I know it’s fall and we’re all scrambling around trying to figure out what pumpkin dessert/craft/drink we’re going to indulge in today, since pumpkin season always seems to go so quickly. But I have to pause and share with you my cold brew recipe that’s perfect for summer, which is ending.
There are lots of reasons why I’m only now, in mid-September, posting a mid-Summer recipe. They might be:
- Some people will still drink iced coffee in the fall. I could drink it until the official start of Winter, because I love it so much.
- It turns out, drinking two or three cups of cold brew a day doesn’t make you more productive. Unless productive means, “I should be blogging but instead I’m going down a Gawker rabbit hole.”
- It make you pee a lot, which delays posts. And life.
- Mostly though, I didn’t have enough self control to take an “after” picture. I prepared the cup and just drank the iced coffee instead.
This is a cold-brew technique, which means the beans are never heated. A lot of people think it’s a better way to drink coffee cold.
My favorite part is you make a big batch on the weekend and you have iced coffee for the whole week!
You filter the ground beans once through the mesh strainer. Then, cover the strainer with the muslin cloth and pour the coffee once more through the strainer. The cloth will filter out the smaller grinds and oils.

- A beverage pitcher
- Fine mesh strainer
- A 12 square-inch piece of muslin cloth (see notes for information)
- 2 cups coarsely-ground coffee
- 8 cups water, plus 2 cups
- Ice
Step by Step Instructions:
Go ahead and grind your whole beans, if you haven’t done so already.
Pour the coffee beans into a large beverage pitcher.
Then add eight cups of cold water.
Cover the container and let it sit and steep overnight in the fridge.
Once the coffee is done steeping, cover a mixing bowl with your mesh strainer. Pour the coffee through the strainer, so it catches the grinds.
Discard the grinds (or use them as a facial cleanser!).
Rinse out the pitcher, removing any leftover grinds, then pour the coffee back into it. Clean out the mesh strainer and the mixing bowl and repeat the pouring process, but this time with the muslin cloth. Pour it in a cup or two at a time, since it will take longer to strain. If the coffee is getting clogged (so to speak) in the cloth, just pick it up and give it a squeeze or wash the cloth in between pours.
Place the cloth over the strainer and pour the coffee through the cloth to filter it.
Once it’s gone through the muslin cloth, it’s well-filtered and drinkable. The cold brew is very strong so I add the other two cups of water to dilute it. Then add some ice to make it a true iced coffee! Fix it up with milk and sugar or maybe some fancy syrups, if you like. Whatever’s your preference!
So, what about you? Do you miss iced coffees in the winter?