How to Easily Make Homemade Cold Brew in a Mason Jar (2025)

The perfect cold brew starts with freshly roasted coffee beans. If you want to drink a cup of coffee so strong that it will keep you going through the afternoon, you’ll need to brew your coffee with cold water.

In this article, I’ll show you how to make cold brew coffee easily and conveniently in a mason jar.

So, are you ready to make your own cold brew at home? Then grab a cup of coffee and start reading away!

What is cold brew in a mason jar?

It is a low acid, full-bodied coffee beverage made from coarsely ground beans and cold water. Cold water is used to steep the ground coffee, yielding a more mellow result.

By using a mason jar to let the cold brew steep, you won’t have to buy a cold brew maker or another coffee brewer to make it.

A mason jar is cheap, and I think you’ll also have one at home in your cabinet. It’s a really versatile jar that you’ll be using time and again for a multitude of things, like cold foaming your milk or making milk foam.

Cold brew is made by steeping coarsely ground beans at room temperature or chilled water for 12 to 24 hours (I prefer 15 hours) before straining the mixture through a filter.

Cold brewing allows different compounds within the coffee bean that give taste and aroma than traditional hot drip brews to escape into solution, where they are less likely to be burned off when making your cup of coffee.

This leaves you with low acidity, less bitterness, and better-tasting coffee at home!

What ingredients are used in this recipe?

This cold brew recipe uses just two main ingredients to make smooth and delicious coffee. Have a look below for the ingredients used:

• Cold tap water
• Dark roasted coffee beans

Because this recipe uses just two ingredients, ensuring that you use the best quality possible will make for the best tasting cold brew coffee at home.

Fresh filtered water or cold tap water will work best for this recipe if you have great-tasting water at home.

Grinding the coffee beans into the correct grind size is also an important factor in making the best cold brew possible, but more on this later.

Which coffee beans are best used?

There are a number of very popular types of coffee beans that you can use to make cold brew.

For example, some people prefer the taste of Guatemalan dark roast while others take their caffeinated drinks from Sumatran beans.

The type of coffee beans you use to make cold brew will vary depending on your brewing preferences. Dark roasted beans will work well if you enjoy a strong coffee taste, especially if you’re using an extra dark roast.

Light or medium roast beans are often used if you prefer a light coffee taste because they’re not as robust in flavor. Blonde roasted coffee that is used to make a blonde latte is a great example of this.

You can make delicious cold brew coffee with so many different coffee beans from different regions, resulting in a different taste.

I highly recommend sticking with a dark or medium roast for cold brew coffee, as that’ll make your coffee taste amazing.

Light coffee roasts are best used when brewing coffee with a pour over brewer, like the Chemex, because this is where it can extract all its delicious flavor.

Tip: You can check out my recommendations for the best coffee beans for cold brew here.

What is the correct coffee grind size to use?

Cold brew coffee requires a certain grind size to make it taste good. The best grind size for cold brew coffee is a coarse grind size, and it looks like this:

As you can see from the photo above, the coffee beans are ground pretty coarsely, which is perfect for this brew.

Because the coffee is steeped for so long, it’s best to use this kind of grind size, as you’d otherwise extract too much flavor, and it’ll result in an over-extracted cold brew batch, which will taste bitter.

If you grind the coffee beans even coarser than this, you’ll under-extract the coffee, and it’ll result in a sour flavor that isn’t that enjoyable.

How does this technique differ from other cold brews?

This technique of making cold brew in a mason jar is the perfect technique if you don’t want to buy other coffee equipment.

For example, when using a cold brew maker, it’ll have a filter where the ground coffee beans sit, so it’s easier to clean:

And although this technique of steeping the coffee beans with the water without a filter works great, you’ll have more equipment to clean after making it.

Even though it’ll take more time to clean everything, your cold brew coffee will taste exactly the same when using a cold brew maker, AeroPress, or a French press, while saving money.

However, if you’re interested in finding out about a great cold brew maker, you can check my full review here.

How do you make cold brew in a mason jar?

You can easily make cold brew in a mason jar with the few steps listed below:

1. Add ground coffee to the bottom of the mason jar. (This can be decaf as well)
2. Pour water over the ground coffee.
3. Stir until combined and ground coffee is equally wetted.
4. Place the fitted lid on top and optionally give it a good shake to mix everything together.

Now that you know about the easy steps to preparing the cold brew coffee read along to find out how to strain the cold brew coffee.

After that, I’ve listed the complete step-by-step recipe with the ingredients!

How do you strain the cold brew coffee?

There are a few ways to strain cold brew coffee.

• One way is to use a fine-mesh strainer lined with cheesecloth or a nut milk bag.
• Another way is to use a coffee filter that is then placed into a (fine-mesh) strainer.

My favorite way is using a coffee filter. This will result in a crisp and very clean cold brew coffee. To do so, make sure to rinse the filter before adding it to the fine-mesh strainer.

You can follow the steps below to have a good look at the way I like to strain it so that you can follow along:

1. Place the strainer (with filter) over a large measuring cup or bowl (a Chemex works great as well).
2. Then pour the cold brew coffee into the strainer.
3. Use your hands to gently press on the grounds to extract as much liquid as possible to speed up the process (if you’re using a cheesecloth). You can achieve the same results by pressing the coffee grounds with a spoon.
4. Let the liquid strain for about 20 minutes, then discard the grounds.

Now, let’s make this amazing cold brew using a mason jar:

Conclusion

In this article, I’ve talked about how to make cold brew coffee at home using a mason jar.

This is ideal for people who want the taste of iced coffee without purchasing pre-made varieties.

If you’re looking for something easy and convenient, then you should try this recipe out.

I’ve given steps on where to find your ingredients as well as what equipment will be needed, so there’s no excuse not to give it a shot! Will you be trying this recipe?

Also, did you know you can drink cold brew hot?

If you want to make some amazing cold brew recipes that you can make with this cold brew basis, then I’ve listed some below to give you something to try out!

And for more ways to make regular cold brew, check out my complete cold brew guide here!

Cold brew recipes to try

• Cold Brew Iced Mocha Recipe With Homemade Chocolate Sauce
• Coconut Cold Brew Coffee: Easy 4 Ingredient Recipe to Make
• Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew: A Refreshing Drink for Summer