Make Cold Brew Like the Pros
Cold brew coffee may seem like it’s unavailable to us mortals, but you can make it at home pretty easily—it just takes time.
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Aharon Coffee is a Los Angeles-based roaster and purveyor supplying beans to premiere businesses throughout the region. A favorite of the Sunset Staff, Aharon Coffee will bring you inside the world of high-quality coffee in this weekly series. For more information, visit the Aharon Coffee website.
During the hot days of summer, we sell double, triple, and sometimes 10 times the regular amount of cold brew at our Beverly Hills 90212 coffee shop/coffee roastery.
But even in the winter, we have many regulars who will order cold brew no matter how windy, rainy, and chilly it may be outside.
And who can blame them? When Aharon Vaknin, founder and visionary of Aharon Coffee, first developed his cold brew, he played with the ratios and roast profile for weeks in order to achieve the best cold brew he had ever tasted. Aharon Cold Brew Coffee is crisp, smooth, and well-balanced, and has a chocolate note and a naturally sweet flavor that makes it a knockout in the cold brew category.
Then there’s the caffeine content…
Because the coffee steeps for hours and hours in the water, cold brew coffee is the most caffeinated coffee (by the ounce) available.
Ready to do this yourself?
7 Steps to Amazing Cold Brew Coffee
Start with the Best Coffee
In our store, we always use Movito for Aharon cold brew, and it delivers a fantastic flavor. But at home, you can play around. Find the coffee with the flavor notes that you will love.
Choose a Vessel
We use a giant food-grade covered bucket to make our cold brew at the cafe, but at home, you can opt for a pitcher, an oversized Mason jar, or any large vessel with a lid that you feel comfortable using.
You can also opt for a very affordable cold brewer like this one which makes the process a bit easier because it already has the filter built-in.
Use a Coarse Grind
Coffee should be ground even coarser for cold brew then for French press. The more surface area, the better. If you want your beans to last longer, invest in a grinder.
We love this Encore by Baratza. If you will consume the beans within a week or so, you can ask us to grind your coffee for you.
Fill Vessel with Room-Temperature Water
Please don’t use unfiltered water, your coffee will not taste amazing. The ratio of water to coffee is very important! One 12oz bag of coffee can be brewed with 96oz of water.
Weigh Coffee, Submerge into Water for 16 Hours
Use a nut-milk bag like this one to put the coffee in before submerging.
The brewing should take place at room temperature. Technically, “cold brew” should really be called “Room Temp” brew but we can all agree which name sounds better.
Filter the Coffee
After the 16 hours of brewing, pour your coffee through a cone with a paper filter snugly tucked inside. This will catch the natural oils along with any loose grains and result in a supremely crisp cold brew. Let as much of the coffee drip into the vessel as possible before throwing (or composting) the wet grounds.
(If you use the OXO cold brewer, it filters the cold brew for you.)
Refrigerate and/or Pour over Ice and Enjoy
(Like this really needed to be a step.)
Cold brewing pro tip: Make cold brew ice cubes. Fill an ice cube tray with cold brew, so when you enjoy your coffee over ice, it never gets watery.
Essential Coffee Gear
First, Do Not Boil Water
Important: Boiling water is not a friend of coffee! Depending on your preference, you want water that’s between 195 and 202 degrees, and to control that temperature, you need one of these highly precise Bonavita kettles, which warm the water quickly and pour quite elegantly.
Scales: Not Just for Geeks
Okay, we know what you’re going to say: Seriously, a scale? I am not a coffee geek! Fair enough. But if you want to make better coffee, you need to know precisely how much coffee you’re using, and the Hario is going to tell you that, measuring beans to 0.1 grams. Trust us, within days of starting to do this, it’ll seem entirely natural, and the idea of using a scoop will sound ridiculous. Bonus: You can use it to measure things other than coffee, like artisan flour.
Grind It Right, Right?
Nothing beats freshly ground coffee, and with this grinder from Bellevue, WA–based Baratza, you can choose from 40 grind settings to truly become an expert on how coarse or how fine you want your grounds.
Easy Espresso: AeroPress
When it comes to roughing it, most of us draw the line at giving up morning coffee. Luckily, there’s the AeroPress, invented by the same entrepreneur behind the Aerobie, the magical flying disk. This innovative coffee maker has garnered thousands of rave reviews for its ability to brew perfect americano or espresso in 30 seconds. Easier and more reliable than a French press, it uses air pressure to press boiling water through coffee grounds and straight into your cup. Cleanup takes about a minute, and the durable pieces store neatly in a travel bag, making the AeroPress the perfect camping gadget to bring along for a cuppa.
Slow and Simple: Chemex
Time-tested and beloved by baristas and home brewers alike, the pour-over offers a pure expression of a bean’s flavor profile. Designed in 1941 by an eccentric chemist, timeless.
The Convert: Breville Barista Pro
A perfect all-in-one solution for the at-home barista, this unit takes up minimal counter space, and looks good doing it. We’re huge fans of the integrated burr grinder—which saves additional space—as well as the smart grind adaptor feature. The best part: It’s ready to brew mere seconds after firing up.
Cold Brew, Overnight: Hario Coldbrew System
Stop paying $6 for iced coffee. It’s not rocket science: Throw some ground coffee in the filter of this unit and you’ll have wonderful coffee all week long, for a tenth of the price of store-bought brew.
The Virtuoso: La Marzocco Linea Mini
Used in many commercial contexts, the Ferrari of espresso machines boasts a dual boiler system for keeping the brew head and steam wand ready for action simultaneously. You’ll coax wonderful shots out of this unit, but like a Leica rangefinder camera or a vintage manual race car, it requires finesse to see top results. Isn’t that part of the goal?
Pretend You’re in a Fancy Café
Your pour-over coffee game is about to get even better. For the fancy coffee aficionado, this sleek model features a beautiful glass dripper which rests on a brass stand with an American walnut base. The stand adjusts to the height of your mug or pot.
A Smarter Sip
Smart technology comes to the teahouse with this mug that keeps your coffee consistently toasty warm at your desired temperature. Sitting with your drink for a spell? Keep your mug resting in the battery-powered base to ensure the warmth stays in check. Want to take it to go? The Ember comes in a travel mug version, powered by a portable battery (although it won’t stay warm for as long as the desktop version). Originally available in white, we love the matte black finish for its neo-noir vibe.
