Cold brew is coffee steeped in cold water for 12 to 24 hours. Iced coffee is coffee brewed hot and then chilled, ideally by brewing it straight onto ice. Cold brew tastes smooth, sweet, and chocolatey, with very little sharpness. Iced coffee tastes like the hot coffee it came from: brighter, fruitier, and more aromatic. Cold brew takes a day and nearly twice the coffee, but a batch lasts a week. Iced coffee takes five minutes and is best drunk straight away.
Neither one is better. Make cold brew if you want smooth cold coffee waiting in the fridge every morning. Make iced coffee if you want it now, or you have a bag of light, fruity coffee you want to actually taste.
Side by side
| Cold brew | Iced coffee | |
|---|---|---|
| How it is made | Coarse coffee steeped in cool water, then strained | Brewed hot, then chilled on ice |
| Time | 12–16 hours on the counter, 18–24 in the fridge | About 5 minutes |
| Hands-on work | About 5 minutes to set up, 5 to strain | About 5 minutes, every time |
| Taste | Smooth, sweet, chocolatey, heavy | Bright, fruity, aromatic, crisp |
| Sharpness | Low | Like the same coffee brewed hot |
| Coffee per 12-oz glass | About 44g | About 25g |
| Caffeine per glass | More, because there is more coffee in it | About the same as a hot mug |
| Keeps | 7–10 days as a concentrate | Drink it fresh |
| Best beans | Medium and dark roasts | Light and medium roasts |
| Equipment | A jar and a sieve | Whatever brewer you already use |
The coffee-per-glass figures assume cold brew at 1:10 and iced coffee at the site’s usual 1:16, each for 12 ounces of finished drink before serving ice.
Why they taste so different
Temperature decides what comes out of the grounds. Hot water dissolves coffee’s bright acids and aromatic compounds within minutes. Cold water works far more slowly, and even after a night of steeping it pulls out less of the acidity that makes hot coffee taste sharp. What is left is the sweet, heavy, chocolatey side of the coffee. That is cold brew’s appeal, and also its cost: it flattens the fruit and floral notes a light roast is bought for.
Iced coffee extracts everything a hot cup does, then cools in seconds on the ice. Chilling it fast matters. Coffee left to cool slowly loses aroma and tastes flat and papery, which is why a pot of yesterday’s coffee from the fridge never tastes as good as coffee brewed onto ice.
To taste the difference for yourself, make both from the same bag of medium roast and drink them side by side. The cold brew will taste rounder, sweeter, and heavier, a little like unsweetened chocolate milk without the milk. The iced coffee will taste crisper and closer to the notes printed on the bag.
Is cold brew less acidic?
It tastes much less acidic, and many people with sensitive stomachs find it easier to drink. The chemistry is more modest than the marketing. A 2018 study found cold brew and hot coffee had similar pH, though the hot coffee had more total acidity. So cold brew is gentler and less sharp, not a different drink. Low-acid coffee covers what else helps, including a darker roast and adding milk.
Which has more caffeine?
Cold brew, per glass, because it is made with more coffee. Cold water does not pull out more caffeine than hot water. Caffeine dissolves easily at any temperature, and in tests at Thomas Jefferson University it stopped rising after six or seven hours of cold steeping. What makes the difference is the recipe: a 12-ounce glass of ready-to-drink cold brew holds about 44g of coffee, against about 25g for the same glass of iced coffee.
| A 12-ounce glass, before ice | Coffee in it |
|---|---|
| Hot drip at 1:16, for comparison | About 25g |
| Iced coffee at 1:16 | About 25g |
| Cold brew at 1:12, ready to drink | About 36g |
| Cold brew at 1:10, or a 1:6 concentrate diluted 1:1 | About 44g |
| A 1:6 concentrate, undiluted | About 89g |
Caffeine roughly follows the coffee, so a glass of cold brew carries about one and a half times the caffeine of the same glass of iced coffee. The last row is the one to watch. Cold brew concentrate is meant to be diluted, usually 1:1. Poured straight like ordinary coffee, it carries several times the caffeine of a mug of drip. See which coffee has the most caffeine for how caffeine compares across every method on this site.
Cost per glass
Because cold brew uses so much more coffee, the same bag goes little more than half as far. A 12-ounce (340g) bag makes about 7 glasses of ready-to-drink cold brew, or about 13 glasses of iced coffee.
