Today’s “Home Brew”- Secret to great iced coffee without great expense
I love my coffee, especially when its strong and rich with a bold flavor minus the acidity which, in my mind, detracts from the flavor.
Now for those of you not from ’round here, the South is said to have four seasons: Almost Summer, Summer, Still Summer, and Christmas. Based on this, you can imagine that there are times of the year when a iced coffee is relished far more than hot.
If you’ve ever tried to make iced coffee at home, you know that its not as easy as pouring coffee over ice. You end up with a watered down version of coffee which becomes even more watered down and weak when you add milk or sugar. Still, there has to be a better option than heading out and paying someone $5 for a few minutes of divine caffeinated pleasure – and there is. ~smiles~ Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate.
I’ve been making this “home brew” for over two years now, much to the delight of myself and Mama. She recently started making her own but until then I’d brew up extra and share my “special recipe” with her as well. I can only imagine what the neighbors thought when Mama’s car pulled up to my driveway and I’d run her out a mason jar and send her on her way. Come by either of our houses at any given time and you’ll find pint sized mason jars of “the recipe” in our refrigerators ~giggle~. I feel just like one of the Baldwin sisters….
Cold brew coffee is brewed in cold water on your counter top for a period of about twelve to fifteen hours, depending on the strength you prefer. Coffee brewed using this method has significantly less acidity and far more full bodied flavor than coffee brewed with the traditional hot method.
One of the pitys of coffee for me has always been that it never tastes as decadent as it smells. Cold brew brings you closer to this flavor than any other method I have come across. Whats more, cold brew coffee made at home rivals anything bought in a coffee house at a tiny fraction of the price – I actually like my cold brew better!
This concentrate is not just for iced coffees though, you can easily use it to make hot coffee in the morning without the fuss of brewing. This is perfect for those who have problems with traditional coffee being too harsh on their stomachs. Simply mix equal parts concentrate and water (or vary proportions to taste), heat and go!
This concentrate will easily keep a month or more in your fridge with no change in flavor and you know if I’m showing you how to do it, you aren’t going to need any fancy schmancy equipment either.
You likely have all you need at home already. I prefer to grind my beans fresh but you can certainly use pre-ground coffee. However, if you’re looking to amp up your coffee experience, I strongly suggest buying beans and grinding it fresh before each brewing, be it cold brewing or hot. You’ll find the difference is extraordinary! A grinder such as this one can be picked up for around thirty dollars or so. This is my Hamilton Beach one, of course!
I use a quart sized (32 ounces) canning jar to brew my coffee in and then store it in pint sized jars. You can use a plastic pitcher or container for this as well if you prefer. I like to brew mine in glass as there isn’t the risk of tainting my coffee with another flavor this way.
- Container to brew coffee grounds in
- Strainer
- Coffee filters (largest size you can find)
- Coffee beans and grinder or pre-ground beans
- Bowl to strain coffee into
You’ll need 1 cup of ground coffee.
Place grounds in jar
Fill jar with water.
I leave about an inch of head space at the top.
Place lid on jar and give it a little shake to make sure all grounds are wet.
Now just sit the jar on your counter for at least twelve hours.
Once the time has passed (I usually brew mine at night and strain it in the morning), place your strainer over a large bowl. You can also use a collander for this if you prefer.
Line strainer with a coffee filter. These are the type for twelve cup coffee makers, the largest I could find.
Pour coffee in the filter and let it strain through a little at a time.
This is after I’ve strained about half of my concentrate. I usually go through two filters when I do this. Throw your first filter away and replace with a clean one before pouring the remainder of your concentrate. It will take some time for all of your concentrate to strain out. I usually let it sit for about half an hour before pouring the remainder so it takes me about an hour to have my concentrate all strained and ready.
Using this method, a quart sized jar yields about a pint and a half of concentrate. Now mixing it up is purely a matter of taste but I am going to show you how I make mine purely as a point of reference.
