We've collected cold brew recipes for you. 12 coffee professionals from German-speaking countries have compiled their favorite recipes. The prerequisite for all these cold brew cocktails is a good cold brew base that tastes delicious even on its own.
What does cold brew or cold coffee taste like?
Of course, depending on the coffee, cold brew primarily reveals the chocolatey and nutty facets of a coffee, but doesn't mask the fruity notes. A characteristic of cold brew coffee is an "alcoholic" taste reminiscent of rum or cognac. We recommend lighter filter coffee roasts for cold brew.
Cold Brew or Cold Drip
There are several ways to make cold coffee. The simplest is often encountered in everyday life: a cup of coffee that's been forgotten in a rush and has since gone cold. Sometimes the coffee still tastes amazing.
If you want to be sure of a good cold coffee, then the cold drip or cold brew methods are ideal.
The cold drip drips slowly into the collection cylinder over the course of hours.
With cold drip, a single drop of water drips onto the coffee grounds over six or more hours. The drip rate can be adjusted using a doser. As the water pressure in the upper chamber decreases, the drip rate must be reduced frequently. We recommend a rate of 1.5–2 drops per second and a brewing ratio of 1:10 (e.g., 50g coffee to 500g water). The cold drip looks spectacular and is therefore often used in cafés. However, due to the changing drip rate, it's difficult to brew the cold drip consistently and consistently. It usually turns out delicious, though.
Cold drippers are available from various manufacturers. We still have a few used ones in our shop.
Cold brew comes in two variations and numerous sub-types. One variation is a classic filter coffee brewed over ice. For this, part of the brewing water is used as ice cubes. For example, we brew 300 grams of hot water to 30 grams of coffee. The collecting carafe already contains 200 grams of ice cubes. The total water-to-coffee ratio is therefore 500 grams of water to 30 grams of coffee, corresponding to a ratio of 1:16.66. This is how we would brew a classic filter coffee. From a brewing perspective, the ice cubes are essentially a bypass .
The other cold brew method is much more passive. A brew is placed in a French press and placed in the refrigerator. After 6+ hours, the coffee is ready. Here, too, we prefer a 1:10 ratio, pouring the first tenth of the water over hot. We've explained this method, as well as the other two, in detail in our cold brew video.
12 Cold Brew Recipes from Coffee Professionals
There are cold brew recipes and cold brew mixes with a variety of ingredients and plenty of tips and tricks. There's something for everyone. Have fun browsing and trying! Just post your questions and your own recipes in the comments section. We'll share them and add them to the mix.
Pink Unicorn Cold Brew by Erna Tosberg
"My tip: Hibiscus Tonic Water from Weißwang. Goes wonderfully with the Black Unicorn Cold Brew—it's practically a Pink Unicorn."
For cold brew, I like to use 70g per liter and let it steep for 24 hours.
It is drunk neat with tonic or gin and tonic.”
What ratio do you use, Erna? " Hmm, I always taste it. For balance... But I'd guess 1/3 cold brew, 2/3 tonic.
Erna Tosberg is a two-time German barista champion and finished 10th and 12th at the World Barista Championship. She works for the roestbar in Münster and is now a WBC judge herself.
New Orleans by Tito Huber
I am happy to share the basic recipe for an extremely well-rounded, sweetly refreshing iced coffee, the “New Orleans” Cold Brew:
First of all, why concentrate?
Depending on my mood, I can refine the cold brew in many ways:
Dilute with a little water to exactly the desired strength or treat yourself to the combination with milk without losing the coffee taste.
Which coffee is suitable for this?
Beans with a chocolatey nutty profile, aromas of dark berries, medium roast.
And now, perhaps the oldest pairing in coffee history: chicory root. The Dutch and French added chicory hundreds of years ago during coffee shortages.
A magic spice perfect for a balanced cold brew that will even knock Aunt Rosie's socks off when she visits.
This is how Tito Huber's New Orleans goes
- 100-120g coffee, grind size like Fleur de Sel
- Add ~ 10g roasted chicory root
- 500g filtered water
- Pour everything into a glass jar, cover, and let steep in the refrigerator overnight. Increase the brewing time depending on the intensity.
- Filtration the next day first with a simple sieve and then through a paper filter.
- Served on lots of ice cubes with equal amounts of water or milk, recommended rice or almond milk!
If you prefer to leave the work to the professionals, you can try the New Orleans here: www.coldbrew.ch
Tito Huber managed Café Henrici in Zurich. In recent years, the busy coffee entrepreneur has focused intensively on cold brew and launched Barrel Cold Brew, a successful startup alongside the café.
Cold Brew Tea Combo by Sandra Stucki
Brews 19g of washed bourbon from Finca Maputo in Ecuador, roasted for filter coffee (or any coffee with stone fruit flavors) using the Aeropress.
A total of 250ml water (1/2 hot, 1/2 ice-cold). The coffee is added a little more to create a concentrated brew, so the spirits don't dilute too much.
