The Tag Guide to Making Homemade Cold Brew
Summer is one of the best times to make cold brew coffee—although if you’re like us, you brew it all year long. Here’s our go-to recipe and the most helpful tips on how to make cold brew at home, straight from Tag’s head roaster, Levi Hartsfield.
Step 1
Choose your coffee.
Any Tag coffee will make a great cold brew, but our personal favorites are our Hopscotch blend and Kenya single origin. We always want to start with a coarse-ground coffee, so either choose “Coarse Ground” when you purchase from us or coarsely grind whatever beans you’ve selected. For quantity, we recommend using 60 grams (or 10 tablespoons) of grounds per 1 liter of water.
Step 2
Prepare the right filter.
Using the proper filter is essential for an excellent cold brew. We prefer a Draw String filter bag for typical quantities, or a Large Paper Filter Bag if you’re making a big batch at once. If you’re brewing with a large paper filter bag, keep in mind that you’ll need to supply your own string to tie it up.
Step 3
Put grounds into the filter & tie.
Now, measure out your coffee grounds (remember, 60 grams per liter) and pour them into your filter bag. Tie the bag loosely at the top and don’t try to squeeze or compress your grounds.
Step 4
Add water.
Place your filter bag inside a larger metal or glass container and saturate with water, making sure that the grounds are fully submerged. (Measure the water beforehand so that you maintain the proportions we talked about above!)
Step 5
Wait for 14 hours and then remove the filter.
Put your container in a safe place, unrefrigerated. Wait about 14 hours and then gently remove the filter from the container. As you lift up the filter, dip it a few times in the water like you’re removing a teabag to get any remaining coffee to drip out from the center of the grounds.
Step 6
Pour over ice and enjoy!
Your coffee is ready to drink—make yourself a glass and keep the rest in the fridge for up to 7 days. Now you know how to make cold brew at home and can brew whenever you’d like!
A few tips to keep in mind:
Always use glass or metal–it does make a difference!
A glass container is always your best option, and metal is a decent second choice. But try to avoid using plastic for your cold brew. It does produce the same flavorful coffee and for some reason, the coffee does not last as long in the refrigerator. In our past experience, cold brew made in glass or metal tends to last for about a week, while cold brew made in plastic is only good for a day or two.
Brew at room temperature.
Brewing coffee involves a lot of chemistry, and temperature is a key variable. If you refrigerate your cold brew while you’re brewing, you’ll slow down the extraction process and won’t be able to get the full flavor of the beans.
Don’t squeeze!
Be careful not to squeeze your filter bag at any stage during the process. We want to make sure our grounds always stay loose within the bag, and if you squeeze the filter bag while you’re removing it after the brew, you risk bursting it and spilling grounds into your container.
Now you’re practically a cold brew pro. May we suggest stocking up on coarse ground Hopscotch to give it a try at home?
