Cold Brew
Also cold brew coffee, cold-brewed coffee
Coffee steeped for hours in cold water, giving a smooth, low-acid drink served over ice. Caffeine depends heavily on dilution; the figure here assumes ready-to-drink strength.
ColdServed cold
- Volume
- 300ml10.1 US fl oz
- Espresso
- 0shots
- Caffeine
- 96mgderived, USDA FDC
- Glass
- Highball350 ml
The build
Watch it made, step by step- Cold brew240 ml80%
- Ice60 ml20%
- Volume
- 300ml
- Caffeine
- 96mg
- Espresso
- 0shots
Scales every component together, so the ratio holds; caffeine scales with the coffee.
Concentrate at roughly 1:4 to 1:8 coffee to water, diluted 1:1 to serve; ready-to-drink strength about 1:12 to 1:15.
Caffeine
Derivedin a 300 ml cold brew
USDA FoodData Central SR Legacy caffeine per 100 g scaled to the coffee volume in components, assuming 1 g per ml. FDC 171890 (Beverages, coffee, brewed, prepared with tap water) 40.0 mg/100 g x 240 ml. No USDA SR Legacy entry exists for cold brew; the brewed-coffee value is applied at ready-to-drink strength. Concentrates are much higher.
USDA FoodData Central record 171890 · read 2026-10-26
A derived figure: the reference food's caffeine per 100 g scaled to the coffee in this build. Real cups vary with the coffee, the dose and the shot.
Variants by country
3| Name | Country | How it differs |
|---|---|---|
| nitro cold brew | United States | Infused with nitrogen on draught. |
| Kyoto-style slow drip | Japan | Cold water dripped slowly through grounds over hours. |
| Dutch coffee | Netherlands | Korean and Japanese name for the drip tower method. |
History
Popular accountWikidata classes cold brew as a coffee preparation and coffee drink. The Dutch trading-era and Japanese slow-drip lineage, and the Toddy system (1964), are popular accounts.
Immersion in cold water for many hours; modern commercial form from the US in the 2010s.
Parts of this story are repeated widely but were not confirmed against a source this atlas accepts. They are kept as the story people tell, not as fact.
Related drinks
Cold brew infused with nitrogen and served from a tap like a stout, with a creamy cascading head and no ice.
Cold Espresso Tonic 280 ml · 64 mgEspresso poured over tonic water and ice, a bitter, fizzy specialty-café drink from Scandinavia in the late 2000s.
Cold Dalgona Coffee 242 ml · 63 mgInstant coffee whipped with sugar into a stiff foam and piled on milk, the 2020 lockdown sensation. The same technique is India's beaten coffee.
Cold Greek Frappé 232 ml · 63 mgGreece's shaken instant-coffee drink with a thick foam, served over ice with or without evaporated milk. A national summer institution since the late 1950s.
Cold Freddo Cappuccino 220 ml · 127 mgGreece's iced cappuccino: blended cold espresso under a thick cap of cold frothed milk. Ubiquitous in Greek cafés in summer.
Cold Blended Iced Coffee (Frappuccino-style) 430 ml · 36 mgA slushy blended drink of coffee, milk, syrup and ice, usually with whipped cream. The generic form of the trademarked Frappuccino.