Why your cold brew is weak (and how you can fix it!)

So you started making cold brew at home. Great! But your batch is tasting very weak. No flavor, no body. Definitely not like what you’re used to. So what happened?

From our experience, there are two common issues that could be causing your cold brew to taste weak - ratio and time. But don’t worry, because they’re very easy to fix!

Keep reading to find out how to troubleshoot your weak cold brew.

Ratio

Check your coffee-to-water ratio. Generally, the higher the coffee-to-water ratio, the stronger your cold brew will be. And the lower your coffee-to-water ratio, the weaker your cold brew will be. Given this, you can check to see if you can bump up the amount of coffee.

If you want to guarantee that your cold brew will be strong, simply use more coffee grounds (ex. 1:4 ratio) and make a cold brew concentrate. Concentrates can easily be diluted with water or milk later.

Time

Time is of the essence. Cold brewing can range from 12 to 24 hours. If you think your cold brew tastes too weak after 12 hours, simply increase the time brewing. But in general, you don’t need to brew over 24 hours - it won’t necessarily make it stronger. That’s why we recommend 12-24 hours as the sweet spot. 

See our handy chart below for easy visualization! 

Ready to make cold brew? Also check out this helpful post on how to make delicious, failproof cold brew at home.