Once a curiosity, cold coffee is now a staple — and cold brew is leading that charge. In the U.S., the cold brew market, which was $166 million in 2017, grew to $500 million last year and is projected to nearly double to around $950 million in 2025. And while a $6 cup of cold brew from the local café is a nice treat, a more sustainable (and equally delicious) everyday option is making cold brew in your own kitchen.
The actual mechanism of making cold brew — combine grounds and water, wait, and separate — is pretty simple, and there are any number of contraptions, from a French press to a mason jar with a cheesecloth lid, that can get the job done. Choosing the right beans for your device comes down to personal preferences, and knowing what kind of hot coffee you like (and being willing to engage in some trial and error) is the key to figuring out what those are.
Making cold brew coffee at home with high-quality beans is an investment, but it’s one that will pay off every time you sip one on a hot weekend morning or save 10 minutes on your way to work by not stopping at Starbucks.
What the Experts Say
You can make cold brew with any coffee beans, but industry experts suggest certain kinds that are particularly suited to it. “Cold brew coffee can be used to experiment with different beans,” says Tom Saxon, co-founder of Batch Coffee. “However, I prefer to use lighter, more complex coffees. As the coffee is brewed with cold water, albeit for a significantly longer time than any other brew method, the end cup is always extremely bright and has only a touch of bitterness, which accentuates the subtle flavor notes that can be found in high-quality specialty coffee.”
A major concern when making cold brew is the acidity of the coffee, as the long brewing time means more of the acid can come out than in other methods. Barista and food science expert Jennifer Pallian recommends light to medium roasted beans because “lighter roasts tend to have a more delicate and fruity flavor profile, as well as a higher acidity that can help balance out the sweetness of the cold brew.” Marko Lazarevic, owner of CraftCoffeeSpot.com, disagrees. He recommends dark roast beans, which tend to have lower acidity and sweetness. The balance is the same, in other words — a testament to the flexibility of the brewing method and the importance of finding your personal preferences.
Irving Farm Cold Brew Blend
As its name suggests, this light-medium blend is particularly well-suited for cold brew. The roaster recommends 18 hours of steeping time to fully bring out the chocolate, caramel, and fruit preserve flavors and “molasses tones” that make for a smooth, slightly sweet cup of coffee.
Stone Street Cold Brew Reserve
If you’re partial to dark roasted coffee, this blend of supremo Colombian coffee beans from the New York-based Stone Street is a great one to brew cold. Its taste is heavy on the nutty chocolate, as is typical for dark roasts, with a particularly low acid content that’s perfect for a brewing method that tends to bring out acidity more than others.
Partners Colombia Chiroso Honey
For a truly complex, unique cold brew experience, this single-origin coffee from one particular town in the Colombia Andes is hard to beat. Its taste is super sweet, with notes as varied as honeysuckle, cherry, and marshmallow.
Partners Rockaway Cold Brew
The simplest way to make your own cold brew at home is with these pouches from Brooklyn-based Partners. Simply pop one into 22 ounces of water and remove it 20 to 24 hours later for a big jar of cold brew concentrate that you can dilute to your liking with water or milk.
Blue Bottle Coffee Cold Brew
If you can’t be bothered to brew your own cold brew, the number of ready-to-drink options is ballooning. Blue Bottle’s take on the trend is an eight-ounce can of organic medium roast coffee, a petite treat if there’s ever been one.
Wandering Bear Extra Strong Cold Brew
This shelf-stable, ready-to-drink coffee comes in a massive 96-ounce-bag that’s encased in a cardboard box that sits snugly on a shelf in your fridge. The built-in tap makes dispensing easy, and it’s available in flavors including straight black, vanilla, caramel, and dirty vanilla chai. It’s the cold brew to buy if you’re entertaining a crowd.
La Colombe Nitro Cold Brew with Lemon
This is a crazy product: a can of exceptionally smooth nitro cold brew coffee combined with the juice of Sicilian lemons. The result is a refreshing, sweet beverage that you’ll be glad you have on-hand when you’re drowsy on a hot summer afternoon.
Irving Farm Decaf Backstrap
Like the best overall cold brew coffee, this decaffeinated coffee is a take on Irving Farm’s house blend. It retains the natural sweetness and smoothness of its relative while ditching the caffeine, removed using the chemical-free Swiss Water process. What’s left is a cup of cold brew that can cool you down without making you jittery.
Frequently Asked Questions About Cold Brew Coffee
What’s the difference between iced coffee and cold brew?
The difference between iced coffee and cold brew lies in the water temperature during the brewing process. Iced coffee is brewed using hot water and cooled over ice, so it tends to have a weaker flavor than cold brew, which is brewed with cool or room temperature water over a longer period of time (typically up to 24 hours).
What equipment do you need to make cold brew?
All you need is a container and some kind of mechanism to separate the coffee grounds from the liquid coffee when the brewing process is over. A French press works well, as does a dedicated cold brew maker with a built-in filter. You can also opt for pre-made pouches that are analogous to tea bags, or skip the brewing process altogether with one of the many ready-to-drink options on the expanding cold brew market.
When can I drink cold brew?
Cold brew is often marketed as a summertime treat, a way to get the taste and caffeine of coffee without ingesting a scalding liquid. But it’s more than just a substitute for hot coffee — it’s a unique beverage with its own appeal. So if you find yourself craving a cold brew during the winter, don’t let society tell you it’s wrong.