Decide what you are making
Cold-brew concentrate is intended to be diluted before serving. Ready-to-drink cold brew is intended to be served at its brewed strength, although ice can still dilute it. These are different starting points. A ratio that makes a useful concentrate may taste unusually intense when treated as a finished drink.
Counter Culture's cold-brew guide uses 1:8 as a concentrate ratio and also describes 1:11 as an option without a final dilution, depending on the brewer. Read each ratio alongside its full method, including any dilution before serving.
Write the brewing ingredients first
At 1:8, 100 grams of dry coffee calls for 800 grams of brewing water. The amount recovered after filtering will be lower than the water added because liquid remains with the grounds and filtration materials. Measure the concentrate you actually collect before calculating portions.
| Illustrative batch | Coffee | Brew water | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1:8 | 100 g | 800 g | Concentrate to dilute |
| 1:11 | 100 g | 1,100 g | Possible ready-to-drink starting point |
Then calculate serving dilution
Serving dilution compares recovered concentrate with the water or milk added afterward. A 1:1 dilution means 100 grams of concentrate plus 100 grams of water, producing 200 grams before ice. A 2:1 dilution means 100 grams of concentrate plus 50 grams of water. That second drink contains a greater proportion of concentrate.
Do not describe the final drink simply as the original brew ratio multiplied by two. Grounds retain liquid, extraction changes what is in that liquid, and the serving recipe uses only the recovered concentrate. Record the brew ingredients separately from the quantities used for each serving.
Record brewing water and serving dilution as separate quantities.
Keep the cold-brewing process controlled
Use clean equipment, fully wet the grounds, cover the brewing vessel, and follow a refrigerated brewing method. Counter Culture's general guide suggests 14 hours in the refrigerator as a starting point, while its separate hot-bloom cold-brew recipe follows a different sequence. Use the steeping conditions that accompany your chosen recipe.
A medium-coarse grind is a practical place to begin for many immersion batches. Extremely coarse grounds are not an automatic requirement. Temperature, grind, agitation, filter, and time all affect the result. Record the refrigerator steep and keep the brewing vessel covered while it is stored.
Dial in the glass before changing the batch
Taste small measured samples of the same concentrate at two dilutions. Choose the one whose intensity you enjoy, then evaluate its balance. If both samples taste flat, sharp, or drying, test a brewing change in the next batch.
Account for ice when you serve the drink. A cold glass, the temperature of the concentrate, and how quickly the drink is consumed influence how much ice melts. Keep the initial dilution and ice amount repeatable when comparing batches. Iced V60 is a different method: it is brewed hot onto ice, so its extraction-water and ice calculations belong in a separate recipe.