The Best Cold Brew Coffee Recipe Ever

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I did something a few months ago that I haven’t done in years. While standing in line waiting to check out at our local grocery store, I glanced over at the magazines. Honestly, I am surprised that you can still buy magazines. While the kids were negotiating their own candy desires, my oldest caught me looking at a cooking magazine. It only took one “mom you should get that” for me to give in.

The magazine that I just couldn’t resist was “The Taste of Home Copy Cat Recipes.” I love copy cat recipes because, obviously, it is cheaper and healthier to eat at home than at a restaurant or fast food drive thru.

Having these recipes on hand helps to get me out of my mundane recipes that I make all the time and cook something exciting that I might not otherwise make.

I have marked a few recipes I am going to try, so they will most likely be making an appearance on the blog as well. Be sure to check back for those recipes.

Here is the link to the original recipe from the “Taste of Home Copy Cat Recipes” magazine.

After you try this recipe be sure to check out my copy cat McDonald’s chocolate chip cookie recipe, nothing pars with coffee quite like a cookie.

Let’s go step by step through the process of making this cold brew coffee.

Grab one cup of your favorite coffee grounds. The recipe says to use a coarsely ground medium-roast coffee. You could also grind your own if you have a coffee grinder. I just used what we have around the house which is Folgers classic roast coffee.

Add the coffee grounds to a glass container. Make sure it has a lid, because it will need to be sealed when you refrigerate it. This was the largest glass container I could find, so before I started, I made sure it would hold all the water I was going to be using. It worked perfectly.

To the coffee grounds, add in one cup of hot water. The recipe says the water should be at 205 degrees. My tap water wasn’t hot enough, so I put the water in a small pan on the stove to heat it up. With my thermometer on hand, I discovered that 205 degrees is basically when it starts to boil. I did not know that already.

Stir the hot water into the coffee grounds and let it sit for 10 minutes.

It’s time to add the cold water. 6-7 cups of cold water. I used 6 cups because that’s what fit in my container.

Stir it all together, cover and place in the refrigerator to steep for 12-24 hours. The longer the coffee sits, the stronger the flavor will be.

I let my coffee brew overnight. It was about 13 hours.

Now it’s time to strain it. Strain the coffee through a fine mesh sieve and discard the grounds. I am now wishing I would have left the picture of the coffee grounds out…yuck…but I wanted you to see the whole messy process.

After straining, I poured the coffee back into the glass container. It should keep like this in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Though I know mine will likely last only 3 days, maybe 4,

Now it’s time to add it to a glass and give it a try.

After adding ice and some creamer (I use a simple vanilla creamer), and a little chocolate syrup, it was perfect.

Extra Tips and Take-Aways

Adding a dash of salt helps to take away the bitter taste. Salt brings out the sweetness of coffee, who knew?

Cold brewing coffee enhances it natural sweetness and complex flavors.

There is a difference between iced coffee and cold brew coffee. Iced coffee is where you brew the coffee like you normally would and then you chill it in the refrigerator, which is how I have always made my coffee when I drink it cold. Cold brewing, which is what we just did in this post is where you are steeping the coffee kind of like you would tea, but you store it in the refrigerator to steep for hours.

It really does taste like a coffee shop coffee. It has a subtle almost rustic flavor.

You don’t need sugar. I didn’t think I would like this recipe since there was no sugar. I add a lot of sugar to my coffee, cold or hot. Since we are out of sugar and I won’t be going to the store for a couple more days, I thought this was the perfect time to give this recipe a try. Adding the chocolate sauce helped to sweeten it to my liking. To my surprise I don’t miss the sugar at all and this coffee will be my go to coffee from now on.

Next time, I will double the recipe since it can be stored for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator.