Cold brew is coffee steeped in cold or room-temperature water for many hours. Without hot water, less bitterness and acidity are extracted, so the result tastes smooth and naturally sweet. It's perfect for hot Vietnamese afternoons.
You'll need (about 8 glasses)
- 100 g of coarsely ground coffee, like coarse raw sugar. A fine grind makes the concentrate muddy and hard to filter. If you use whole beans, set your grinder to its coarsest setting.
- 800 ml of cool filtered water.
- A glass jar with a lid, and paper coffee filters or a cloth filter bag.
Method
- Put the coffee in the jar, add the water and stir gently until all the grounds are wet.
- Cover and steep for 12–18 hours in the fridge, or 10–12 hours in a cool room. Longer is stronger, but beyond about 20 hours it can start tasting woody.
- Strain through a paper or cloth filter. Filter twice for a very clean concentrate.
- Keep the concentrate in a sealed bottle in the fridge and use it within about a week.
How to serve it
The 1:8 ratio above makes a concentrate. Dilute it to taste:
- Black cold brew: 1 part concentrate, 1 part water, over ice.
- With milk: 1 part concentrate, 1 part fresh milk, over ice.
- Vietnamese style: stir 60 ml of concentrate with 1 tablespoon of condensed milk, then pour over ice.
- Orange cold brew: 60 ml concentrate, 60 ml fresh orange juice, ice. Try it once.
Robusta or Arabica? Arabica makes a fragrant, fruity cold brew; Robusta makes a bold, cocoa-rich one that's excellent with milk.
