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Drinks & Shakes Non-Alcoholic Recipes

Easy Cold Brew Iced Coffee

1 day
1 gallon

Make a large batch of cold brew coffee, simply, for all your iced coffee needs!

Easy Cold Brew Iced Coffee
Make a large batch of cold brew coffee, simply, for all your iced coffee needs!
Easy Cold Brew Iced Coffee

I need coffee. I really need coffee most days. Well, need might be a strong word.

I can live without it… though it might be hard… but it definitely makes my morning a little easier.

I also don’t discriminate on what kind of coffee it is that I need either. I like it hot, I like it cold, I like it sweet or un-sweet. To me it’s all amazing and equally as good.

Lately, though, I’ve been on an iced coffee kick and for some reason just can’t seem to get enough.

Now, in years past, if I’ve wanted iced coffee I would just brew a hot cup and then pour it over ice. Uh… not the best way to do things for a few reasons: 1) once the hot coffee hits the ice, it begins to melt; 2) the strength of the coffee flavor is diluted; and 3) the “iced” coffee isn’t as cold as it should be with sorta half-melted ice cubes floating around and half of the coffee still mildly warm.

No good.

Easy Cold Brew Iced Coffee Gif

The next logical solution would then be to brew it, stick it in the freezer (or fridge, but I’m impatient so the colder it gets, the faster, the better) and let it cool to desired temperature then pour it over ice.

This method was a little better than the previous but still not very grand.

Then I discovered “cold brewing.”

It’s without the heat of traditional brewing and the coffee doesn’t have a possibility of turning bitter or acidic because of the temperature hitting the beans.

I have been using this method for a few months now. Let me tell you, the coffee that is produced is amazing beyond belief and I can have cold coffee whenever I want without the wait. Yay!

And I can make my Cafe Mocha Protein Shake whenever I want too! Double Score!

Easy Cold Brew Iced Coffee

So here we go… start with a 1/2 pound of your favorite coffee and empty it into a container big enough for a gallon of water.

Then add 1 gallon of water and stir so that the grounds aren’t floating on the top anymore and they are all soaked.

Then put a lid on it and let it sit for 24 hours.

After 24 hours, take out a strainer, coffee filter, and second container to hold the marvelous finished coffee.

Paper towels work well too, if you don’t have a coffee filter handy… as I didn’t for some reason I had run out of them, I guess.

Pour the coffee/ground mixture through the strainer and coffee filter (paper towel in my case) until you’ve strained all the grounds out.

You can do this with just the strainer but you will get stray grounds in the bottom of your coffee sometimes. If you’re ok with that, then ok.. but I like it grounds free.

Easy Cold Brew Iced Coffee

Right about now, you can have some of you would like… just pour it over ice with your favorite sweetener (or not).

But if you want true iced coffee then stick your newly created coffee into the fridge for a couple hours and let it get nice and cold.

After a couple hours, then you can make your prefect glass of iced coffee.

YUMMY!

Easy Cold Brew Iced Coffee

Easy Cold Brew Iced Coffee

4.34 from 12 votes
Make a large batch of cold brew coffee, simply, for all your iced coffee needs!
Yield 1 gallon
Prep Time 1 day
Total Time 1 day

Ingredients
  

  • 1/2 lb ground coffee
  • 1 gallon water

Instructions
 

  • In a large container mix ground coffee and water. Cover and place in fridge overnight or for 24 hours.
  • Line a fine mesh strainer with a coffee filter and set over your second pitcher or large container and pour coffee ground/water mixture through strainer. Discard grounds (or use them in your rose or hydrangea bushes like I do).
  • Place finished coffee in fridge to use as needed.
  • To make iced coffee, pack glass full of ice. Fill glass 2/3-3/4 full of cold coffee. Add your choice of sweetener and cream/milk. Enjoy!
Tried this recipe?Snap a photo and mention @JenniferMeyering
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