Unless you have been living under a rock for the past couple of years, you’ve probably heard of cold brew coffee. It’s all the rage and taking over the coffee world.
After all, why not? It’s sweet, refreshing, and incredibly smooth. What’s not to like?
Making it is super easy, too. But the key factor in cold brew coffee is the actual coffee beans that you use! So what’s the best coffee for cold brew? Let’s look at our favorite picks.
We’ve chosen a variety of roasts, origins, as well as pre-ground and whole bean options. Normally we would not touch pre-ground coffee with a 10 foot pole, but we’re making an exception here, and we’ll tell you why.
Best Coffee For Cold Brew: Top Picks
LifeBoost Coffee Light Roast: best coffee brand for cold brew
LifeBoost Coffee is one of the best coffee brands out there, and for good reason. Their coffees are incredibly easy on the stomach, organic, chemical-free, and taste incredible.
Their secret is sourcing their coffee beans from coffee farms that exclusively grow for them. This allows them to maintain a strict level of quality control over the end result.
Light roast is the best roast for cold brew coffee because cold brew really shines at brewing light and bright coffees. However, light roasts tend to be quite acidic, so we’ve recommended LifeBoost because their coffees are very low in acidity.
The only downside of LifeBoost is that it is incredibly expensive at $35 per bag. However, we’ve tried the coffee and loved it: if you have the extra cash to drop, it’s definitely worth it.
What we like
- Great smooth taste
- Single-origin beans from Nicaragua
- Very strong quality control that shows in the final brew
What we don’t like
- Very expensive: nearly 2.5 times the cost of regular coffee
Stone Street Cold Brew Dark Roast
Next up on our list of the best coffees for cold brew is Stone Street’s Dark Roast. While LifeBoost was a light roast, Stone Street’s Dark Roast offers a really nice contrast in case your palate prefers earthier, deeper, and more caramelized flavors.
Coffee made from Stone Street’s Cold Brew Roast will have a very caramelized flavor that darker roasts are known for, but won’t have the bitterness that sometimes seeps through in hot brewed coffee.
Stone Street’s Cold Brew Roast is available as whole beans and pre-ground coffee. We suggest getting whole bean coffee and grinding as much as you need, but if you don’t have a grinder, the pre-ground option is also there to consider.
In case you feel the coffee is too strong even after brewing with a regular ratio, you can always dilute it a little further or add a splash of milk before drinking.
What we like
- Colombian supremo beans are some of the best in the world
- Smooth, caramelized flavor without any extra bitterness
- Signature blend for cold brew
What we don’t like
- Some folks may find the dark roast too intense
Bizzy Organic Cold Brew Bags Medium Roast: best pre ground coffee for cold brew
The Bizzy Organic Cold Brew Bags are really convenient all-in-one solutions to make cold brew coffee. With these bags, you won’t even need a special cold brew coffee maker: just a regular jug or mason jar will do the trick just fine, and clean-up is really easy.
Just add two bags of coffee to 4 cups of coffee to make a cold brew concentrate, brew for 12 to 18 hours, and then dilute with another 3 cups of water.
Alternatively, you can just use two bags to 7 cups for a straight brew.
Bizzy coffees are organic and sourced from Central America, home to some of the best coffees in the world. You’ll taste sweet flavors like caramel and hazelnut.
What we like
- Conveniently packaged in bags for easy brewing
- Each package contains 4 brew bags
- Use a single brew bag for a smaller batch
What we don’t like
- Some folks may wish to opt for whole beans
Ovalware 08 Neptune Cold Brew Blend
The Ovalware 08 cold brew blend is made from a blend of Brazilian and Colombian coffee beans, two of the most prime coffee growing regions in the world.
This coffee is available in whole beans so you can grind it at home just before you brew to unlock the optimal flavors and tasting notes.
The chocolate, almond, and creamy flavor notes work really well in cold brew coffee and the result is a smooth and refreshing drink that will delight your taste buds every time.
These blends combine the best of what each region has to offer and the result is a really flavorful and sweet brew.
What we like
- Whole bean coffee
- Very economical for an entire pound of coffee beans
- Organic
What we don’t like
- Some people may prefer brighter flavors rather than earthy flavors for cold brew