Cold brew concentrate, the way we make it at the bar

Every summer we go through about forty gallons of cold brew a week at the café. Here is the same recipe scaled down to a quart jar.

Steps

1. Grind the coffee coarse. Too fine and it will be muddy and hard to filter.
2. Stir the grounds into the water in a large jar until there are no dry clumps. Cover it and put it in the fridge.
3. After 16 hours, strain through a fine mesh sieve, then again through a paper coffee filter. Be patient with the second filter; it is slow.
4. To serve, mix one part concentrate with one part cold water or milk over ice.

Which coffee to use

Chocolatey, lower-acid coffees make the most crowd-pleasing cold brew. Blue Ridge Breakfast and the Sumatra are our favorites. A natural Ethiopian like the Guji makes a fruity cold brew that people either love or find too wild.

How long it keeps

The concentrate keeps for about ten days in a sealed jar in the fridge, though it is at its best in the first week.

In a hurry? Our Japanese-style iced coffee method makes a glass of iced coffee in five minutes, brewed hot straight onto ice.