Can You Make Cold Brew Coffee In A French Press? We Asked An Expert

The refreshing jolt of cold brew coffee is a wonderful thing to wake up to, but it's not exactly convenient to make. Unlike regular drip or French press coffee, cold brew takes time and requires planning ahead. That extra work means making it is usually a big batch proposition, requiring large steeping containers and fine filters like cheesecloth. So what if you just want a cup or two for the next morning, and don't want to bother with all new equipment? Can your normal French press work in a pinch? Tasting Table sent this very question to expert Jee Choe, coffee and tea sommelier at Oh, How Civilized, to get her take.

According to Choe, the answer is yes, but with a catch. She told us "you can cold brew with a French press, but it involves more work and may be messier than using a cold brew maker." Choe warns that once you are done letting the cold brew sit overnight "the coffee grounds need to be removed from the French press, which is tricky since the grounds are at the bottom." Compared to the easy extraction of a container made for cold brew this isn't ideal as you don't want to accidentally be swallowing any leftover grounds. But if that extra cleanup doesn't bother you, then making cold brew in your French press is very possible.

An important aspect of making cold brew is getting the grind right, as a fine grind can cause over-extracted coffee, which lends the drink a bitter flavor. A medium-coarse to coarse grid lets the coffee sit for hours without over-extraction, and will make sure nothing slips through the strainer in your French press. Since you will likely be pouring from your French press straight into a cup, you can go with a less concentrated coffee to water ratio for your cold brew — around 1:10 coffee to water by weight, or ⅓ cup of coffee for every 1 ½ cups of water by volume. If you don't have room in the fridge it's completely fine to leave cold brew out on the counter; let it sit overnight for 12 to 14 hours.

From there you can plunge your French press to filter and get straight to enjoying your cold brew first thing in the morning. However, if you are using your French press to make a bigger batch of cold brew for later Choe says "the best thing would be to pour the cold brew into a separate airtight container, making sure coffee grounds don't go into the new container." For a quick cup or two, or a regular treat when you don't have a larger container, a French press will get the cold brew job done just fine.