filter over the mouth of the first jar while pouring the coffee into the second. Placing the filter in a sieve and putting the sieve (if it's small) in the mouth of the second jar is somewhat neater. If the sieve is too big for the jar mouth, hold it over a bowl or other wide-mouthed container. The cleanest and fastest method is to put the filter in the grind basket of your hot coffee maker and pour the coffee directly in the basket and let it drain into your coffee pot.

4. Cover the jar of filtered coffee and put it in the refrigerator. It is actually coffee concentrate, so you will need to add water to make it drinkable. How much water you add depends on your taste and what kind of coffee you are using. A good starting point is equal amounts of concentrate and water (or milk, for cafe au lait).

5. Experiment with varying amounts of water and heating methods to learn what suits you best. Iced coffee is easiest to make since the concentrate will already be cold. To get hot coffee, pour the concentrate in a mug and heat it in a microwave. The advantage of cold-brewed coffee is that since it doesn't have acids like hot-brewed coffee, reheating it doesn't alter the flavor.

Tips & Warnings

• Use the freshest coffee possible. If you are not happy with your first results, try a different type of coffee.