How to Make a Cold Brew Coffee

Cold brew coffee is a popular drink all around the world, but increasingly Aussies are turning to it thanks to its smooth, refreshing profile.

Forget bitter-tasting coffee; there is no such thing when you choose to indulge in a cold brew – and thanks to Nespresso, making a cold brew style at home has never been easier.

Try this: imagine yourself sipping a quality cold brew coffee that delivers silky-textured Latin American Arabica beans. Now imagine those beans are bursting with roasted caramel notes and your coffee only takes mere minutes to brew.

It can take time to make a dreamily smooth and refreshing cold brew, but Nespresso’s innovation has reinvented the process so a delicious cold brew style coffee can be made in minutes. Whether you choose to drink it on a balmy summer night or a chilly winter evening, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

But first, let’s talk about the history and how far we’ve come from the more traditional type of cold brew.

What is cold brew?

Traditionally, a cold brew is beans that are soaked between 12–24 hours in cold water – rather than hot – and then the grounds are strained. It is a method the Japanese have used since the 1600s. The reason why it’s brewed for such a long time is for the result: smoothness with a thicker and more velvety body and less bitterness.

But would you be prepared to wait 12 hours for a cup of coffee? Though cold brew coffee is still something of a novelty in Australia, if you have ever had a cup of cold brew coffee, it’s likely your answer would be yes.

The flavour profile of cold brew coffee

Time is the most important variable when it comes to making a cold brew.

As cold brew coffee is made without heat, flavours and aromas are extracted far more gradually offering lower acidity. This creates a smoother, sweeter, more natural taste than its iced coffee counterpart.

By steeping coffee grounds in cold water, a slow infusion process takes place as the water carefully extracts the compounds from the grounds. This is essential for the water to bring out the colour, flavour and caffeine.

The strained coffee you’re left with is lower in acidity and bitterness than hot-brewed coffee, and tends to have a smoother, sweeter, mellower taste.

But it's important to remember that, despite being slightly less intense in taste, cold brew coffee is generally higher in caffeine content. This is because of the longer steeping time.

What is the nutritional value of a cold brew?

Cold brew coffee will add little to the daily calorie count, though its caffeine content is generally higher than hot brew coffee.

Here’s the breakdown:

• Calories: 5g
• Carbohydrates: 0g
• Sugar: 0g
• Fat: 0g (0g saturated)
• Fibre: 0g
• Protein: 0g
• Sodium: 0.015g
• Caffeine: 0.205g

How to make a cold brew coffee

The way it has been done for hundred of years

The traditional way to make cold brew is certainly not a new technique – and one that can take a very long time (up to 24 hours!). That’s why we’re so proud of Nespresso's Cold Brew Style Intense blend which can be delivered in mere minutes. Here’s how to make the traditional recipe, as a comparison against Nespresso’s innovative cold brew coffee:

1. Combine 1 cup of ground coffee with 4 cups of cold water in a large container. Stir to ensure all the coffee is saturated.
2. Refrigerate the mixture and allow it to steep for 12–24 hours.
3. After steeping, strain the mixture using a fine mesh sieve or a coffee filter. You can also use cheesecloth to strain thoroughly.
4. Dilute with fresh cold water, then serve over ice, or add hot water or milk.

Nespresso’s revolutionary cold brew style coffee pod

With Nespresso’s Vertuo Lattissima, Vertuo Pop and Vertuo Next machines, you don’t have to wait nearly a day to enjoy a cold brew. That’s because our Cold Brew Style Intense blend can be delivered in mere minutes at the touch of a button and offers a smooth, delicate coffee with gorgeous caramel and sweet cereal notes.

This cool water phase replicates the much longer process usually required to make a cold brew. The technology on the Nespresso Vertuo machine system ingeniously reads the barcode on the capsule and sets the brewing parameters to that of a cold brew style coffee, delivering the smooth and refreshing profile some Australians have come to love.

That means our Cold Brew Style Intense blend offers all that’s great about cold brew coffee without needing to be steeped in the fridge overnight before it can be enjoyed.

How to make a Nespresso Cold Brew Style Intense coffee

Follow the directions below or watch the video.

1. Use cool water in your Vertuo machine’s water tank
2. Place 3 ice cubes into two Reveal Cold glasses or your Carafe
3. Extract one capsule of Cold Brew Intense Style over the ice
4. Stir well and enjoy

The ideal Nespresso accessories

With its exciting flavour profile, Nespresso Cold Brew Style Intense is a great coffee to serve up to friends and family.

And you can do it in style by extracting your pods directly into a Konstantin Grcic designed Nespresso Vertuo Pour-Over Style Carafe.

This is the perfect piece of hand-blown glassware for serving your cold brew, offering room for your coffee to breathe and a beautifully shaped spout for pouring.

And there’s nowhere better than the Nespresso Reveal Cold Glasses to pour your cold brew in. Share your coffee with these stunning crystal glasses for a real aesthetic thrill. From the smooth engraved lines to the shapely bulge of the glasses, these are designed for holding rich, cold coffees and lots of clinking ice cubes.

More cold brew recipes

While not specifically designed for the warmer weather, cold brew coffee has obvious appeal when the weather gets warmer.

Also, a Nespresso cold brew being a smoother, sweeter profile it’s the perfect option for anyone who wants to avoid cream, milk or sweeteners but find hot water black coffee a bit too intense.

We recommend this special cold brew be shared as is or over ice.

To share a carafe:

1. Extract 1 Cold Brew Intense Style capsule
2. Place 5 ice cubes in your Vertuo Carafe
3. Pour cold brew into the carafe
4. Stir well and enjoy between 2–3 glasses

Try our Cold Brew Intense Style coffee blend.