This cold-brew iced coffee concentrate makes afternoon iced coffee easy! Assemble your coffee in just a few minutes, let soak overnight, strain, and then you have coffee enough to last you through the week!
Stir together ground coffee and water in a pitcher; I prefer using my French press. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest 12 hours, in the fridge or on the counter. It's ok if it rests longer.
Stir coffee and grounds briefly. Push down the plunger of the French press, then strain. (You can also strain coffee using a sieve lined with cheesecloth.) You may need to strain a few times (through a lined sieve) if you want to remove more sediment. Don't squish or press on the coffee grounds.
Refrigerate coffee concentrate until ready to use. Lasts a few weeks, if you don't drink it all first.
To make iced coffee, mix equal parts coffee concentrate and water or milk. I count ice cubes as part of my water so that I don't dilute the coffee too much, but I'm not a huge fan of ice.
Combine 1 part coffee concentrate with 2 parts boiling water in a heat-proof mug. Your coffee may not be incredibly hot. You may gently warm up the coffee concentrate before adding the boiling water, but not too much or the coffee flavor will be off.
If using milk in your coffee, milk should replace some of the boiling water. Heat the milk in your mug first, then add coffee concentrate, then add boiling water.
Use freshly ground coffee beans; preground coffee loses freshness and will not be as flavorful.
Use good coffee beans. You get more flavor from iced coffee, so bad coffee beans will yield bad iced coffee.
Coffee concentrate makes excellent coffee ice cubes. Freeze in an ice cube tray, then store in a freezer bag to prevent evaporation through exposure to dry freezer air.
Although you add 32 ounces (4 cups) of water, you only get 28 ounces (3 ½ cups) of coffee concentrate since some remains behind in the coffee grounds. This makes me about seven 8-ounce iced coffees.
Adapted from Oh She Glows