Coffee is popular in so many forms across the world. Cold brew coffee is a way of making coffee that a lot of people are asking about. People especially want to know whether they can heat up cold brew coffee to drink it hot!
The short answer is yes. You can heat up cold brew coffee to drink it hot by adding hot water, with the microwave, and even the stovetop.
Keep reading to know more details on how to heat up and enjoy your coffee!
What Is Cold Brew Coffee?
Cold brew coffee is really popular with a lot of people, and so many more are wondering how it’s made!
Cold brew coffee is actually really simple to make. As you might have guessed by the name, the trick to cold brewed coffee is to use cold water instead of hot.
Cold brew coffee takes a lot longer to make than regular coffee made with hot water.
Instead of being able to make a cup or a jar quite quickly, you’ll have to let the coffee mixture for anywhere up to 16 hours in order to get the flavor just right.
However, once you’ve finished your brew, you’ll be greeted with a deliciously strong yet extremely pleasant coffee that has a much less harsh quality to it than regular brewed coffee.
Of course, not everybody likes to drink their coffee cold, even if they find the idea of cold brewed coffee appealing.
Can You Heat Cold Brew Coffee Up?
With that in mind, people often ask whether it’s ok or even possible to drink cold brewed coffee hot!
The good news is that yes, it’s definitely possible to have this amazing way of making coffee as hot as you like it, provided you take the time to do so!
The usual way of enjoying cold brewed coffee is with ice, of course, and it’s an extremely delicious drink!
However, it’s not for everybody, and if you like your coffee hot, you can definitely still have a hot drink of cold brewed coffee.
Indeed, this is how many people prefer their cold brewed coffee.
Lots of people have switched over to cold brewed coffee exclusively, as they love the taste and preparation method so much.
We’ll take a look at some of the most popular methods for heating up your delicious cold brewed coffee!
Using Hot Water
One of the simplest ways to heat up your cold brew coffee is to simply add hot water!
When you make cold brew coffee, you’re actually making a coffee that’s far stronger than coffee made by the regular method.
This is of course because, despite using cold water to make it, you’re leaving it to steep for so long.
After all, 16 hours is a lot of time for the strength of your chosen coffee bean to make its way into the water!
It’s so strong, in fact, that you’re actually supposed to sometimes dilute cold brew coffee before you drink it.
Otherwise, it would likely be too strong, and unbearable to rink.
Most cold brew coffees that you can buy in store in fact come in concentrated form, which absolutely need to be diluted.
In these cases, by far the easiest way to enjoy a hot cup of cold brewed coffee is to simply dilute it with hot water!
Doing this also means that you can’t accidentally burn the coffee, and ruin the flavor.
Using A Microwave
However, if you’re not using a concentrated cold brew coffee, you can still heat it up in a few ways to enjoy it hot.
Another really simple way that a lot of people love is to heat your coffee up in the microwave!
Of course, you always have to be careful when you’re eating liquids up in the microwave.
As many microwave ovens are extremely powerful, it can be easy to accidentally overheat the coffee.
This can lead to the taste being impaired, and in some cases even ruined!
So, take it slowly when you’re using a microwave oven to heat your cold brew coffee up.
Heat slowly in a microwave safe mug or vessel, going no more than 20-30 seconds at a time. Check the temperature very carefully before you drink, as you don’t want to risk a burn!
Be extremely careful not to overheat any liquids in the microwave, as there’s always a risk of something called superheating happening.
Essentially, the liquid gets heated past the boiling point, but doesn’t actually change into a gas until it’s disturbed or a nucleation site forms.
When this happens, the liquid can explode violently, and could seriously hurt you!
Using The Stovetop
If you don’t like the sound of using a microwave to heat up your delicious cold brew coffee, you can actually heat it up using a pan on your stovetop!
This can be a little more time consuming, as you’ll of course have to wash out your pan afterwards – which can make it annoying to do repeatedly over the day!
It’s also easy to accidentally boil or burn your coffee on the stovetop if you’re not careful.
Therefore, it’s really important that you only use a low temperature setting to heat up your cold brew coffee if you’re using the stove.
For a lot of people, this might not be the most ideal way of heating up their cold brew coffee, but it’s certainly effective!
How To Make Cold Brew Coffee?
Lots of people prefer to simply buy their cold brew coffee from a store, often in concentrate form.
However, you can easily make your own cold brew coffee at home!
One of the best ways to do it at home is using a French press.
You’ll need around half a cup to three quarters of a cup of coffee beans to make cold brew coffee using this method.
Make sure that they’re coarse ground for the best results.
Add the coffee beans to the French press, then add two cups of cold water.
Add the plunger, and while keeping it upright, cover the top with saran wrap.
Now, place the French press into the refrigerator. Leave it there for anywhere between 12 hours and 16 hours.
After this time, take it out of the fridge and press the plunger. Your cold brew coffee is now ready, and can last for nearly a week!
Conclusion
Hopefully this guide has helped you learn how to make and heat up cold brew coffee!