Sous Vide Cold Brew Coffee
By Sous Vide Guy Drinks Sous Vide
July 6, 2017
Cold brewed coffee made an explosive appearance this summer as big chains such as Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts welcomed the trendy new cuppa joe. Trends often come and go, but I think cold brew coffee is here to stay due its amazing smoothness, concentrated caffeine, and low acidity levels. And thanks to sous vide, cold brew coffee no longer needs to take 24 hours to make! We can cut the brewing time down to 2 hours and have similar tasting results. Give this sous vide cold brew coffee recipe a try!
- Prep: 10 mins
- Cook: 2 hrs
- Yields: 32 oz, 2-4 servings
Ingredients
3/4 Cup Fresh, Coarsely Ground Coffee
4 Cups of Water
2 16oz Mason Jars (or smaller sizes equaling to 32oz)
Directions
1Grind your fresh coffee beans on a very coarse setting - finely ground coffee can end up cloudy when cold brewing.
2Add the coffee grounds and water to a large bowl and stir until all coffee grounds are soaked.
3Evenly pour the coffee mixture into your mason jars ensuring to leave at least a half inch of room from the top.
4Place the lids on the mason jars and ONLY tighten with your finger tips. Over-tightening the lid can break the glass, as air needs to escape when heating.
5Submerge the mason jars into a pre-heated water bath at 150F for about 2 hours.
6Remove jars, filter the coffee with either a coffee filter or cheese cloth, and chill in the fridge.
7(Optional) The coffee will be quite strong as is - if it's too strong for your tastes, dilute the coffee by adding more cold water, up to a 1:1 ratio.
8Pour and serve over ice!
9 Reviews
David
July 21, 2021
It’s quite fantastic. I use a larger container than standard mason jars and slip it in while cooking something else that’s in the same temp range. Steak at 129 degrees for example. Less grounds will yield better results, a 1 to 16 ratio. The alertness is greater than expresso or French press even using it to make iced coffee a day or two later.
Steve
March 5, 2021
No review, just a question. Do you completely submerge the jars?
Kevin
July 8, 2019
Really good. Low acid. Not bitter. I recommend shaking the contents half way through and using a shallow plate to keep the jars off the floor of the immersion. Seriously though, 12-15 hours down to 2 hours. Amazing. I’m going to try for lower temps and more time to see if anything smoother results
Brian
August 1, 2018
Is this a joke? 2 hours for a cup of iced coffee? Sous Vide is great for some…. I cook most of my meats via sous vide but, I’m not going to wait 2 hours for a cup of coffee, a hard boiled egg or any thing else that I can make quicker with a conventional method. Sous Vide has it’s place in the kitchen but, it’s not a cure all!
Sous Vide Guy
November 27, 2017
Hey Paul. Coffee is traditionally brewed around 205F – the high temperatures create higher acidity levels. This sous vide method only uses 150F, significantly lower heat than traditional brew methods. You’re right in the fact that 150F will still shed a bit of acidity, however it’s nowhere near that of a traditional brew. This let’s you get a “cold brew” taste in a fraction of the time.
Paul
November 27, 2017
I’m not sure how you can call this cold brewed coffee if you are using heat. The whole idea behind cold brew is to extract the coffee without the normal levels acid that occur when you use heat.
Suds
July 21, 2017
Hi
Thank you for your post.
At this time I’m a hot coffee guy but plan on trying the cold method.
My question. What would it taste like if you heat it up after it has cooled for a hot cup ?
dave
July 18, 2017
haven’t tried yet but what is recipie for 2 or 4 times amount cooking time etc
Wyocoyote
October 26, 2021
tonite I am “sousviding” a quart of my very favorite coffee from my very favorite local roaster here in Santa Cruz CA. The roaster is Hidden Fortress ouuta nearby Watsonville and the cafe is a medium roast Bali Kitamani. I don’t have exact water to cofee proportions to post ( I generally use much more grinds than many recommend for pour over) My burr grinder doesn’t do a super coarse grind, so went for it most coarse which is pretty much a pour over grind. grinds, ro filtered water plus a dash of minerals from the great salt lake are in a 32oz mason jar overnight in a water bath at 140 F overnight. I hope it will not be nasty. I plan to drink it hot at 145ish. We can call this “warm brew” i suppose. I like “acidic” coffee myself and am no cold brew purist. In the AM I will filter through a rinsed paper filter through my clever coffee dripper and have my fancy ember mug set at 145ish. I’ll update and let y’all know if it is palatable. Clearly i have too much time on my hands. I can not imagine this being any better than the same coffee in the clever for 4 minutes in the clever with water at 205………vamos a ver. An above commenter asked about heating up cold brew. That is not a no no at all.