Learn the easiest method for making cold brew coffee, without the need for a coffee grinder, cheesecloth, or excess time!

iced coffee in a mason jar with milk being poured in from small mason jar, on concrete with flagstone and grass behind it.

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After a 5 year hiatus from coffee, I am back on it, full force! During our hot Colorado summer, hot coffee just isn’t doin it for me - when I break a sweat just from drinking my hot coffee, I just can’t.

Cold brew coffee has been my saving grace lately! For one, it’s super easy to prep the day before, and it’s a refreshing pick-me-up, just waiting for me in the morning.

What Is Special About Iced Coffee?

Aside from cold coffee being refreshing, it is different from hot coffee. By slowly letting coffee grounds steep in water, you lose the bitterness (and irritation that the acidity may cause) and you get a richer flavor!

My favorite coffee for low acidity is a Sumatra mandheling coffee, which naturally contains low acidity and makes this even more drinkable.

If you're like me and drink the whole batch of this iced coffee throughout the day, then you will be drinking more caffeine, solely because you use a larger portion of coffee grounds than you would per serving of hot coffee.

Using a Mason Jar Iced Coffee Maker

Let me start by saying that I am not sponsored by any companies nor am I receiving any profit by bragging about their products in this post.
My family believes in using safe, quality products, and we found a good one with County Line Kitchen. We use several of their products, and my favorite right now is their Cold Brew Mason Jar Ice Coffee Maker.

Don’t think it’s a big appliance, it’s literally a filter that you place in a mason jar. Want a bonus? It can make tea and other chilled, flavored beverages as well!

There are so many reasons I love this product for cold brewing coffee (and yes you can brew tea as well).

Ball mason jar with cold brew coffee brewing with County Line Kitchen lid on top, all on wooden cutting board.

It uses a heavy duty stainless steel filter so you know it's free from harmful chemicals and avoids all plastics. The filter is super duper tight mesh so go ahead and use that fine-ground coffee!

This particular filter fits a 32 ounce, wide-mouth mason jar. I love this size for myself, which makes about 26-28 ounces of cold brew. It's plenty for me throughout the day! If you don't mess around with your brewing, you can go bigger with 64 ounces using a larger coffee filter, jar, and lid.

By using this filter system the whole process of making iced coffee is much more hands-off!

Typical Cold Brew Coffee Without Cold Brew Filter

Most recipes for making cold brew coffee from scratch will include the following steps:

Coarsely grind your coffee beans
Soak the grounds in water
Strain the grounds using cheesecloth or tea towel. Then maybe strain again, because you'll likely get small particles floating around.

This method is absolutely an effective process, but it does require you to have a blender capable of blending coffee beans, and cheesecloth or tea towel, and extra time to complete all those steps!

Although I would absolutely love to have an extended amount of time to prep coffee at night, then again in the morning, life just isn't so. If you're a busy person, I would assume you give a little sigh thinking about the process of making cold brew coffee, even though you REALLY want it!

Steps for Using a Mason Jar iced Coffee Maker

If you're wondering how to make cold brew coffee, I'd recommend starting with the County Line Kitchen brand iced coffee maker. When using this particular cold brew maker just follow these simple steps:

Fill wide-mouth mason jar to about 26 ounce mark with cold water.
Pour in about 4 heaping tablespoons of ground coffee into the mesh filter. You can still grind your own beans, but I prefer a finer ground coffee over coarsely ground for deeper flavor!

coffee grounds in mesh insert in mason jar, on a wooden table outside.

Ensure the silicone ring is in place on the filter, and slide the filled filter into your mason jar of water. If the water runs out, pour a bit out. If you feel like you can fill it with more water, do that now!
Use a chopstick or spoon and gently mix the coffee grounds around so they're fully soaked in the water.

cold brew grounds mesh inset in mason jar, on flagstone.

Cover, and let the grounds steep for about 12-14 hours. The length of time is important. I have used 4 tablespoons of grounds and 5 tablespoons and I couldn't notice much of a difference, but when you use less time there is a big difference in the strength of the coffee!
Remove the stainless steel filter, letting it drip for a bit back into the mason jar.
Add heavy cream, milk, or frothed milk, stir it all together, and serve!

iced coffee in a mason jar with milk poured in, all on concrete with flagstone and grass behind it.

**If you just want a little at a time, then pour out a little cold brew into a mug, then add any additional dairy. You can add the filter back into the remaining cold brew and continue to allow it to steep in the fridge until you're wanting more!

Adding ice

I never find the need to add ice, mostly because I'm drinking this cold brew straight out of the fridge. I also don't want to water down my coffee with ice cubes! If you are a fan of adding ice, I'd recommend setting aside a little of your cold brew to make "coffee ice cubes" to have ready to add to your next batch!

My best recommendation is to try an insulated coffee mug to keep your coffee cold all day long! TIP: if you're a busy parent with a baby or young kids (or just a human who loves their coffee), this is a great, safe travel mug that will keep your drink cold/hot all day and doesn't leak!

Tips

Once you empty your cold brew mason jar, give everything a rinse, compost your coffee grounds, and refill it right away to get your next brew going for the day!

My all-time favorite coffee is the Tanzania Peaberry Coffee which is extra smooth and delicious spice flavor. This is the first one I've noticed has a slightly tobacco flavor, which I'd never in a million years thought I'd like.