Sous Vide Coffee (Cold Brew Coffee Recipe) Savoring The Good® (2024)

FAQs

How to make cold brew coffee sous vide? ›

Add the ½ cup fresh coffee grounds and 4 cups water to a mason jar and seal the top. Once your sous vide bath has reached the target temp (150°F), set the timer for 2 to 4 hours and place your sealed jar of coffee and water into the sous vide container.

A ratio of 1:8 of coffee to water will produce a nice coffee ready to drink after around 24 hours at a coarse grind. Another option is to create a much stronger cold brew (named cold brew concentrate), by using a ratio anywhere from 1 part coffee to 4 parts water, up to around 1 part coffee to 2 parts water.

Let the coffee steep for at least 12 hours. This will extract more flavor and caffeine from the beans. Try adding a pinch of salt to the coffee grounds before steeping. This can help to enhance the flavors and balance out the acidity.

Fill a large pot with enough water to cover the jars completely and place a sous vide immersion cooker into the water. Set temperature to 150 degrees F (65 degrees C) according to manufacturer's directions.

Cold-brew recipes often recommend steeping at room temperature, while hot coffee, according the National Coffee Association, should be brewed at 195°–205°F. Sous vide cold-brew coffee falls in between. CREA recommends cooking the sealed coffee mixture in a water bath set to 176°F (80°C) for 4 hours.

Generally, we suggest aiming for a coffee ratio of 1 gram of coffee to 15-18 milliliters of water. To make it easier to read, we write this out as 1:15 to 1:18. Pro tip: 1 milliliter of water = 1 gram of water, so we'll just use 'grams' for simplicity's sake.

Basic Cold Brew Coffee Ratio

A kitchen scale will come in handy if you have one, but it's not necessary. You're making cold brew concentrate, and you can dilute the concentrate to taste once it's finished. Per 1 cup of water, you'll need 1 ounce (by weight) coarsely ground coffee.

So, while it may take 12 hours to brew on the counter, it could take 17 hours, for example, to reach the same extraction in-fridge. I brew on the counter exclusively for simplicity, but if you know you won't be home in 12 hours, but you will be in 15, going the refrigerator route will work better with your schedule.

Brewing Time. Sour cold brew can also occur when you don't let the grounds steep for long enough. If your cold brew is a touch acidic or sour, chances are you didn't let it brew for long enough. Next time, extend the brew time and watch the sourness melt away into a sweet, rich cold brew.

Why is my homemade cold brew bitter? ›

If your coffee is bitter-tasting, it means you dissolved more organic compounds and flavors than desired. As we now know, this is called over extraction. So, to remedy over extraction and brew a more balanced cup free of bitter notes, grind coarser for larger coffee particles.

You didn't put enough coffee. Cold brewing requires a smaller water to coffee ratio than brewing with hot water, like 3–4 times more coffee. You didn't steep it long enough. I normally let it steep for 12-16 hours at room temperature, or 20-24 hours in the fridge.

While the cold brew can steep on your countertop at room temperature, once you've strained it, keep the concentrate in the refrigerator. Don't forget to dilute the concentrate. As mentioned above, serve it with ice, water or some type of milk or creamer.

Use 4 Tbsp (22 g) of grounds for every cup (6 fl oz) of water. Fill the press with cold or room-temperature water. Gently stir the grounds a few times with a spoon. One or two stirs is plenty.

Adding hotter or colder water will interfere with the cooking process. So, if you are cooking for a long period of time where more evaporation is likely to occur, cover the water bath with aluminum foil, plastic wrap or a lid to minimize water evaporation.

In the past few years, cold brew coffee has become increasingly popular among specialty coffee drinkers and consumers more widely. Cold brew is generally made using room temperature water (around 20°C or 68°F), which eliminates acidity in the cup and brings out the sweetness and body of the coffee.