Thereafter:
- 2cl blackberry liqueur ( from the barrel ) or also a (wild berry liqueur)
- 14cl of cold coffee
- 2cl Zhengshan Xiaozhong ( Tarry Lapsang smoked tea from China)
You can also omit the smoke tea or replace it with a sprig of rosemary.
The drink is very refreshingly light. I wouldn't recommend a coffee with too much fruit (acidity), but a natural or semi-washed coffee works well.
PS: You can also use blackberry spirit and make a syrup from the Tarry Lapsang!
Sandra Stucki is the Swiss record-holder in the Coffee in Good Spirits category. She dominated the championship for years. Today, she works for the Länggass-Tee company and is increasingly becoming a tea specialist.
Two Cold Brew recipes by Dani Hofstetter
Dani Hofstetter sent us two of his favorite cold brew cocktails. He includes a brewing recipe for one, and a tip for creating your own from the other.
Hopper Cold Brew
Add 200g of Natural Specialty Café to 1L of water.
Brew overnight in the Toddy, then infuse with 5-10g of Mosaic or Galaxy hops for another 12 hours.
The hops give the rather heavy Natural Cold Brew a balancing, almost tangy fruitiness with a lovely bitterness – this is where the crux of the matter lies… Hops are very potent, and finding the right mix and the right type of hops so that, logically, everything goes perfectly with the coffee is what it takes to achieve.
Served over ice, with a little orange zest or an ice-cold splash of mineral water.
Cold Brew Martini
I had number 2 at a Speak Easy Bar in Hamburg. It was an (espresso) cold brew martini. Instead of espresso, they used a Colombian cold brew, let the vodka drip through beetroot in a cold dripper for 24 hours, and then mixed it into the martini according to the classic recipe. It was awesome. I have no idea what the exact recipe was, but it was so delicious...
Dani Hofsttetter is an independent consultant in the fields of nutrition, health, gastronomy, and the food industry. He was the Swiss Brewers Cup champion in 2017 and 2019 and reached the final of the World Brewers Cup in 2019.
Michal Otte's cold brew and coffee recommendations
Cold brew has the potential for very different results. For me, cold brew is a true summer drink, which is why I like fruity, vibrant versions and coffees. With a more classic coffee, the result is more chocolatey and caramelly.
At the moment I am brewing with the following recipe and a washed Rwanda ( Terroir Muyongwe from Blaser Cafe) or the Blend La Fruta from Kafischmitte , currently consisting of coffee from Ecuador from Tio Emilio, Typica, Honey Process, a Costa Rica from Aquiares, washed and a Colombian coffee from Villa Betulia, a washed Geisha.
…very fruity and naturally light roasted combination 🙂
I serve the cold brew over ice cubes with a lemon wedge.
Recipe: Brew 55g of coffee to 1 liter of cold water in about 10-12 hours.
Michal Otte was the 2016 Swiss Cup Tasters Champion. He works for Blaser Café in Bern and Kafischmitte in Langnau. He has years of experience as a barista and roaster and has participated in numerous championships. In 2016, he also won the Basel Cup Tasting Championship.
Cold Brew with Emi Fukahori
500g coffee – coarsely ground
5 L water (cold and with a hardness of 80 ppm)
Pour into a water tank, brewer, or bucket and let it rest in the refrigerator for 20 hours. Then, filter the contents through a coarse pre-filter and then through V60 filter paper. The goal is to remove all solid coffee particles.
The cold brew is served over ice. There are three cold brews to choose from: a chocolatey coffee, usually a natural pulp coffee from Brazil, a fruity coffee, usually a natural pulp coffee, and a floral washed coffee.
Emi Fukahori was a Swiss Brewers Cup Champion and Brewers Cup World Champion. She is also a two-time Swiss Barista Champion and founder of the specialty café Mame in Zurich.
Bear brand with Benjamin Schütz
At the beginning of summer, my favorite was definitely Cold Brew Tonic, until a colleague from Germany brought me the original Bärenmarke, and since then, I've enjoyed my Cold Brew neat or with Bärenmarke. The condensed milk enhances the caramel notes of the Irazú and rounds it all out, creating something truly delicious and special. The other flavors of pomelo, grapefruit, and milk chocolate are best enjoyed neat or on the rocks.
- 100 g coffee
- Filtered water
- 16 hours time.
- Triple filtered: 500, 100 & 50µm
- Fill whisky glass with ice cubes
- Pour cold brew
- A dash of Original Bärenmarke condensed milk
- Caramelize an orange slice and serve as decoration
Benjamin Schütz is a roaster, brewer, and works in quality assurance at UCC Switzerland. He has already reached the finals of the Swiss Brewers Cup and the Swiss Roasting Championship.
