Cold brew coffee concentrate recipe + sour cherry cold brew recipe

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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.