Almond Milk Cold Brew (Easy-to-Follow Recipe)

There’s nothing quite like a smooth, sweet cold brew. With minimal acid and a smooth finish, cold brew coffee is an excellent option for those whose stomachs are sensitive to traditionally brewed coffee.

But sometimes, you may want a delicious non-dairy option to go with your cold brew. Enter the almond milk cold brew. You can enjoy this drink hot or cold with a nutty, creamy flavour profile.

Keep reading to find out how to make one.

How to Make an Almond Milk Cold Brew

Just like our delicious cold brew with coconut milk, Home Grounds’ almond milk cold brew is a creamy, smooth, and dairy-free cold brew coffee drink.

Winter is fast approaching in certain corners of the world. This flavoured cold brew coffee drink —along with Irish cream cold brew, our Pumpkin cream cold brew, Old fashioned cold brew, and Cold brew coffee martini— is the perfect cold brew coffee drink to warm you up on blistering, wintry evenings. These drinks are the perfect way to elevate your dinner party from blah to bravissimo.

So how do you make one? Simple, by using the best ingredients. Keep reading for an easy-to-follow guide for making:

• Your almond milk
• Your cold brew coffee concentrate
• And your own cold brew ice cubes

Lastly, keep reading to the end for some delicious optional add-ins.

What Is Almond Milk?

Almond milk is the liquid that results from soaking, blending, and straining raw almonds. Making your own does take a bit of time, but it’s well worth it.

While you can use unsweetened almond milk in many dishes and traditionally dairy-based drinks, you can customize your homemade almond milk with sweeteners and other add-ins (1). So, let’s make some almond milk.

Quick DIY Unsweetened Almond Milk

First, soak one cup of raw almonds overnight in cool water. Soaking almonds improves the flavour, allows for better nutrient absorption, and makes it easier to digest (2).

Next, place your almonds, five cups of water, and ⅛ teaspoon of salt into a blender. Blend everything for at least five minutes, until it reaches a creamy, milky consistency.

Finally, strain your unsweetened almond milk into a glass pitcher through a nut milk bag, paper coffee filter, or fine mesh sieve.

Making Your Own Cold Brew

A personal preference is which single-origin coffee to use for your cold brew concentrate. While some cold brew connoisseurs enjoy a brighter, fruitier brew, others like a smooth, nutty, chocolaty cold brew concentrate.

But the ideal cold brew concentrate, Home Grounds has opted for a smooth, balanced Kona coffee. With notes of milk chocolate, honey, and brown sugar, we think it’s the best candidate for a smooth, sweet cold brew.

To make your cold brew concentrate, combine 1 cup of coarsely ground coffee with 4 cups of room-temperature water in a French press.

Optional Add-Ins

You can customize your almond milk cold brew with add-ins. When blending your almonds, you can add cocoa powder for chocolate almond milk, vanilla bean for almond milk with warm vanilla notes, or a honey mixture for plain sweetened almond milk.

For our almond milk cold brew, we’ve opted to use honey, which yields a honey almond milk cold brew with the most authentic Starbucks flavour.

Now that your almond milk and cold brew concentrate, let’s make some almond milk cold brew.

1. Make Your Almond Milk

First, soak one cup of raw almonds in cool or room-temperature water. Then, place the soaked almonds, ⅛ teaspoon of salt, 5 cups of water, 2 scraped vanilla beans, and two tablespoons of honey into a blender. Blend until the mixture reaches a creamy, smooth consistency.

Strain your mixture into a 1.2-litre glass jug through a nut milk bag, sieve, or coffee filter.

2. Make Your Cold Brew Concentrate

To make your cold brew concentrate, start by grinding one cup of beans in a burr coffee grinder to a coarse grind.

Then, place the cup of coarse ground coffee into a French press with 4 cups of room-temperature water. Gently stir the grounds to ensure they’re thoroughly incorporated.

After placing the plunger and lid on top, let the French press sit on the countertop at room temperature for 16 hours.

Once it’s done, press down the plunger and decant your cold brew into a clean, 950 ml glass jug.

3. Make Your Cold Brew Ice Cubes

Once your cold brew is done, pour the cold brew concentrate into a standard ice cube tray and chill in the freezer.

4. Assemble Your Almond Milk Cold Brew

Place some cold brew ice cubes at the bottom of a 475-ml coffee mug. Then, add 240 ml of cold brew concentrate and 120 ml of honey almond milk.

You can add more honey, whipped cream, or even chocolate curls to your drink if you wish.

Final Thoughts

And there you have it. This refreshing, dairy-free almond milk cold brew is fully customizable. Feel free to change any of these proportions to use this almond milk cold brew in desserts and as a base for other drinks.

Have you made this cold brew almond milk? Drop us a comment below.