How to Use the Cold Brew Calculator
Cold brew starts simple: add coffee and water, let it steep, and filter. The tricky part is knowing how much of each to use for your jar, your preferred strength, and how you plan to drink it. That’s what this calculator handles.
Tell it what you’re making, how strong you want it, and how much you have to work with — and it gives you exact amounts, a concentrate yield, dilution instructions, and steep time recommendations. No guessing, no math.
Step 1: Choose Your Brew Style
The calculator supports four ways to approach a batch. Pick the one that matches how you want to brew.
Step 2: Choose Your Strength
Strength in cold brew is set by how much coffee you use relative to water. The calculator gives you three practical levels to start from — you can fine-tune from there.
What the Calculator Gives You
After you enter your brew style and strength, the calculator outputs everything you need to start brewing.
Cold Brew Ratio Reference Chart
If you want to understand what’s behind the calculator, this chart shows the full range of cold brew ratios and what each one produces. Ratios are expressed as parts coffee to parts water by weight.
| Strength Name | Ratio | Type | How to Drink It |
|---|---|---|---|
| Extra Strong Concentrate | 1:4 | Concentrate | Always dilute — good for lattes and coffee cocktails |
| Standard Concentrate Most popular | 1:5 | Concentrate | Dilute 1:1 with water or milk before drinking |
| Balanced Concentrate | 1:6 | Concentrate | Dilute to taste — slightly more forgiving |
| Mild Concentrate | 1:8 | Concentrate | Light dilution needed — close to ready-to-drink |
| Ready-to-Drink | 1:12 – 1:15 | Ready-to-drink | Drink straight over ice — no dilution required |
Not sure which ratio is right for you? Start at Standard Concentrate (1:5), taste the finished brew, and adjust your next batch stronger or weaker. Most people land somewhere between 1:5 and 1:8 for concentrate.
Other Variables That Affect Your Brew
Ratio gets you most of the way there. These other variables help you dial in consistency and flavor quality over time.
Grind Size
Use a coarse grind — similar to kosher salt or a French press grind. Finer grinds over-extract and make filtering difficult.
Steep Time
12–24 hours in the fridge is the standard range. Room temperature brews faster (12–14 hours). Beyond 24 hours, bitterness increases.
Water Quality
Filtered water produces a noticeably cleaner result. Tap water can introduce flavors that compete with the coffee.
Coffee Roast
Medium to dark roasts are most forgiving for cold brew. Their bold flavors hold up well during the long steep.
Filtration
A fine-mesh strainer handles the grounds. Adding a paper filter removes oils and sediment for a cleaner, smoother cup.
Storage
Keep finished cold brew sealed in the fridge. Best within 7–10 days. Flavor gradually fades after the first week.
For a complete step-by-step guide, see how to make cold brew coffee.
Once you’ve nailed your ratio, the next step is fast, clean filtration. JARVA uses pressure-based filtration to push your cold brew through multi-layer filters in about 60 seconds after steeping — no gravity drip, no sediment, no mess.
See How JARVA Filters Cold Brew Pressure filtration system for home cold brew