Cold Brew Mojito with Constantin Hoppenz
Let's move on to my current favorite cold brew drink and a unique new project from Berlin. Happy Baristas is probably the only café in the world with an extensive selection of rum-based coffee cocktails. The guys have developed these drinks in collaboration with Coffee in Good Spirits world champion Martin Hudak and present them in the evenings at their café in Berlin's trendy Friedrichshain district. My favorite is the Mojito with Kenyan cold brew.
Ingredients:
- Vanilla syrup
- Grapefruit juice
- White Rum Botucal
- Mint leaves
- Elderflower Tonic
- Kii Cold Brew
Constantin Hoppenz was the German Brewers Cup Champion in 2017. At the World Championship in Budapest that same year, he achieved a sensational 5th place.
Cold Brew Negroni by Mathias Bühler
In short: this is how Mäthu Bühler brews his Cold Brew Negroni:
- 4cl Colombian
- Cold Brew
- 2cl gin
- 2cl Campari
- 2 cl red vermouth
- Stir with plenty of ice, add orange zest, cheers!
Mathias Bühler is part of the management team of Bern's iconic Café Adrianos, which includes a roastery, a colonial coffee shop, and a shop. Mäthu is a two-time Swiss Cup Tasting Champion and was ranked sixth best sensory expert at the 2014 World Cup. 
Tinu Egger and Swiss coffee
A rather special coffee blend that, as a cold brew, boasts wonderful chocolate notes. Made with a blend from the Frutiger Tropical House, consisting of 10% Frutiger terroir Arabica, 81% Indian/Brazil terroir Arabica, and 9% Indian terroir Canephora. Handmade on my Comandante and Hario water dripper. 80g of coffee to 1 liter of water. Brews within 8 hours.
Tinu Egger works for Kialoa and is a multiple successful participant in all coffee championships.
Kevin Mohler Unpacks Cold Brew Recipes
Cold Brew Virgin Mojito
6g Kenya Kiunyu AA to 100ml water (10h extraction time)
Ingredients:
- 250ml cold brew
- 1 lime
- 2 tablespoons of cane sugar
- 1 sprig of mint
Preparation:
Slice the lime into wedges and place them in a glass. Add the sugar and a few mint leaves, and squeeze the lime juice with a muddler. Fill the glass to the top with ice cubes. Pour in the cold brew and stir with a straw. Garnish with mint and a light berry garnish.
The coffee brings lovely grapefruit, cassis, and bergamot aromas. The addition of lime enhances the bergamot and lends the drink a good complexity and depth. The cane sugar emphasizes the coffee's inherent sweetness and harmonizes perfectly with the acidity of the lime and the cold brew. The mint adds a freshness and rounds out the drink.
Tip: Does it also work with other African coffees?
Kevin Mohler was the 2017 Swiss Cup Tasting Champion. He also reached the finals of the Swiss Barista Championship in both 2017 and 2018. Kevin Mohler works for the coffee department at Mövenpick .
The Mövenpick Lemonade
A little nod to Mövenpick's culinary origins. Brewing the coffee over ice results in a fruitier coffee. A refreshing coffee lemonade with pleasant acidity and herbal notes.
Ingredients:
- 300 ml filter coffee (cold)
- 50 ml currant juice
- 20 ml lemon juice
- 30 ml Ricola syrup
Prepare filter coffee as usual.
Replace some of the water with ice and brew coffee directly over the ice. For example: For 300 ml of coffee, brew with 200 ml of water over 100 g of ice. The amount of ground coffee remains the same (6 g of the Heavenly Coffee per 100 ml of water).
Ricola syrup:
Dissolve 15 Ricola Cranberry Bonbons with 150 g of sugar in 150 ml of warm water and bring to a boil until well dissolved. Allow to cool and keep refrigerated.
Alternatively, other berry or flower syrups can be used (e.g., elderflower, raspberry, woodruff, etc.).
Add all ingredients to a glass filled with ice and stir.
Garnish with currants, Ricola candy and lemon.
Tip: This recipe also works perfectly with fine Kenyan specialty coffee, but here I would replace the lemon juice with lime juice.
Two cold brews with Gap
Coldbrew Funky Fresh
Supremo Sigri AA
18.8 g coffee 274 g water = approx. 240 g total
- 90 g ice cream
- 120 g cold brew
- 15g Maison Routin caramel syrup
- 60 g of pasteurized milk is whipped in a rotor until creamy
Gin Berry Fresh Brew
- 100 g ice cream
- 70 g Bombay Sapphire (dry gin)
- 50 g raw sugar syrup
- 40 g fresh blueberries
- 40 g fresh strawberries
- 1 mint
- Mix gin, raw sugar syrup, and some fruit in a blender and pour into a glass, add ice, and let it chill.
- Slowly pour cold brew over spoons and garnish with peppermint and the rest of the fruit.
Gap Gijtipong Thangsubutr is a two-time Swiss Latte Art Champion. He works as a barista for the Home Barista Shop in Lucerne.
Cold Brew Video No. 1
A few years ago, we made a video about cold brew recipes and preparation. Here's the old video again for you, which also provides some tips for preparation.