A concentrate does not change this. Brewed at 1:6 and diluted 1:1, it ends up at the same strength as ready-to-drink cold brew, from the same amount of coffee. It just takes up half the fridge space. Either way, both cost far less than buying a cold drink at a café.
Time and effort
Cold brew is the less work of the two, if you drink cold coffee most days. Stir coffee and water together in a jar, leave it overnight, and strain it in the morning. That is about ten minutes of work for a week of glasses that only need pouring.
Iced coffee is five minutes of brewing every time, plus the brewer to wash. That is nothing for an occasional glass and a chore every morning. On the other hand, it needs no planning, and it uses the brewer you already own.
How to make each one
Cold brew in brief
- Stir 60g of coarse coffee into 600g of cool water in a jar until there are no dry clumps.
- Cover and steep 12–16 hours at room temperature, or 18–24 hours in the fridge.
- Strain through a fine sieve, then through a paper filter for a cleaner cup.
- Serve over ice.
That makes about 480g, or 16 ounces, ready to drink. For a concentrate, use more coffee and dilute it in the glass; the cold brew ratio has the amounts for pint and quart jars. How to make cold brew covers the grind, straining, and storage in full.
Iced coffee in brief
- Put 160g of ice in a carafe or heatproof jug.
- Set a pourover cone on top and add 30g of coffee, a step finer than usual.
- Pour 320g of water just off the boil through it, with a short bloom first.
- Swirl until the ice in the carafe melts, then pour over a glass of fresh ice.
The ice in the carafe is part of the brewing water, so the finished drink is at full strength rather than watered down. How to make iced coffee gives the version for an AeroPress, French press, drip machine, and espresso.
Which should you make?
Make cold brew if:
- You want cold coffee ready in the fridge every morning.
- You like coffee smooth and chocolatey, or hot coffee is hard on your stomach.
- You usually add milk or sweetener. Cold brew concentrate and cold milk make an easy iced latte; see how to make a latte.
- Your coffee is a medium or dark roast.
Make iced coffee if:
- You want a cold coffee in the next five minutes.
- You have a light, fruity coffee and want to taste it.
- You drink cold coffee only now and then.
- You want the same caffeine as your usual hot cup, not more.
- You do not have room in the fridge for a jar.
If you cannot decide, start with iced coffee. It costs nothing to try with the brewer you already have, and you will know by the first glass whether you wanted something smoother.
Ordering at a café
The names on café menus mostly follow the same split:
- Iced coffee usually means coffee brewed hot and then chilled or poured over ice. Some cafés brew it at double strength so that the ice does not water it down.
- Cold brew costs more because it uses more coffee and takes a day to make.
- Nitro cold brew is cold brew infused with nitrogen and poured from a tap. The tiny bubbles give it a creamy texture and a foamy head without any milk.
- Japanese-style iced coffee is the brewed-onto-ice method in this guide.
- Iced Americano is espresso topped up with cold water and ice. It tastes lighter and sharper than cold brew.
- Iced latte is espresso and cold milk over ice.
- Vietnamese iced coffee is strong phin coffee stirred into sweetened condensed milk and poured over ice; see how to make Vietnamese coffee.
Common questions
Can you heat cold brew?
Yes. Mix concentrate 1:1 with hot water rather than boiling it, and you get a smooth, mellow hot cup with very little sharpness. It will not taste like freshly brewed hot coffee, because the bright, aromatic notes were never extracted in the first place.
Can you make iced coffee from leftover hot coffee?
You can, but chilled leftovers taste flat, and pouring hot coffee over a full glass of ice waters it down. Freeze leftovers in an ice tray instead. Coffee ice cubes chill a fresh glass without diluting it.
Can you use the same beans for both?
Yes. A medium roast is the best compromise: sweet enough for cold brew and bright enough to taste good brewed hot onto ice. A very light roast is better spent on iced coffee, and a very dark one on cold brew.
Why is my cold brew bitter, or my iced coffee watery?
Bitter or woody cold brew has usually steeped too long or been ground too fine; the cold brew fix table has the rest. Watery iced coffee means too much ice melted into it. Put more of the water in the carafe as ice and less through the grounds, or use a little more coffee; see the iced coffee fixes.