How to Make Cold Brew Coffee (and Keep It On Tap)

The ratio

Use 50–80g of coarse ground coffee per litre of cold water. Around 50g gives a ready-to-drink cold brew; 80g gives a stronger brew you can dilute with milk, water or ice. This is the ratio we recommend for our Cold Brew Coffee Maker.

How to make cold brew

1. Grind your coffee coarse, like raw sugar. Fine grounds make cold brew muddy and bitter.
2. Put the coffee in a filter pouch and add cold water, moving the pouch around so every ground gets wet.
3. Close the lid and steep for 12 hours, in the fridge or at room temperature.
4. Lift out the pouch, let it drain, and pour the cold brew into a clean, chilled keg or bottles.

Cold brew concentrate

Brew at the strong end of the ratio and dilute to taste, usually about one part concentrate to one part water or milk. For espresso martinis, a concentrate made for cocktails, such as Boston Black, saves you the brewing.

Nitro cold brew

Keg the cold brew, chill it as cold as you can get it — nitrogen dissolves far better into cold liquid — and pour with pure nitrogen. The standard iKegger 2.0 tap is built to pour both carbonated and nitro drinks properly, so there’s no spout to swap. You get a cascading pour and a creamy head without milk.

Cold brew vs cold drip vs iced coffee

• Cold brew steeps the grounds in cold water for hours.
• Cold drip drips cold water slowly through the grounds, drop by drop.
• Iced coffee is hot-brewed coffee poured over ice.

Espresso tonic

Pour 60ml of cold brew concentrate slowly over 150ml of cold tonic water and ice. Keep the tonic fizzy in a CO₂ keg for a crowd.