Four ounces of concentrate…
Four ounces of milk…
Skim, Whole, 2%, whatever cranks your tractor.
Fill with ice and add three packets of Splenda and I’m a happy gal!
Honestly, this beats any iced coffee I’ve ever had away from home. Its rich, flavorful, and completely decadent.
Cold Brew Coffee
- 1 Cup ground coffee
- 32 ounce container (1 quart)
- Strainer
- Large basket type coffee filters
Place ground coffee in container, fill with cold water. Cover and let sit for twelve to fifteen hours. Place strainer over large bowl and put coffee filter inside. Slowly pour over about half of the coffee and let sit until strained. Replace filter and repeat.
To make regular coffee: place equal parts coffee concentrate and water in cup and heat.
To make iced coffee: Place equal parts concentrate and milk in glass. Add ice, sweetened as desired. You may find my preference for iced coffee a bit strong for you so leave room to add some water to weaken it if need be!
Print This Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 Cup ground coffee
- 32 ounce container (1 quart)
- Strainer
- Large basket type coffee filters
Instructions
- Place ground coffee in container, fill with cold water. Cover and let sit for twelve to fifteen hours. Place strainer over large bowl and put coffee filter inside. Slowly pour over about half of the coffee and let sit until strained. Replace filter and repeat.
- To make regular coffee: place equal parts coffee concentrate and water in cup and heat.
- To make iced coffee: Place equal parts concentrate and milk in glass. Add ice, sweetened as desired. You may find my preference for iced coffee a bit strong for you so leave room to add some water to weaken it if need be!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This has been a very busy week at home with the kids and their activities. I hope to get caught up on emails and comments this weekend! Thank you all and have a fabulous Friday!
Gratefully,
Christy 
A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery while on a detour.
Posted by Christy Jordan
on Mar 27 2009. Filed under Beverages, headline.
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Oh this looks so good! I love finding all the knock off recipes to all those expensive drinks at Starbucks or places like that. I always feel so guilty spending almost 5 dollars for one coffee. Thanks for a great (and easy) recipe!
Thank you for posting this! I love coffee – and I’ve wondered about cold brewing it. Every place I’ve found a recipe made it very complicated. I can do this one! Thank You!!!
I can’t wait to try this recipe. My Dad was a pilot in the Navy and when we lived in Hawaii there was a fantastic hole in the wall Vietnamese restaurant that made the best iced coffee. The secret is they use sweetened condensed milk which makes it outstanding. Give it a try you’ll love it.
I do not drink my coffee or hot tea with anything else than sweetened condensed milk. It is delicious.
In place of sugar and milk I use the condensed milk. It’s pretty common amongst most Asian countries, when I have travel to Malaysia I like to drink this particular tea called teh tarik, which is the tea made with condensed milk, and you also have kopi terik which is the same thing but with coffee.
Yum!!
Perfect alternative, and probably much better, because your enjoying it in your own home with all the ones you love.
thanks Christy
Happy Weekend :0
Linda in Louisiana
Great! I need to stop me $4.36 daily Starbucks habit.
PS- I TOTALLY thought the jar on the left was bacon grease at first.
I had to laugh when I read your comment about the Baldwin sisters. When I was trying to come up with a recipe for homemade ice cream, I did a lot of experimenting before I finally came up with the “recipe”. My husband joked about the Baldwin sisters and their recipe.
I can’t wait to try this recipe. I emailed it to my sister in law, she’s an iced coffee lover too.
This is just like the way I use the Toddy Coffee and I absolutely am addicted to it (I have 3 kids and a husband and work full time if I could I would inject caffeine) Thanks for your wonderful ideas!
Marietta
I’ll definitely have to give this a try! I love coffee in any form! I never thought about just soaking the grounds in cold water. I have some sugar-free flavored syrups that I bet would be good in it as well to make it even more like the coffee house drinks. It will be a nice low carb treat for me and the hubby!
