Cold-Brewed Smashed Raspberry Honey Iced Tea

It’s still rather hot here in New Jersey and I find the cooling effect of iced tea to be a beacon of respite on a humid, sunny day.  Cold-brewed Smashed Raspberry Honey Iced Tea is light and refreshing – pair the smashed raspberries and honey with your favorite tea, or in this case, Traditional Medicinals Mother’s Milk Shatavari Cardamom.

Disclosure: Traditional Medicinals provided the tea for…

I’m a coffee aficionado (to put it mildly) and have tried quite a lot of brewing methods, but while I’ve enjoyed cold brew made by professionals I’d never tried making it at home until a few weeks ago. My first experimental attempt is presented below. 

Based on my first survey of recipes I decided to go with a 10:1 water to coffee ratio. I measured cafefully:

I went with a coarse grind, halfway between drip and French press:

In fact, I used a French press as the steeping vessel, for the convenience of separating the grounds the next day.

I covered this, and put it out of the way on the counter.

After 12–15 hours or so:

I pressed the coffee, then poured the liquid through a filter to get things good and clear.

It’s amazing how much particulate coffee is suspended in this liquid even with a coarser grind. I can usually put up to a liter of water through drip-ground coffee in one of these V60 filters but this time the pores got clogged and I had to actually squeeze the last of the liquid through the paper.

The resulting concentrate was pretty, and tasted good by itself:

But it was far too weak to water down 4:1 or even 2:1 before optionally adding milk and enjoying.

I found I liked this recipe best mixed 1:1 with milk. I made another batch the same way and these helped me wake up for a couple of weeks of early morning workouts, but ultimately the result wasn’t very satisfying.

There is huge variation among cold-brew recipes. Whereas pourover coffee is great at a 17:1 water to coffee ratio, I’ve seen cold brew ratios anywhere from 10:1 to 4:1. Steep times vary from 12 to 24 hours. Some recommend room temperature, others <40ºF chilled water in the fridge. Grind recommendations vary from a medium drip to a coarse perc/press grind. I would be grateful for your recommendations (here, at @svenaas or elsewhere)!