Ulu's Easy Kona Coffee Cold Brew Recipe
Refreshing, full-flavored 100% Kona that's easy to craft for any summer occasion
With warmer days come busier mornings and more fulfilling weekends. If you're someone looking forward to a cold, deliciously caffeinated beverage to pair with your summer morning hustle, look no further than the smooth and celebrated cold brew made with our 100% Kona coffee. This coffee cold brew recipe offers a step-by-step guide to help you easily craft this trendy beverage with a cheat sheet for confident coffee to water ratios. What's better is that you can brew the coffee right at home with items you already own.
Qualities of Cold Brew
It was Lady Mary Montgomerie who once wrote, "Good things come to those who wait." And she certainly wasn't wrong. Cold brew gets its smooth, full-flavored characteristics from the amount of steeping time and cooler water temperature the method requires to produce. While iced coffee is simply hot coffee poured over ice and undoubtedly more efficient, cold brew takes the hearts of many because it boasts a creamier mouthfeel, bolder flavor, lower acidity, and sweeter profile than its counterpart. If those qualities alone don't have you sold on the extra brew time, maybe its higher caffeine content will twist your arm. With a little planning ahead, this recipe takes the cake for the best go-to summertime refreshment.
Tips for Success
Three things to keep in mind when making cold brew are water, time, and grind! For best results, be sure to grind your coffee beans fresh and at a course consistency. Too fine of a grind can lead to bitterness in the final product. Think sea salt when determining the right texture for your coffee grounds.
Secondly, and maybe most importantly, use filtered water. Steeping coffee in tap water can allow flavors from undesirable minerals to come through, leaving you with a less than desirable cold brew. If you don't own a filtration system at home, store-bought water does the trick.
Lastly, plan out your time. Cold-brew can store in an air-tight container for a couple of weeks in the fridge. Adding this recipe to your weekly meal prep is an easy option! Whatever you do, be sure to allow enough time for the coffee to steep anywhere between 20-24 hours before consumption.
What You'll Need
Ulu's whole bean 100% Kona coffee
Coffee grinder
Scale
Filtered water
Paper towel or cheesecloth
Strainer
Mixing bowl or vessel to steep coffee
Ball jar or another sealable storage container
Coffee to Water Ratio
For a grab-and-go, ready-to-drink cold brew, we recommend a 1:8 coffee to water ratio.
For a concentrated or stronger cold brew, we recommend doubling to a 1:4 coffee to water ratio.
Step-by-Step Brewing
1. Grind your whole Kona coffee beans as coarse as your grinder will allow. The ground coffee should resemble the texture of sea salt for the best results.
2. Dump ground coffee into a large bowl and gently pour cool, filtered water over the coffee grounds, saturating them entirely.
3. To ensure even immersion, or steeping, use a spoon to help gently saturate the coffee if necessary.
4. Cover the bowl and leave it on the counter at room temperature for 20 hours. Anything less than this may leave your brew tasting light or weak. We recommend 24 hours to anyone who likes a slightly more robust coffee, but anything more might be too bitter. The sweet spot for our Kona coffee is anywhere between 20 - 24 hours of steep time.
5. When it's ready, strain your cold brew coffee once through a sieve or strainer, then once more through a cheesecloth or damp paper towel.
6. Pour this ready-to-drink cold brew or concentrate in a sealed bottle or container and keep it in the refrigerator for up to two weeks!
Recommended Additions
Pouring this cold brew right out of the jug it's stored in is an excellent way to indulge. But if you're looking for the perfect accouterments to mix into your brew, here are a few suggestions.
Macadamia Nut Milk
What can we say...what grows together goes together. We've found Macadamia milk to be exceptional for highlighting the fruity and earthy nuances of our Kona coffee. Its creamy texture works well in both cold and hot preparations.
Orange Peel
Squeeze an orange peel over the top of your cold brew to express a light, citrusy zest that will balance well with the rich chocolaty flavors that come through in this cold brew.
Simple Syrups
Feeling like a little tincture? Making simple syrups at home doesn't require much more than hot water, sugar, and a flavor to extract. Consider something tropical like a lilikoi simple syrup which is a yellow passion fruit species native to Hawaii. Or try a mint simple syrup with a spritz of soda water and lime!
Cold Brew Ice Cubes
Avoid any extra dilution by freezing a little extra cold brew in your ice cube trays.
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