The Espresso Martini Has Nothing on These 2 Drinks

Despite its name (and temperature), cold brew’s season extends far beyond summer’s last breath — especially when put to use behind the bar.

It is just as easy — if more time intensive — to make your own cold brew as it is to make hot coffee. On the other side of the time it takes lies the reward of a smooth, nuanced drink with less acidity and bitterness than its hot-brewed counterpart. And it’s possible without any special equipment: Even your French press will do, loaded with just coarsely ground beans and water. Ally Walsh, a founder and the creative director of Canyon Coffee, suggests using one part coffee to eight parts water — for example, a half cup of coarsely ground coffee beans, preferably a lighter roast, to four cups of room-temperature water for a cold brew that needs no further dilution. Or to make a stronger concentrate, use one part coffee to four parts water (a half cup ground beans to two cups water).

The amount of time you allow the mixture to steep also helps dictate the flavor and potency. “The longer you let it sit, the more it will extract and the stronger the coffee will be,” Ms. Walsh said. “Taste it after 24 hours and if you want it stronger, let it sit longer.” Seventy-two hours should be the maximum extraction time. The resulting cold brew should last for about a week.

But if it’s immediate gratification you’re looking for, opt for a can or bottle of quality premade cold brew concentrate, looking for those without added sweeteners.

Recipe: Coffee Tonic

In the mornings, make a coffee tonic, a play on an espresso tonic, which features a crisp, quinine-bittered combination of espresso and tonic water. The beverage first appeared in 2007 at Koppi Roasters in Helsingborg, Sweden and is now served over ice in many a specialty coffee shop. But in this coffee tonic variation, a quick pour of cold brew stands in for the drink’s classic shot of espresso.