How to Up Your Cold Brew Coffee Game This Summer

If you’re one of many that confuse iced and cold brew coffee, you may be missing out on the best drink of the summer. While a glass of iced coffee may sound refreshing, a cup of cold brew may be the life-changer you need to up your game this summer. You’ll be keeping cold brew coffee jars in the refrigerator all summer long.

Iced Coffee Versus Cold Brew

Iced coffee uses cooled, hot-brewed coffee poured over ice. While a favorite of coffee drinkers, there are drawbacks. On a hot day, the ice in your coffee quickly melts and waters down your drink.

Hot-brewed coffee also has a high acid content due to the heating process. Oils in the coffee beans are released when you brew hot, often masking the natural flavors of the coffee.

In cold brew coffees, coffee grounds are steeped in cold water for up to 24 hours before the grounds are filtered out. This process allows the coffee bean’s natural flavors to come through without all of the acid. Cold brew coffee offers a smoother, less caffeinated cup of coffee.

When you brew a pot of hot coffee, you end up with the standard 12 cups (or whatever amount you make). In the cold-brew coffee process, the end result is in concentrated form. Before drinking it, you must dilute it with additional water or your favorite creamer.

The concentrate will last for up to two weeks in the refrigerator when you store it in undiluted form. For many, hot-brewed coffee never tastes as good once it goes cold.

Jazzing Up Your Cold Brew

Cold brew coffee makes an excellent iced beverage, perfect for relaxing summer afternoons but also enjoyable any time of the year.

There are ways to make your cold brew taste even better with just a little bit more effort. To jazz up a cup of cold brew, consider these 4 tips:

Reinvent the ice cube

On hot days, cold brew poured over a glass of ice is refreshing. However, the warmth of the sun will quickly melt away the ice cubes, further diluting your coffee beverage.

To prevent this watery disaster, consider making specialty ice cubes from leftover diluted cold brew coffee or concentrate. Use two or more regular ice cube trays so you’ll have enough for several glasses throughout the day.

Instead of diluting your drink, the coffee cubes enhance it or make it stronger if you’ve used frozen concentrate. You can also freeze milk or your favorite flavored coffee creamer for a twist on your favorite coffee drink.

Kick up some flavor

As a coffee drinker, you likely have your favorite preparation methods down pat. With cold brew coffee, you can still add your sugar or other sweetener and your favorite creamer. You can also change the game completely.

Some cold brew coffee drinkers swear by the infusion of flavor from brown sugar, nutmeg, and cinnamon during the cold brew process. Others tout the tastiness of ingredients like condensed milk and vanilla extract.

To perk up a cold brew on a hot day, consider tossing in a bit of your favorite spirits, like vodka and whiskey.

Shake it up

To achieve the perfect fusion of flavors, consider putting your drink ingredients into a shaker and shake it up a bit before pouring into a glass.

The shaking motion is said to wake up the natural coffee flavors, making your drink even better.

Make it a mocha

Some coffee drinkers have discovered the joys of creating their own mochas, adding chocolate milk as the dilution agent in cold brew.

Milk helps to reduce any bitterness in the cold brew and the chocolate just adds to the fun.

Plenty for Everyone

Whichever way you choose to prepare your cold brew, you are guaranteed to up the ante when it comes to your summer coffee experience. By making bigger batches of cold brew coffee concentrate, you’ll have plenty to share with your friends. BottleStore.com offers a variety of storage solutions for cold brew coffee, in gallon and larger-sized containers, all with air-tight caps and closures.

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