Cold Brew Concentrate substitute

Best substitute

Espresso, cooled

Use the same amount by volume as the cold brew concentrate you are replacing

Best for iced lattes and coffee drinks

Different taste

The dilution is the whole point and the thing that ruins recipes when people get it wrong: concentrate runs two to three times the strength of ordinary coffee, so one part concentrate to one or two parts water or milk makes a drink, and bottled ready-to-drink cold brew is not the same product. In a recipe, concentrate delivers a lot of coffee flavour in very little liquid, which is exactly why ice cream and no-bake fillings call for it. The best substitutes, all used 1:1 by volume, are cooled espresso, which is comparable in strength but much brighter and more acidic; double-strength hot brewed coffee, chilled, which is the easiest but changes cold brew's defining smoothness; and 2 teaspoons of instant coffee dissolved in 1/4 cup of cold water, which nails the strength if not the finesse. If all you have is bottled ready-to-drink cold brew, you need two to three times the volume the recipe asks for, so reduce it on the stove first rather than pouring that much extra liquid into a batter.

Other cold brew concentrate substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Instant coffee dissolved in cold water
Different taste
Use 2 tsp instant coffee for every ¼ cup cold water, used 1:1
A rough concentrate assembled in thirty seconds from a jar of instant.
What changes
Best for
baking and frostings, no-churn ice cream, tiramisu, emergency iced coffee
Gets the strength right, which is the part that actually matters in a recipe, and costs nothing. It tastes flatter, ashier and more bitter than real cold brew, because instant coffee is made from hot-extracted coffee that was then dried, so it carries all the bitter compounds cold brewing avoids plus a faint cooked note. A pinch of salt in the mixture noticeably tames that bitterness. Stir until fully dissolved; cold water is slow, so give it a minute.
3Double-strength hot brewed coffee, chilled
Different taste
Brew with half the usual water, cool completely, then use 1:1
Ordinary drip or French press coffee made at twice the normal strength and refrigerated.
What changes
Best for
coffee cakes and brownies, tiramisu, frostings, affogato-style desserts
The most accessible option and the one that changes cold brew's defining quality, because hot water extracts far more acid and far more bitter compounds from the same grounds. Expect a sharper, more astringent result: in a chocolate cake that is entirely fine and arguably useful, and in a smooth iced coffee it is the difference people are usually paying for. If it tastes sour, a few grains of baking soda per cup, and it really is only a few grains, will round it off.
4Espresso powder dissolved in cold water
Different taste
Use 1 Tbsp espresso powder for every ½ cup cold water, used 1:1
The baking-aisle instant, which is milled finer and roasted darker than ordinary instant coffee.
What changes
Best for
ganache and frostings, custards and puddings, brownies and chocolate cakes, coffee syrups
Better than ordinary instant for anything smooth, since espresso powder dissolves completely and leaves no granular residue that could grit up a custard or a buttercream. The flavour is darker and more roasted than cold brew, closer to a burnt-sugar bitterness than to cold brew's cocoa-like roundness, which suits chocolate very well and suits a delicate iced latte less. It is potent, so measure rather than eyeballing.
5Bottled ready-to-drink cold brew
Different texture
Use 2 to 3 times the volume the recipe asks for, and remove the same amount of other liquid, or reduce it on the stove first
The same coffee already diluted for drinking, which is what most people actually have in the fridge.
What changes
Best for
iced coffee drinks, cake soaks, cocktails, recipes with liquid to spare
The flavour is exactly right, since it is literally the same coffee, so this is purely a volume problem. In a drink it is trivial: just use more and less milk. In a cake, a custard or an ice cream base you usually cannot absorb triple the liquid, so simmer it down by two thirds in a small pan first, cool it, and use it 1:1. Reducing does dull the aroma slightly and concentrates any bitterness, so taste before committing.
6Chicory coffee or a caffeine-free coffee alternative concentrate
Different taste
Use the same amount by volume, brewed at double strength
Roasted chicory root, barley or rye brewed strong, giving coffee-like colour and bitterness with no caffeine.
What changes
Best for
caffeine-free tiramisu and desserts, coffee-flavoured cakes, iced drinks for children, evening desserts
The only option here that removes the caffeine, and it looks convincingly like coffee. Flavour-wise it is woody and molasses-sweet rather than roasty and bitter, so a tiramisu made with it comes out sweeter and gentler and the ladyfingers taste less like coffee-soaked biscuits and more like spiced ones. Brew it more strongly than you think, because chicory reads as strong on bitterness while contributing less actual depth.

