We all love cold brew coffee, and with some knowledge and planning, you can make it at home. Let’s start with the difference between cold-brewed coffee and iced coffee. Iced coffee is yesterday's hot brewed coffee poured into a jug and placed in the refrigerator. They will pour this day-old coffee over ice and, well, yuck!  

Cold-brewed coffee is its own thing and it is delicious. Some have referred to cold brew as the 4th-wave in coffee, mainly because it appeals to the beginner coffee drinker and has produced many new coffee drinkers. Why? When coffee is cold-brewed, no heat is used to make the cold brew concentrate. This method produces coffee that is less bitter, low in acid, and very smooth. When coffee is traditionally brewed with hot water, the heat brings out the acidity in the coffee and some equate this acidity with bitterness - this is debatable. The cold brew process is a 24-hour immersion brewing process with room-temperature water, and it yields a delicious concentrate that can be used to make several drinks.

Can I cold brew any roasted coffee and get the same results? The simple answer is, that you can cold brew any coffee but the results will differ based on the beans you are working with. What taste are you going for in your cold brew? If you want smokey, deep notes, you can include some Sumatra. If you want nutty notes, use some Brazil. If you are looking for fruity notes, use a coffee from Africa. When we created our Cafe Blend we had cold brew coffee in mind. We wanted a simple milk chocolate base concentrate and we believe this produces an excellent cold brew coffee.  Many new coffee drinkers enjoy iced cold brew lattes and we love our cold-brewed Cafe Blend for this, as it blends well with milk and lays a base for any flavored syrups a customer might want to add.

How can I brew this at home? There is the quart jar method and the French press method, but both of these methods are messy and leave a lot of sediment in the cold brew concentrate. If you want to be serious about your cold brew at home, I suggest purchasing a Toddy Cold Brew System (about $40 on Amazon) shown in the supplied pictures. It will come with brewing instructions and you can certainly purchase the Toccoa Coffee Cafe Blend directly from us or from one of our supporting retail locations.  This system will brew about 1 liter of cold brew concentrate and it will remain good for about 2 weeks in your refrigerator. How do you brew cold brew coffee at home? What are some of your recipes? Drop a comment below and enjoy!!!