The Best Way to Make Cold Brew Coffee Is Surprisingly Fast

This article is sponsored by National Product Review.

Coffee aficionados everywhere will know the love-hate relationship that is cold brew coffee. 

The refreshing, caffeinated beverage just hits the spot and to be honest, the only barrier to me having a cup every day is the effort it takes to nab one.

Sure, you could buy a cold brew from your local cafe… at $7 a pop. Or, you could make your own. The only thing is, to make it properly you have to let it steep overnight. 

This is because there’s a huge difference between iced coffee and cold brew. 

What is cold brew?

While most iced coffees are made with espresso, milk and ice, cold brew is made by steeping coarse coffee grounds in water for a number of hours at cold or room temperature. 

While espresso uses temperature to extract the coffee beans, cold brew uses time and can take between 12 to 24 hours to steep.

The result is a deliciously strong black coffee and when served on ice, it’s the most refreshing beverage going. One advantage to the DIY-cold brew is that you can batch make enough for the whole week. 

How to make it

Simply coarsely grind your preferred coffee beans and add them to room temperature water in whatever vessel you prefer. The 1:4 ratio (i.e. one cup of coffee to four of water) is the most popular. 

After that, you let it steep for 12-18 hours. If you don’t steep it for long enough, the coffee will taste watery. Steep for too long and you’ll find yourself having a very acidic morning. 

Once the time is up, strain the coffee beans via a sieve or french press and there, you have your cold brew coffee. 

It’s a lot of time and work, hence the aforementioned love-hate relationship. 

If, like me, you can’t be bothered with all of the faff (especially in the middle of summer) then you can thank technology. 

Home appliance brand De’Longhi has just launched its Eletta Explore coffee machine. And it’s not just your everyday home-coffee machine. 

The Eletta Explore has over 50 presets for hot, iced and cold brew coffee recipes. You can save your preferred recipes and the LatteCrema Hot and Cool create milk foam that rivals barista’s. It’s super easy to set up and looks sleek to boot.

But what about the cold brew? 

Rather than waiting 18 hours, the Eletta Explore can make it in under five minutes. This is thanks to De’Longhi’s Cold Extraction Technology; a unique pump system that infuses the coffee under low pressure and at longer intervals.

There you have it, cold brew at the touch of a button rather than hauling barrels into the fridge for hours at a time.  

I don’t know about you, but as a time-poor millennial, I’ll choose the first option.