Cold brew is one of our favorite brewing methods because it is easy and makes smooth, chocolatey, delicious coffee. As cold brew’s popularity grows, more drinks are starting to use cold-brewed coffee in place of regular coffee or espresso. Compared to regular hot-brewed coffee, cold brew tastes sweeter, has a smoother mouthfeel, and has much lower acidity. These factors combine to give cold brew-based drinks a distinct character that we like a lot.
One of the best cold brew twists on a classic espresso drink is the cold brew mocha. Cold brew naturally tastes sweet and chocolatey, making it the perfect foundation for a mocha. In this article, we’ll teach you our favorite cold brew concentrate recipe, show you how to make a fancy cold brew mocha and give you a quick and dirty recipe for when you don’t have time to make the fancy recipe. We’ve got a lot to cover, so let’s get started!
Cold Brew Concentrate
When we make cold brew, it’s almost always a concentrate. Cold brew concentrate lasts longer than ordinary strength coffee and is more versatile. It’s easy to dilute a concentrate to a regular strength level but impossible to increase the strength of regular coffee after it’s brewed. Especially when you’re trying out a new recipe, using a concentrate gives you more flexibility to change the flavors and get it tasting just right.
This recipe uses a 1:7 coffee to water ratio and makes enough for about two cold brew mochas.
- 50 g coffee
- 350 g water
- Coffee grinder
- Scale
- French press (or jar and filter)
1. Grind your beans.
Start by grinding 50 g of coffee on a coarse setting. Slightly coarser than a French press, grind size is usually about right.
2. Pour the grounds into the French press.
Add the coffee to your preferred container. We recommend using a French press to make it easier to filter later.
3. Add water and stir.
Pour 350 g of room temperature water over the coffee. Stir until all of the grounds are wet.
4. Steep for 16 hours.
Cover the container and let it sit for 16 hours at room temperature.
5. Filter and serve!
After 16 hours, filter the coffee. Even if you use a French press, you should also pour the filtered coffee through a paper filter to remove fine sediment.
Make it a Mocha
Now that you have your cold brew concentrate, it’s easy to turn it into a mocha. All you need is some cocoa powder, sugar, and milk.
This recipe uses slightly less coffee than you typically see in ordinary mocha recipes because the cold brew concentrate is stronger than a regular cup of coffee.
- 6 ounces cold brew concentrate
- 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 tablespoons milk
- Microwave or stovetop pan
- Milk frother or French press
- Large coffee mug
1. Heat the cold brew.
Don’t let the name fool you — cold brew is excellent in hot coffee drinks. The cold in cold brew only refers to how the coffee was brewed.
2. Mix in cocoa powder and sugar.
Add the cocoa powder and sugar to the coffee and stir until all ingredients are well-mixed.
3. Froth the milk.
If you don’t have a frother, you can use a French press to mimic frothing by rapidly moving the plunger up and down to aerate heated milk.
4. Combine milk and coffee.
Gently pour the frothed milk over the coffee.
5. Serve and enjoy!
If you prefer an iced mocha, just skip the heating and frothing steps. Iced mochas are perfect for hot summer days, but you should be aware that it will be more difficult to get the cocoa powder and sugar to dissolve in cold coffee.
Without the frothed milk, iced mochas have a different texture than hot mochas that might be more or less to your liking depending on how you feel about frothed milk. If you don’t have a frother and can’t be bothered to froth milk by hand – we don’t blame you – an iced mocha is a great alternative.
An Easy Alternative
If our recipe sounds like a lot of work, we have a quick and easy recipe that tastes delicious even though it will make purists recoil in horror. For a delicious iced mocha imitation, mix the cold brew concentrate in a one-to-one ratio with chocolate milk. It’s not as good as a properly made mocha, but it takes virtually no time and is pretty darn good in its own right.
As long as you don’t expect it to taste like a real mocha, you’ll love it. We like making this version when we’re in a hurry or just want a sweet treat. It also works surprisingly well as a pre-workout drink since it’s packed with caffeine and the sugar in the chocolate milk gives you an extra energy boost.
Tasty Cold Brew Mocha
Equipment
- Microwave or stovetop pan
- Milk frother or French press
- Large coffee mug
Ingredients
- 6 ounces cold brew concentrate
- 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Heat the cold brew. Don’t let the name fool you — cold brew is excellent in hot coffee drinks. The cold in cold brew only refers to how the coffee was brewed.
- Add the cocoa powder and sugar to the coffee and stir until all ingredients are well-mixed.
- Froth the milk. If you don’t have a frother, you can use a French press to mimic frothing by rapidly moving the plunger up and down to aerate heated milk.
- Gently pour the frothed milk over the coffee.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Cold Brew Mochas: The Bottom Line
The cold brew mocha is a recent trend that puts a slight twist on an already delicious drink and makes it even smoother and sweeter. Cold brew is the perfect base for a mocha since it has natural chocolatey notes and an incredibly smooth texture, and we find ourselves opting for the cold brew version more often than the original these days.
We hope you give these recipes a try and discover how good cold brew mochas can be for yourself. The full hot mocha recipe is our favorite, but the two alternative methods presented are tasty in their own ways and have some advantages over the somewhat time-consuming hot version. Don’t discount the chocolate milk version either. Despite what hardcore coffee rhetoric might lead you to believe, it’s a sweet treat that’s perfect for rushed mornings or warm summer days.
RELATED READS:
- Mexican Mocha Recipe: 5 Simple Steps
- How to Make a White Chocolate Mocha (Easy Steps)
- Delicious Iced Mocha Recipe (With Pictures)
Featured Image: Christopher Alpizar Gaviria, Flickr
