How to Make Cold Brew Coffee at Home

What cold brew is (and isn't)

Cold brew is coffee extracted with time instead of heat. Coarse grounds sit in cold or room-temperature water for 12 to 24 hours, and over those long hours the water slowly dissolves the coffee's sugars and pleasant flavors while leaving much of the acidity and bitterness behind. Hot water, by contrast, extracts everything quickly — including the bright acids and the harsh, astringent compounds — in a matter of minutes. Skip the heat and you skip most of the sharp edges, which is why cold brew reads as smooth, round, and low-acid.

The important thing to be clear about: cold brew is not iced coffee.Iced coffee is brewed hot the normal way and then chilled or poured over ice. It keeps the bright, acidic character of hot coffee — it is just cold. Cold brew is never heated at all, so it has a genuinely different, mellower flavor profile. Neither is "better"; they are two different drinks, and if you have tried one and disliked it, the other may suit you. We break the difference down further below.

Cold brew is also forgiving on beans. A medium or medium-dark roast is a reliable starting point — it gives cold brew the chocolatey, nutty sweetness most people want — but freshness still matters more than the exact bean. The freshness principles in our guide to buying fresh coffee beans apply just as much here: buy whole bean, use it within a few weeks of the roast date, and grind right before you brew.

Grind and ratio (make a concentrate)

Use a coarse, even grind — the same coarse texture you would use for a French press, roughly like coarse sea salt or cracked peppercorns. Coarse matters for two reasons. First, a long steep in fine grounds over-extracts and turns muddy and bitter. Second, coarse grounds strain out cleanly, while fine grounds slip through your filter and leave sludge in the cup.

Evenness matters as much as coarseness, and that is a job for a burr grinder, not a blade grinder. A blade grinder chops beans into a chaotic mix of dust and boulders; the dust over-extracts into bitterness while the boulders barely give anything up. A burr grinder produces uniform coarse particles so the whole batch extracts evenly. The same drip-capable grinders we cover in the best grinders for drip coffeehandle a coarse cold-brew grind well — you want one that opens up wide and stays consistent at the coarse end.

Brew cold brew as a concentrate: use roughly 1 part coffee to 5–8 parts water by weight(1:5 is a strong, rich concentrate; 1:8 is a lighter one). Weighing beats scooping here because coffee scoops vary a lot — a kitchen scale makes every batch repeatable. When the concentrate is finished and strained, dilute it about 1:1 with water, milk, or ice to serve, then adjust to taste. If your first batch comes out too strong or too weak, that is normal; nudge the brew ratio or the dilution next time. For how these ratios work across every brew method, see our coffee-to-water ratio guide.

Step by step

You need coffee, cold filtered water, a container, and something to strain with. That is it. Filtered water is worth using because cold brew is mostly water and off-tasting tap water shows through.

1. Weigh and grind coarse. Weigh your coffee and grind it coarse and even, like French-press texture. As a starting batch, 100g of coffee to 600g of water is a solid 1:6 concentrate.
2. Combine grounds and cold water.Add the coarse grounds to your container, then pour in the cold or room-temperature filtered water. Do not use hot water — heat is exactly what cold brew avoids.
3. Stir to wet all the grounds. Give it a thorough stir so no dry clumps are floating on top. Every ground should be saturated, or that coffee never extracts.
4. Cover and steep 12 to 24 hours.Put a lid or plate over it and leave it at room temperature or in the fridge. Around 12–16 hours gives a bright, lighter cold brew; 18–24 hours gives a deeper, sweeter one. Room temperature extracts a little faster than the fridge, so lean toward the shorter end if you steep on the counter.
5. Strain off the grounds.Pour the batch through a fine mesh strainer to catch the bulk of the grounds, then, if you want a cleaner cup, strain a second time through a paper filter or a clean cloth. Do not squeeze or press the grounds hard — that forces bitter fines and silt into the concentrate.
6. Bottle, chill, and dilute to serve. Store the strained concentrate in a sealed jar or bottle in the fridge. To serve, pour over ice and cut it roughly 1:1 with water or milk, then taste and adjust.

Straining and storage

Straining is where a batch turns from gritty to clean. A fine mesh sieve removes the grounds; a second pass through a paper filter (or a rinsed cloth / nut-milk bag) catches the fine silt that clouds the cup and adds a rough edge. It is slow — let it drip rather than forcing it — but the payoff is a clear, smooth concentrate. If you use a dedicated cold brew maker or a French press, the built-in filter does the first stage for you; a paper polish afterward is still the difference between good and great.

Store the finished concentrate in a sealed container in the fridge, where it keeps roughly one to two weeks. It is at its brightest in the first few days and slowly fades after that, so brew a batch size you will get through in about a week. Keep it as concentrate and dilute each glass as you pour — concentrate stores better and takes up less fridge space than a diluted batch. If you have watered the whole batch down, drink it within a few days.

Cold brew vs iced coffee

These two get mixed up constantly, so it is worth stating plainly. Cold brew is never heated: coarse grounds steeped in cold water for 12–24 hours, giving a smooth, low-acid, mellow cup. Iced coffeeis brewed hot — drip, pour-over, whatever — and then chilled or poured over ice, so it keeps the bright acidity and fuller aromatics of hot coffee, just cold. Cold brew is smoother and less acidic; iced coffee is brighter and faster to make. One takes a day of patience and no equipment; the other takes five minutes and a coffee maker. If cold brew tastes too flat or mellow for you, iced coffee may be the answer, and vice versa.

A quick note on a common mistake: over-steeping does not make cold brew "stronger" in a good way. Push much past 24 hours and the flavor goes woody, dull, and harshly bitter rather than richer. If you want a stronger drink, use more coffee (a tighter ratio like 1:5) or dilute the finished concentrate less — do not just leave it sitting for two days.

Troubleshooting

What you make it in

You do not need special gear. Three setups all work:

• A dedicated cold brew maker— a pitcher or bottle with a built-in fine-mesh basket that lifts the grounds out cleanly. The most convenient option if you brew regularly; our best cold brew makers roundup ranks the ones worth owning.
• A French press— add coarse grounds and water, steep, then press slowly and pour off. It doubles as a cold brew vessel, though a paper polish afterward gives a cleaner cup. See the best French presses.
• Any jar plus a strainer— a mason jar or pitcher and a fine sieve or cloth. Zero cost if you already own them, and it makes cold brew just as good as anything fancier.

Whichever you use, the coffee is what carries the cup. For how we test and rank the gear we recommend, see our methodology.