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Sevens Cold Brew Technique


I've been serving my cold brew for a few months now and thought it was time I shared how I make my cold brew, and recommend how to make your own cold brew just as good.




I'm pretty sure that I've explained the name in a previous post, but it doesn't hurt to explain it again. The name "Sevens" comes from the ratio I use and the amount of cold brew I use in each cup (more on that later). I brew my cold brew with 7 parts water to 1 part coffee. Now the standard for normal hot brewed coffee is 16:1 (water:coffee). So, this coffee comes out over double strength.

I looked at a bunch of recipes, and quite a few of them use a 4:1 ration (quadruple strength). I'm not a scientist, but in my opinion, that slurry HAS to hit a saturation point before it is extracting everything it should. I've been told that anything after 11:1 will hit the saturation before extraction is complete (for lack of a better term). I don't know where the actual extraction stops, but I favored a happy medium a 7:1.

Here is my reason for favoring the stronger coffee over brewing the coffee at 16:1 standard for normal coffee. Cold brew is culturally used with a lot of milk and sugar (thank you Dutch Bros). I serve my coffee in a 20 oz cup. I use 7 oz of cold brew, and cut it with 7 oz of milk, then 6 oz of water. Cutting the 7 oz of coffee with 7 oz of milk brings the ratio up to 14:1. I like it being slightly stronger than 16:1 because Milk also has stronger flavors. The 14:1 keeps the coffee flavor in the forefront, instead of the milk. I'm drinking some now, and the coffee flavor is strong. If you find it is too strong for you, you can play with the recipe. Brew with a higher ratio, cut it with water before adding milk, etc. Once you have the basics down, you can mess with it until you get what you like. The best part about this is that cold brew is very forgiving. You'd have to try really hard to mess it up to make it undrinkable. Plus if you want to experiment, just do smaller batches. Try brewing one with cinnamon in the grounds, or orange zest, or cocoa and Chile. That way, if it does suck, you aren't out too much.

Now, how to brew....

Cold brew is seriously the easiest thing in the world to do.

Step 1: Weigh the coffee
Step 2: Grind the coffee
             -Grind it course, similar to a french press
             -Looks a bit like like the salt that comes in the grinders: not rock salt, that's too big
Step 3: Multiply the weight of your coffee by 7 and add that volume of water to the grinds
             -Despite being very American, I use grams because the conversion from G to mL is easier
Step 4: Cover and put in the fridge for 24hrs
             -If you agitate the grounds, you will probably get better extraction but filtering will be harder
             -The super fines will separate and clog the filter in the next step
Step 5: Filter coffe
             -I set up my Mr.Coffee and pour it through the paper filter
             -You will get about 30% coffee in volume than water used because some stays in the grounds
Step 6: Enjoy
             -Coffee is good for about a week (its probably better for longer, but I can't tell you that)

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