When I was in college the lady who ran the espresso stand brewed her coffee this way. She would set it up every night making a big batch and when even anyone asked for “regular” coffee she would put a shot of this in a cup and fill the rest with hot water. It was the best coffee and easy for her as well. Thanks for a scaled down version, my husband loved her coffee and now I can make it for him at home!
My mom and our next door neighbor would freeze leftover coffee in ice cube trays and put the cubes in plastic bags for iced coffee. This way the iced coffee doesn’t get dilulted. It was wonderful!
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I want to make sure I stand. The yield from a quart jar is about 1.5 pints. Is that correct?
I love this recipe. I can’t wait to try it!
Wow! Your site as well as your recipes and tips only get better and better! I think we might be sisters from different states and parents…lol…seriously I love your site.
Thank you! I am trying this TODAY!!!
Oooooohhhhh Sounds delicious and so much better! I grew up a/ iced coffee and when a certain coffee chain started selling it I thought they were crazy to charge so much $$ for it. Now, my adult son spends – $$ drinking their brew… I’ll have to fix him some – he will love me… and you too!
thanks!
Just made it Christy! I will let you know how it goes.
Sounds so easy and and I spend way to much money on
those drinks!!
Wow! This is what I need. I love the smell of coffee. The acid in it is what drives my stomach crazy.
Love the Mason jars! I use them all the time. I carry tea to work in a huge mason jar and then add ice to a glass later and pour it over.
I am amused with the comment about the bacon grease. I always tell guys that a good way to find a southern lady that can really cook is to peek in her kitchen. Look for the container of bacon grease.
Thanks. I have to do this. I love iced coffee also.
Christy, I am absolutely convinced now that you and I were separated at birth I swear!
This is what I do, except that I use a Bodum French press instead of the filters and straining. Then I transfer it to a large Mason jar and keep it in the fridge. There is nothing so good as a good homemade iced coffee – get some DaVinci gourmet syrups to go along with your iced coffee for sure – Walmart carries some but the DaVinci website has much much more – and then, then you’ll really be in HEAVEN folks.
I love iced coffee, yum, yum, yum!! That jar you got there? That’s a pretty good start LOL! Thanks for posting about this and reminding me to make some up, cuz you know the summer humidity will be here soon as we turn around good.
One thing I’ve never understood. Why does a hot coffee that has gone cold totally gag me, yet I LOVE an iced coffee???
I am with you on the aroma vs. taste thing. I don’t drink hot coffee (hot tea instead), but I love the cold $5 kind! This is definitely on next week’s “to do” list. Have you ever put in the blender with ice?
I can’t wait to try this. I remember back in the sixties iced coffee was all the rage. I remember Mom lettin’ me have some of hers and Yummy, I never thought to ask her how she made hers so I really appreciate this recipe, thanks.
Christy, thanks so much for this post. I can’t wait until it is “still summer” when this will really hit the spot. Thanks also for the chuckles in the post. I can’t believe you actually said “whatever cranks your tractor”! Too funny!
I am making mine right now! Thanks for this recipe!!!
Got a batch going on the kitchen counter right now. I LOVE iced coffee~thanks, Christy!!
I love iced coffee almost as much as I love sweet tea! I think I’ll try this in Decaf!
This is just too cool! I love iced coffee and never make it at home. Thanks for the recipe!
Love the photos Christy!
Christy — This is a great do-it-yourself version of the Toddy cold-brewed system — so much fun to make it yourself at home with your own equipment. I’ve always found that using the coarsest grind possible on your beans keeps the filter from clogging. Also, beans that aren’t oily or flavored work best, too — sometimes the oil (either added or natural) clogs up the filter.
I just made my first batch overnight and I’m sipping the first cup…WOW! No more McD’s drive-thru iced coffee for me…I can make my own thanks to you Christy! Great, easy tutorial as always! I’ll need to try the decaf version b/c ‘caffein overload’ will be a problem for me! Thank you so much for this great recipe!
