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Cold Brew Concentrate for Busy Weeks

This is our “set it and forget it” cold brew concentrate: one overnight brew that covers the next few days of iced coffee, sweet cream drinks, and quick morning saves when life is a lot. Strong, smooth, and ready to stretch with water or milk.

Difficulty: Easy Time: 12–18 hours (mostly waiting) Brew: Cold immersion Style: Concentrate (dilute to taste)
Jar of cold brew concentrate next to a glass of iced coffee
One jar in the fridge, a week of “I got this” in your cup.

Ingredients

We’re brewing a strong base you’ll dilute later. Start with these ratios, then adjust strength once you’ve tasted the first batch.

Mason Jar Batch (About 4–6 Drinks)

  • 3/4 cup (60 g) coarsely ground coffee
  • 2 cups (480 ml) cold water
  • Ice and cold water or milk for serving
  • Optional: simple syrup or flavored syrup

Busy Week Pitcher (About 8–10 Drinks)

  • 1 1/2 cups (120 g) coarsely ground coffee
  • 4 cups (960 ml) cold water
  • Ice + cold water or milk to dilute each glass
  • Optional: extra jar just for sweet cream or simple syrup
Grind size: Go coarse, closer to French press. Too fine = over-extracted and muddy. Too coarse = thin and sour. If it tastes harsh, coarsen the grind. If it’s weak, grind a bit finer.

Equipment

  • 1 quart mason jar or lidded pitcher (for the small batch)
  • Scale or measuring cups (helpful, not mandatory)
  • Fine mesh strainer, paper filter, or clean cloth
  • Fridge space for overnight steeping

Step-by-Step — Making the Concentrate

  1. Grind your coffee. Use a coarse grind, like chunky sea salt. Measure out your coffee by weight if possible (60 g per 480 ml water), or use the cup measurements above.
  2. Add coffee and water to your jar. Put the grounds in your mason jar or pitcher. Pour the cold water over the top, making sure all the coffee gets wet.
  3. Stir and cover. Give it a gentle stir or swirl so there are no dry pockets. Cover with a lid or plastic wrap.
  4. Steep 12–18 hours. Let the jar rest in the fridge overnight (or on the counter if your kitchen isn’t too hot). We like 14–16 hours as a sweet spot for smooth, rich concentrate.
  5. Strain slowly. Pour the brew through a fine mesh strainer lined with a paper filter, cloth, or clean coffee filter into a clean jar. Take your time; rushing just stirs up sediment.
  6. Label and refrigerate. Cap the jar, label it with the date, and store in the fridge. Use within about a week for best flavor.
Concentrate strength: This recipe lands around a 1:4 coffee-to-water brew ratio. You’ll typically dilute 1 part concentrate with 1–2 parts water or milk in the glass.

Serving & Daily Routine

  1. Fill a glass with ice. Start with a tall glass 3/4 full of fresh ice.
  2. Add concentrate. Pour in 1/3 to 1/2 glass of cold brew concentrate (about 3–4 oz / 90–120 ml).
  3. Top with water or milk. Add cold water, milk, or alt milk to fill the glass. Stir and taste.
  4. Adjust. Too strong? Add more water or milk. Too light? Add a splash more concentrate.
  5. Sweeten to taste. If you like it sweet, add simple syrup or flavored syrup and stir well.

Easy Tweaks & Variations

  • Sweet cream cold brew: Top your glass with a little sweetened half-and-half or oat “sweet cream” instead of just milk.
  • Bert’s Everyday Iced Coffee shortcut: Use this concentrate as the base in Bert’s Everyday Iced Coffee instead of brewing fresh.
  • Cold brew & lemonade: Mix 1 part concentrate, 1 part water, and 1 part Small Batch Lemonade for a bright summer drink.
  • Affogato cheat code: Pour a small splash of concentrate over ice cream when you don’t want to fire up the espresso machine.
  • Stronger for markets: If you eventually bottle this, you can bump the coffee dose slightly and label the recommended dilution on the bottle.

Build Your Busy Week Coffee Kit

As we experiment with canned or bottled cold brew for local delivery and markets, this will stay the “home base” recipe we build from — just scaled up, tightened, and labeled for the real world.