What is Cold Brew Concentrate?

Cold Brew Concentrate is Cold brew concentrate is coffee steeped in cold water for twelve to twenty-four hours and then strained, giving a smooth, low-acid coffee liquid roughly two to three times the strength of a normal brewed cup that is meant to be diluted before drinking.

Cooking tips

The overnight fix is easier than any substitute: 1 cup of coarsely ground coffee to 4 cups of cold water in a jar, left twelve to eighteen hours on the counter or in the fridge, then strained through a paper filter or a clean tea towel. That gives you concentrate at roughly the strength bottles are sold at, and it needs no equipment.
Concentrate and ready-to-drink cold brew sit next to each other on the shelf in almost identical bottles, and mixing them up is the most common cause of a recipe tasting weak. Taste a sip: concentrate is unpleasantly strong and slightly syrupy on its own, and ready-to-drink tastes like a normal iced coffee.
Cold brew tastes less bitter but often carries more caffeine per ounce than drip coffee, because of the high coffee-to-water ratio rather than the temperature. Double-strength hot coffee roughly matches it, while bottled ready-to-drink gives you about a third as much per ounce, which matters if you are making something for the evening.
In no-churn ice cream and no-bake fillings, concentrate is specified precisely because it delivers coffee flavour without water, and extra water is what makes those desserts icy or soft-set. Any substitute that adds volume must be balanced by removing the same volume of cream, milk or other liquid.
Concentrate keeps one to two weeks refrigerated in a sealed bottle. It does not spoil dramatically so much as dull: it goes papery and loses the natural sweetness that makes cold brew pleasant, so an older bottle may need a little more than the recipe says and a pinch of salt.

Frequently asked questions

How much water do I add to cold brew concentrate?

One part concentrate to one or two parts water or milk, depending on how strong you like it and how much ice you are using. Start at one to one, taste, and dilute further. Over ice, lean stronger, because a full glass of ice will add the equivalent of a couple of ounces of water as it melts. There is no single official ratio, since concentrate strength varies between brands by a fair margin.

Can I use instant coffee instead of cold brew concentrate?

Yes, and it is the fastest option. Dissolve 2 teaspoons of instant coffee in 1/4 cup of cold water and use it 1:1 for concentrate. It gets the strength right, which is what matters most in a recipe, but it tastes flatter and more bitter than real cold brew because instant is made from hot-extracted coffee. A pinch of salt stirred in takes a surprising amount of that bitterness away.

Is bottled cold brew the same as cold brew concentrate?

No, and the labels are confusingly similar. Ready-to-drink bottled cold brew is already diluted for drinking, so it is roughly a third the strength of concentrate. If a recipe wants a quarter cup of concentrate you need something like three quarters of a cup of ready-to-drink, which is far too much extra liquid for most batters and custards, so simmer it down by two thirds first and let it cool.

Can I use espresso instead of cold brew concentrate?

Yes, 1:1 by volume, since cooled espresso sits in a similar strength range. What changes is character: espresso is much more acidic and aromatic because hot pressurised extraction pulls out compounds that cold steeping leaves in the grounds, so the result tastes bright and sharp rather than smooth and cocoa-like. In chocolate desserts and tiramisu that works well; in a plain iced latte the difference is obvious.

Can I leave the cold brew concentrate out?

Only if it is a minor flavouring. In a chocolate cake where a couple of tablespoons deepen the cocoa, you can leave it out and simply replace the volume with milk or water. In coffee ice cream, tiramisu, an iced latte or a coffee frosting, the concentrate is the flavour of the dish and there is no version without some form of strong coffee in it.

Related substitutes

More beverages substitutes

Cold Brew Concentrate substitute

Other cold brew concentrate substitutes

2Instant coffee dissolved in cold water

3Double-strength hot brewed coffee, chilled

4Espresso powder dissolved in cold water

5Bottled ready-to-drink cold brew

6Chicory coffee or a caffeine-free coffee alternative concentrate