Whether cold brew is something you'd pick up on your regular coffee run or something you're trying for the first time because of the warm weather, there's lots to love about the simple brew. Costa and Starbucks have bought back the drink, which has increased in popularity in recent years, but if you want to enjoy a version of it at home it's arguably the easiest of all the barista-made coffee to make yourself.
You'd don't even need any fancy equipment. During the winter you might have a posh coffee machine or grinder to make your favourite caffeine fix, but at its simplest you can make delicious cold brew coffee through the summer for minimal outlay.
Cold brew is made, as the name suggests, cold. At no point in the process do you need to even boil the kettle. Instead you make a concentrate with a higher coffee to water ratio than ordinary coffee, leave it in the fridge to steep and then, when it's ready, mix with water, milk and any chosen flavourings whenever you fancy a glass.
Another benefit of cold brew is it often tastes smoother and less acidic than hot coffee, because the bean flavour isn't made bitter by hot water.
How to make cold brew at home
The trick to making cold brew is all about the ratios because you only need two ingredients: coarsely ground coffee and cold water
Any coffee variety works making cold brew. So if you're a Starbucks or Costa die-hard you can still use your favourite blend at home. Just make sure you use coarsely ground coffee, if you're just making it in a jug or Kilner jar you'll need to strain it afterwards and if you use finely ground you might find your coffee gritty at the end.
If you do want to splurge on some kit to help with the easiest cold brew you'll ever make, this Primula cold brew jug has a mesh filter so you don't have to worry about straining your concentrate at the end. It sits in the fridge door, is fully dishwasher safe and is currently 27% off at £27.89 for Amazon.
Make your concentrate using one cup of ground coffee to three cups of water. You can safely increase the size of your batch if you're feeling especially thirsty but 1:3 is the ratio you want. Put the coffee in first, add the water and then give it a good stir so that all the coffee gets soaked. Then cover it and leave it for 12-15 hours.
When you're ready to drink it, strain the coffee using a cheese cloth or a filter coffee paper and keep aside the coffee. You can then store the concentrate in the fridge ready for whenever you want a drink.
To serve your cold brew add water, and then milk or anything else you'd like to taste. The only word of warning is that if you want to sweeten the coffee, and you may not need to because often cold brew tastes a little sweeter than ordinary coffee, sugar won't dissolve very easily so maybe invest in some flavoured syrups. It's also possible to experiment with different flavours of coffee in your cold brew - salted caramel or cinnamon anyone?
