Easiest, Mess Free Cold Brew Coffee Method!
Coffee is my all-time favorite drink. I love it and basically drink it every day like a lot of people do. Hot coffee and iced coffee are good, but cold brew is my absolute favorite. If you don’t know what cold brew coffee is, it is a coffee that is brewed in cold water for a long period of time. It is smoother coffee with less acid and more caffeine. I can’t really confirm that there is more caffeine in it, but I can tell you it is a very smooth, not bitter coffee.
My obsession started with the cold brew about 5 years ago when my fiance brought home a box of Dunkin Donut cold brew packs. The coffee tasted great but for $10 it just was not worth it since 1 pack makes 4 cups of cold brew. I could buy a huge container of coffee for that price. So that led me to try different bottles of pre-made cold brew. The flavor just was not the same as the packs we tried.
The store-bought products were not working for me, so like the resourceful person I am, I turned to YouTube to learn how to make cold brew. There were 3 common methods; to put the ground coffee into the water and strain it before use, use a cheesecloth for the coffee, or make it with a french press. I didn’t like any of those options because of the MESS (eek!) and I didn’t have a french press, so I enlisted my husband to come up with ideas for me.
He pretty much looked at me like I was dumb and said, “Why don’t you use a coffee filter…because that’s what it’s made for.” And from there his cold brew coffee method was born. It was so simple and it used things we already had in the pantry. It was a win-win situation.
Here’s what you need:
- A Pitcher
- Ground Coffee
- Coffee Filters
- Plastic Bag Clips
Now there is no set recipe because it can all be adjusted based on your preference. This is just how I like to make it. I don’t like to add water to mine when I pour it, so I use a larger pitcher of water when I make it instead of making a concentrate. My preference for ground coffee is either Maxwell House or Dunkin’ Donuts pre-ground coffee. I’ve been told that freshly ground coffee makes better cold brew, but I haven’t tried it yet.
I also don’t remove the pouches from my pitcher until I’m ready to make a new pitcher even though most people remove it after 12 hours. So our coffee gets stronger and darker each day it sits in the fridge. You should definitely remove the pouches if you don’t want it to get stronger. More pouches or fewer pouches can also be added to change the strength of the coffee.
One important thing to note is to make sure that you use bag clips that have no metal on them since they will be soaking in liquid. I use plastic sealing clips because they seal tightly. Coffee grinds floating around my cup grosses me out and these clips don’t let them out when they are closed well.
My Cold Brew Recipe
Ingredients:
- A pitcher that holds 8 cups
- 8 cups lukewarm water
- 1-1/4 cups of ground coffee
- 5 coffee filter
- 5 bag clips
Steps
- Add 1/4 cup of coffee grounds to each coffee filter.
- Pinch the edges of the coffee filters and bring them together at the top.
- Use a bag clip to hold it closed, but don’t make it too tight to the coffee grounds. You should be able to shake it and have the coffee move in the little pouch.
- Repeat for all 5 coffee filters.
- Place all of the filled coffee pouches into the pitcher.
- Fill the pitcher up with lukewarm water.
- Place the pitcher in the fridge for 8-12 hours or until it is dark enough.
- Pour and enjoy!
It is so easy to make cold brew coffee this way and it is even kind of eco-friendly. The bag of coffee, including the coffee filter, can be thrown into the compost if you have one. Since we don’t have a composter, I throw them into the neighbors’ compost or the community gardens’ compost.
My family loves this method, especially my dad. He now makes small pitchers of cold brew for himself using our way cold brew method. He also makes large pitchers of cold brew for their barbeques and holiday parties which is always a huge hit with their guests.
This method is easy, mess-free, and makes the perfect cup of cold brew coffee. Give it a try!
