How to make cold brew with Colombian coffee

The easiest way to make cold brew with Colombian coffee is a coarse grind steeped in cold or room temperature water for 12 to 24 hours, then strained, using roughly 1 part coffee to 8 parts water by weight for a concentrate you dilute to taste. From our ten coffees, No. 1 Common Sense, a washed, medium roast Colombian with cocoa, red apple and brown sugar, is the one we would reach for. It is low in acidity and balanced enough to hold its sweetness over a long, cold steep, and it takes milk well once you dilute the concentrate.

Why grind matters more here than for hot coffee

Cold water pulls flavor out of coffee much more slowly than hot water, which is why cold brew needs hours instead of minutes. A coarse grind, close to what you would use for a French press, keeps fine particles from clouding the water and turning bitter over that many hours. A fine or drip grind left sitting in cold water for half a day tends to over-extract at the edges of each particle and taste flat or muddy once you strain it, even though the batch had plenty of time to steep.

Ratio and steep time

The concentrate route is more forgiving and keeps longer in the fridge, which is why most home setups use it. Going straight to a ready-to-drink ratio means less waiting once it is done, but it also spoils faster since there is more water in the jar to begin with.

How to make it

1. Coarsely grind about 3.5 oz (100 g) of Common Sense, roughly a heaping cup of beans.
2. Combine with 27 fl oz (800 g or about 800 ml) of cold or room temperature filtered water in a large jar or pitcher.
3. Stir once so every ground is wet, then cover and refrigerate for 12 to 24 hours. Longer within that window means a stronger, slightly heavier cup.
4. Strain through a fine mesh sieve lined with a paper coffee filter or a few layers of cheesecloth. Let it drip through on its own rather than squeezing the grounds, which pulls through bitterness along with the last of the liquid.
5. Store the strained concentrate in the fridge for up to a week. Pour a glass, add an equal amount of cold water, milk or ice, and adjust from there.

Serving it once it is ready

Straight concentrate over ice with a splash of milk is the simplest way to drink it. If you want something closer to a coffee soda, a little sparkling water instead of still water gives the concentrate more lift, since the sweetness in Common Sense's brown sugar note comes through well against carbonation. Either way, taste the concentrate on its own first so you know how much to dilute before you commit a full glass.

Buy whole bean rather than pre-ground for this, and grind right before you steep. A coarse grind that has already been sitting ground for a week loses aroma the same way any pre-ground coffee does, and cold brew has nowhere to hide that staleness behind heat the way a hot cup does.

See the label facts for Common Sense and the other nine on the coffee collection page. If hot brewing is more your routine, we have separate guides for French press and drip machines, and a broader look at what makes a coffee good for cold brew across the full lineup. The subscription is 11 percent off any bag, skip or cancel in one click.

Give it the full 24 hours if you can. An impatient cold brew is just a weaker one.