How to Make Cold Brew in a French Press | Ratios & Recipes

Cold brew isn’t just a fancy type of coffee that you can get from third-wave cafés or by investing in expensive equipment. 

In fact, we bet you already have all it takes: a humble French press. 

Got it? Thought so!

Plus, we have great news: cold brew french press coffee is incredibly easy to make.

Can you make cold brew with French press? Like… for real?

Yes, you can definitely make cold brew coffee with a French press. 

It’s actually one of the best methods to make cold brew coffee in general, especially when you only want to prepare enough for yourself or a couple of lucky people. 

The only other piece of equipment that we recommend grabbing (if you haven’t already got one) is a burr grinder: that way you can achieve the coarseness that works better for this method.

If you’re not sure how to find the right one for you, check our coffee grinder buying guide.

How to make cold brew french press at home (Best cold brew french press recipe!)

1. Prepare your equipment and ingredients

So, how to make cold brew french press coffee? You start with some very simple ingredients:

• Coarse coffee grounds
• Cold water

The reason why we recommend buying whole beans and grinding them coarsely is that this grind size slows down extraction. 

Because cold brew french press coffee takes a lot longer than traditional hot-brewed drip, you can see why the usual medium-fine grounds could spoil it.

2. Use the correct cold brew French press ratio

 The quantities will change depending on how big your French press is. 

What should never be altered is the cold brew French press ratio of 1:5.

This means that you must add 5 grams or ounces of water for every gram or ounce of coffee.

An example? 4 oz of coarse grounds and 20 oz of cold water.

PRO TIP: if you want to impress everyone, try the bloom trick. It consists of replacing a third of your cold water with some hot water, pouring it onto the grounds in the French press, and letting them degas for half a minute before preceding with the next step. 

This allows them to release all the trapped CO2 and gases that could spoil extraction.

3. Let your cold brew French press coffee steep overnight

Pour the cold water, stir it, cover it, but don’t press the plunger!

One of the benefits of cold brew french press coffee is that your equipment will fit in the fridge much more easily than with bulkier solutions.

Be sure to let it sit in there overnight for 14-16 hours.

4. Plunge it & drink it!

When it’s cold brew french press o’clock, take it out of the fridge, press the plunger, and enjoy it.

If it tastes too strong, you can always add milk or water (aiming for a 1:1 ratio) or even ice cubes.

Knowing us, we’d probably drink all of it in one go. However, if you’d rather savor a little bit at a time, don’t worry: you can keep your cold brew French press coffee in the fridge for up to 10 days.

Learning how to make cold brew French press coffee can open up a whole new world of caffeinated possibilities: isn’t it just the most refreshing change in your usual coffee routine?