Sip on Homemade Cold Brew & 11 Piping Hot Benefits
Is Homemade Cold Brew Coffee Better? 11 Unique Benefits You Never Know…
But what IS this Cold Brew Coffee?
Homemade Cold Brew is brewed by soaking coffee beans in cold or room-temperature water for 12 hours minimum to extract sugars, oils, and caffeine. Iced coffee uses hot water to extract flavor (resulting in a hot cup of coffee) which is then poured over ice. Apparently, the cold brew method extracts more caffeine than traditional hot water brewing.
Can cold brew coffee be used for hot coffee?
YES! Unbeknownst to many, you can actually make hot coffee using cold brew concentrate. … This heats up the concentrate and gives you a warm, but not scalding, mug. To maximize heat, brew your cold brew a strong concentration so that, when it’s time to mix with hot water, you can use as much hot water as possible.
Is cold brew coffee healthier?
Cold brew coffee contains fewer total antioxidants than hot coffee, it’s full of compounds that have high antioxidant activity. Antioxidants help prevent diseases that can reduce your lifespan.
- Fill a mug with near-boiling water for 30 seconds to preheat the cup.
- Discard water and add 50% cold brew.
- Add the remaining boiling water.
Top 11 Benefits of Cold Brew Coffee
How To Make Homemade Cold Brew Coffee
This coffee-making method has a few things going for it:
- The slow infusion pulls all the great coffee flavor from the beans (and, yes, the caffeine – not to worry!).
- But it also leaves behind most of the compounds that can make coffee taste bitter and sour.
- This means that cold-brewed coffee is incredibly smooth and almost sweet-tasting. Perfect for iced coffee.
You can also adjust the concentration of your cold brew coffee, making it stronger or less strong to suit your taste. Start with one cup of beans steeped in four cups of water. This will make a fairly concentrated coffee on its own, but it’s perfect for pouring over ice or mixing with milk – or both. If that ratio of beans to water isn’t quite to your taste, adjust it up or down until you hit the perfect balance for you.
I also really love that this method for making coffee actually saves me time in the morning. I make a big batch over the weekend, starting it on Saturday or Sunday night and straining it the next morning, and then stash it in the fridge for an easy coffee fix all week long.
TIPS FOR SUCCESS
- Make sure your beans are coarsely ground: Beans that are ground to a sandy powder, like for drip coffee, can result in an over-infused coffee and make the strained coffee gritty and muddy. Your beans should look like coarse cornmeal, or even slightly rougher.
- Use filtered water, if possible: This is just good coffee advice in general, really. Your cup of coffee will have a cleaner, sweeter flavor if you use filtered water to make it.
- Steep for at least 12 hours: It’s fine to cut this time a little short but don’t get too stingy. The coffee needs this full time to fully infuse the water. Straining too early can give you a weaker cup of coffee. Also be careful of over-steeping, which can start to extract some of those bitter flavors we’re hoping to avoid. I’d say not too steep for more than 15 hours or so.
- Chill your cold brew with coffee ice cubes: Want a totally undiluted coffee experience? Make coffee ice cubes to chill your iced coffee!