I have been using the TODDY system for years and love it. I lost the stopper and was going to order a new one this week but I think I will save that money and do it your way. Thanks for sharing. I have always used the concentrate for hot coffee. Thanks a million for the recipe for the cold coffee. I wouldn’t know how to act if I didn’t receive the awesome e-mails from you weekly! Keep them coming!
Bless you for coming up with this recipe.I love iced coffee and have often ended up with watered down coffee.Thank you,thank you.
P.S I have already made up a batch!
Kristy, I love this! I’ve been stopping by McDonald’s regularly for their iced coffee. I’m trying this at home now!! Thanks, girlfriend.
I can already tell…this recipe will definitely crank my tractor!!
I started this Saturday night and it has already come in handy! I was disappointed at first that it didn’t seem to make a lot, but I quickly realized that it was very strong! I overslept this morning and didn’t have time to leisurely sip a cup of coffee before leaving so I poured a mug 1/3 full of the concentrate and took it to work. I filled it up the rest of the way with water when I got there. Two minutes in the microwave, a container of creamer, and a Splenda packet, and I had a yummy morning coffee fix! Thanks, Christy!
What a wonderful and money saving idea Christy! You are the best!
This ROCKS!! It has totally changed my life! What a blessing – thank you Christy!@!
I tried this over the weekend and it was worth every step!!!
If you like iced coffee you MUST try this at least once.
It is so yummy and just like you said better than any “Bought” iced coffee drink.
Thanks again,
Mel
This is amazing! I have to try it!
Christy, I tried this and it is so delecious, thank you for sharing, I think this is one of the best and smartest things I have learned from you yet..(and i’ve learned quite a few)
WOW!!! This is sooooo gooooood! It taste just like McD’s or DD iced coffee. I used Maxwell House “mild” ground coffee. Thank you for this post.
Okay, now I’m going to have to try this!
YUM, YUM! We have been cold-brewing our coffee for over a year now, and I LOVE it! Thanks for the great tutorial! I am passing this on to another friend who wants to learn how to make it!
Amy H
Have you ever tried a coffee press, Christy? You might really like one. Thanks for another great recipe!
Made this stuff up last night, just finished my first iced coffee, and holy COW is this stuff good! I also tried one poster’s suggestion of using eagle brand milk… whooo hoooo! This stuff RAWKS!!!
I loved the Waltons reference! My 6 yo daughter LOVES them, she has a major thing for John Boy, lol.
I am going to try this tonight, hubby and I have a date tomorrow afternoon and we like iced coffee. This will save us some money.
This looks fantastic! Thanks!
I made this for the first time on Friday and love it. My teenagers figured out what I was drinking over the weekend. I now have 3 jars going to try to keep up with the demand. The coffee shop will miss the girls, but I am happily saving the money and loving the taste.
Thanks!
This is great, I have a quart jar hiding on my desk at home as we speak. I can’t wait to give it a try tomorrow. Although, I may need to buy my own pound of coffee as my wife will notice me sneaking off entire cups at a time!
This coffee is not only good it is AWESOME! I made some this weekend and my kids and I love it. Shared the recipe with my co-workers because they buy $4 iced coffee everyday before coming to work. I almost start to set up a Fresh Iced Coffee tent in the front of the building and make me some extra dough on the side but I didn’t but it was a good idea. Thanks for the recipes and please keep them coming. Oh by the way I am a bama girl but I am a military spouse and right now I am in Texas.
I’from the “SOUTH”.Raisedon the SAVANNAH RIVER In Georgia & S.C. mostly,but,lived in Tex. & Louisiana also.I’ve used this brewing method for over 40 years.It Is the “ONLY” way to do ICED-COFFEE. It puts that fancy CUPUCHINO to shame..WELL DONE,,,,I HAVE SOME GREAT SOUTHERN RECIPES,I’M WILLING TO SHARE…