Cold Brew Coffee

Made July 1, 2025

Note: It seems like a 8:1 ratio of water to coffee by weight is the "standard" for cold brew. These are directions specific for using my Baratza Virtuoso+ coffee grinder.

Ingredients:

Freshly Ground Coffee

Water

Directions:

Set grinder to a medium-coarse grind, recommended for French press, of 28.

Grind for 40 seconds.

Add grinds to a bowl and weigh, multiply that weight by eight, and add that much water to the bowl.

(108g of coffee x 8 = 864g water)

Stir the coffee grounds into the coffee, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and let the coffee "brew" in the fridge for ~24 hours. Stirring again during this time is not necessary.

Strain grounds out of the cold brew with a fine mesh sieve, coffee filter, or cheese cloth.

Taste the coffee black to see if you want to dilute it with water, ice, your milk preference, and/or cream.

Optional: reuse the grounds but this time with a 6:1 ratio.

(original 108g of coffee x 6 = 648g water)

Optional: reuse the grounds again with a 4:1 ratio.

(original 108g of coffee x 4 = 432g water)

Final Notes:

I find the first round of cold brew to be too strong, so I dilute it. 1 part coffee, 1 part water, 1 part milk. The second round (mixed with whatever was left of the first round) is more to my taste and I could happily drink it black.

I don't think I'd recommend using the same coffee grounds a third time, but I've done it and you can try it.

As nifty as the cold brew pitcher is, I don't think it's the correct choice for brewing the coffee. The grounds have more contact with the water in a bowl than when compacted into the filter, and I can brew a larger batch. It is good for being a filer and pouring the grounds-coffee mixture directly into. I pop the filter out and shake as much grounds as I can back into the bowl when reusing the grounds.

Just for my own reference, my grinder is set to 19 normally for drip coffee.

Pitcher was about full before serving.