Food Network Kitchen’s Cold Brew Iced Coffee, as seen on Food Network.
Recipe courtesy of Food Network Kitchen

Cold Brew Iced Coffee

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  • Level: Easy
  • Total: 18 hr 5 min (includes steeping time)
  • Active: 5 min
  • Yield: 2 servings
This recipe makes just two servings of cold brew, so if you're new to the method, it will be a good test batch to see exactly how strong you want your steep to be. Once you've found your sweet spot of brewing time, you can double, triple or even quadruple the yield. The strained concentrate will keep tightly sealed in the fridge for up to a week.

Ingredients

Directions

Special equipment:
coffee grinder, cheesecloth and kitchen twine or a coffee filter, pint Mason jar or other glass container
  1. Grind the beans in a coffee grinder on the coarse setting; the ground coffee should resemble coarse sugar or sand.
  2. Cut a 6-by-6-inch double thickness of cheesecloth. Put the coffee in the middle and tie tightly with kitchen twine. Put the sachet in a pint Mason jar or other 2-cup glass container. Add the cold water and seal tightly. (If you prefer, you can just add the coffee directly to the cold water and strain through cheesecloth after steeping.) 
  3. Refrigerate and steep for at least 12 hours, though 18 to 24 hours is best. Remove the sachet, press to extract as much liquid as possible back into the jar and discard the sachet.  
  4. To serve, pour equal parts cold brew concentrate and cold water over ice. Add milk and sweetener if using. 

Cook’s Note

You can use a heaping 1/3 cup of pre-ground coffee so long as it is very coarse. If you don't have cheesecloth, you can use a coffee filter to strain in a pinch. If you'd like to sweeten your coffee, make a batch of simple syrup and keep it in the refrigerator. Combine equal parts water and sugar, simmer to dissolve the sugar, then cool and refrigerate.