Cold brew coffee concentrate recipe + sour cherry cold brew recipe

I've taken to keeping cold brew coffee concentrate in the fridge at all times (at least during the warmer months) for a few reasons. First of all it means I have access to near instant caffeine in the morning, a time of day when I'm as functional as a screen door on a submarine. Second, it tastes good. Finally, cold brew is versatile; I enjoy it with oat milk, water and sugar syrup (as a sweetened iced americano), acidic fruit juices, and even mixed with concentrated syrups and soda water.

Along with telling you know I make my cold brew concentrate, I'll also provide a recipe for sour cherry cold brew soda in this post.

There are a few key differences between cold brew coffee concentrate and hot water preparations like drip, french press, and pour over coffees:

1. Cold brew coffee relies on time rather than heat for extraction. I allow at least 12 hours.
2. The coffee to water ratio is very high. I use 1 part coffee to 5 parts medium-course ground coffee.
3. It lasts a lot longer while still tasting great. I usually make a big batch to last the week, with a mesh bag of the grounds submerged the entire time, and the flavour never degrades.

For reference, I use Lowicz brand sour cherry syrup (semi-blurrily pictured below). It's quite sweet so there's no need for additional sugar. If you use an unsweetened cherry concentrate, the quantity needed may differ and you may wish to add sugar syrup as well.

Mess around with using other syrups too, especially those with reasonably acidity.

Print Recipe

Sour cherry cold brew soda + cold brew concentrate recipe

Ingredients

How to make cold brew coffee

• 70 grams coursely ground coffee
• 350 millilitres water

Sour cherry cold brew soda

• ice
• 50 millilitres cold brew coffee above recipe
• 20 millilitres sour cherry syrup
• 130 millilitres soda water
• squeeze of lemon or lime juice optional

Instructions

Cold brew

• Add the coffee to a fine mesh nut milk bag or tie it up tightly in muslin. Add it to a jar, along with the water. Close the jar and leave to extract in the fridge for at least 12 hours. You can discard the coffee or leave it in until the jar is empty.

Cold brew sour cherry soda

• Fill a 47cl (16oz) glass to the brim with ice. Add the cold brew, followed by the cherry syrup, and finally top it with the soda. For added acidity, squeeze some lemon or lime in as well.