Making homemade cold coffee is easy peasy lemon squeezy. There are only a few reasons I can think of for why you wouldn’t.
1) You hate saving money ($3.50+ for over-iced, burnt-flavored water)
2) You hate cold coffee (in which case we can’t be friends)
3) You’re intimidated and don’t know where to start.
For reasons 1 and 2, I can’t help you, and you are possibly beyond help. But if you suffer from that last one…I got you, buddy.
Cold coffee is just a few steps (and 26 hours) away. That’s the only downside: you need some lead time. But all good things require some lead time. Rome wasn’t built in a day, your garden doesn’t just pop up in a week, and your dreams don’t just come true in the snap of your fingers…if they do, dream bigger.
Alright, here are the esssential steps:
1) Grab yourself a large container. If you have little Hobbits in the house like we do, best to make it kid resistant (aka it bounces not breaks).
2) Get 6 cups of cold water. Not hot water, cold water. Hot water has already gone through some heating elements which changes the flavor…you don’t want that.
Ignore the bag on the table.3) Pour water in the container, and scoop 5(ish) heaping tablespoons of ground coffee in there. Add more or less depending on the roast and how you like your coffee. And pro-tip: I always suggest you grind your own coffee, hot or cold. It just tastes better.
Notice the pinky finger position…critical to a spill-proof pour.4) Make sure the grounds get wet. Really wet. Like, no-hope-floats wet. Stir it, shake it, get it mixed.
Note to self: return those library books.5) Seal it up and put it in a safe place…like on your counter. Don’t overthink it, you Enneagram type 1’s.
6) Wait 24 hours and be productive with your life.
7) After 24 hours, grab yourself a pitcher and a small wired sieve and pour it through, catching those grounds. Pro-tip: coffee grounds can be reused in tons of ways. If you’re like, “What kind of wire-sieve are you talking abou?” just look below and take a gander at ours. And if you’re like, “Uhm, that’s a strainer, Brown,” well you can keep your opinion to yourself.
Also: if you’re pretentious you can use cheese cloth (lookin’ at you, Ina…just joking, I love you and all your Hamptons awesomeness).
You say strainer, I say sieve.8) Stick the filtered cold coffee in the fridge for at least two hours to chill through. If you were really smart you would have made some coffee ice cubes with yesterday’s hot coffee. Did you think of that? Never too late, friend.
9) Enjoy the fruits of your labor.
It’s as easy as that folks. And really, it doesn’t take 9 steps, I’m just imagining you’re a simpleton. Which actually, I appreciate in directions. Please always assume I’m dumber than I am because you’ll be correct half the time.
Got a good recipe? A better one? Share it below. We beg, borrow, and steal in this life.
And when it comes to the kitchen, just remember what my Dad always said,
“If you can read, you can cook.”
So get (cold coffee) cookin’!
Ingredients
-6 cups water
-5(ish) heaping tablespoons of coffee grounds
-Time (26 hours)
Living That Dad Life 