The Cold Brew Cookbook, Part 2: 7 Bolder Recipes for Cocktails, Brunch, and Summer
The Cold Brew Cookbook, Part 2
7 bolder recipes for cocktails, brunch, and summer afternoons
Cold brew is not just a morning drink. Built right, the same jar of concentrate turns into a cocktail, a brunch staple, a fizzy summer spritz, or a dessert in a glass.
This is Part 2 of the Buddha Beans cold brew cookbook. Seven recipes that take coffee past the breakfast hour: two cocktails for the long-shake crowd, a smoothie engineered for the gym, a campfire-energy dessert drink, the strawberry cream that lives on every Instagram FYP, and the cascara coffee cherry spritz nobody else is serving.
Every recipe builds on our Cold Brew House Blend. Fair trade, micro-roasted, 300mg of organic hemp per bag. Save the page. Try one tonight. Tag us when you do.
What's inside
1. Espresso Martini with Mole Bitters
The 18-second shake. Long, hard, and worth it for the crema.
You'll need
- 2 oz vodka
- 1 oz coffee liqueur (Mr. Black preferred)
- 1.5 oz cold brew concentrate
- ½ oz vanilla demerara syrup
- 3 dashes mole bitters
- 3 coffee beans for garnish
How to build it
- Combine vodka, coffee liqueur, cold brew concentrate, vanilla demerara, and bitters in a cocktail shaker.
- Fill with ice and shake hard for a full 18 seconds. The long shake builds the crema.
- Double-strain into a chilled coupe.
- Float three coffee beans on the foam.
Mole bitters are the twist that separates this from every other espresso martini at the bar. The cocoa and chile aromatics deepen the coffee notes without sweetening anything.
2. Cold Brew Old Fashioned
Bourbon, one big rock, slow night.
You'll need
- 2 oz bourbon
- ¾ oz cold brew concentrate
- ½ oz cocoa-nib demerara syrup (recipe below)
- 2 dashes Angostura bitters
- 1 dash orange bitters
- Large ice cube
- Expressed orange peel
Cocoa-nib demerara: Simmer ½ cup demerara sugar, ½ cup water, and 2 Tbsp raw cocoa nibs for 5 minutes. Strain and cool.
How to build it
- Combine bourbon, cold brew concentrate, cocoa-nib demerara, and both bitters in a mixing glass with ice.
- Stir for 30 seconds until well chilled and properly diluted.
- Strain over one large ice cube in a rocks glass.
- Express the orange peel over the surface, then drop it in.
Stirred, not shaken. Cocktails with no citrus or egg should always be stirred for clarity and texture. Shaking aerates and clouds the drink.
3. Banana-Date Smoothie
Breakfast in a glass. Dense, creamy, mildly caffeinated.
You'll need
- 6 oz cold brew
- 1 frozen banana
- 3 Medjool dates, pitted
- 1 Tbsp almond butter
- ¾ cup oat milk
- ¼ tsp Ceylon cinnamon
- 1 scoop collagen powder (optional)
- Cocoa nibs for garnish
How to build it
- Add everything to a high-speed blender.
- Blend on high for 45 to 60 seconds until completely silky.
- Pour into a tall glass. Top with cocoa nibs.
Freeze ripe bananas peeled, broken into chunks, in a zip bag. They blend creamier than fresh and they eliminate the need for added ice.
4. Toasted Marshmallow
Campfire energy. Indoor execution.
You'll need
- 6 oz cold brew
- 1 oz toasted-marshmallow syrup (recipe below)
- 2 oz heavy cream
- 1 fresh marshmallow, torched, for the top
- Graham cracker crumble for the glass rim
- Ice
Toasted-marshmallow syrup: Torch 6 marshmallows until deeply charred (almost black). Add them to a saucepan with ½ cup water and ¼ cup sugar. Simmer 5 minutes until the marshmallows dissolve. Strain.
How to build it
- Rim a tall glass with crushed graham crackers.
- Pour cold brew and syrup over ice in the glass.
- Top with heavy cream, floated over the back of a spoon.
- Torch one more marshmallow until charred and balance it on the rim.
Get the char deep. A barely-toasted marshmallow makes a syrup that tastes like sugar water. A blackened marshmallow makes syrup that tastes like a campfire.
5. Cold Brew Lemonade with Muddled Basil
Two-tone, do not stir. The summer staple.
You'll need
- 4 oz fresh lemonade (juice of 2 lemons, 2 Tbsp sugar, 6 oz water)
- 4 oz cold brew
- 6 fresh basil leaves
- Ice
How to build it
- Muddle basil leaves in the bottom of a tall glass.
- Fill with ice.
- Pour the lemonade in first.
- Float cold brew on top by pouring over the back of a spoon. Do not stir.
The visual split is the whole point. Two layers, pale yellow under deep brown, stay separated for the first minute. Serve, photograph, then stir to drink.
6. Cascara Coffee Cherry Spritz
The drink nobody else is serving. Fizzy, dairy-free, all coffee.
You'll need
- 4 oz cold brew
- 2 oz chilled cascara tea (recipe below)
- 2 oz sparkling water
- ¾ oz hibiscus-lime syrup
- Dehydrated lime wheel for garnish
- Crushed ice
Cascara tea: Cascara is the dried husk of the coffee cherry, the fruit that surrounds every coffee bean. Most cascara gets thrown away. The right roasters sell it as tea. Steep 2 Tbsp dried cascara in 8 oz hot water for 5 minutes, then chill. Tastes like hibiscus, rosehip, and dried cherry.
How to build it
- Pour hibiscus-lime syrup into a wine glass or stemmed tumbler.
- Fill with crushed ice.
- Add cascara tea, then cold brew, then sparkling water.
- Garnish with the dehydrated lime wheel.
This is the recipe that signals you know coffee. Cascara is the most underused ingredient in specialty coffee, and the spritz format makes it the most refreshing drink you'll make all summer.
7. Whipped Strawberry Cream
The hero shot. Pink on brown, Instagram-broken.
You'll need
- 6 oz cold brew
- 4 oz oat milk
- 1 Tbsp vanilla syrup
- Strawberry cold foam (recipe below)
- 1 fresh strawberry, sliced, for garnish
- Ice
Strawberry cold foam: Whip ½ cup heavy cream, 2 Tbsp freeze-dried strawberry powder, and 1 Tbsp sugar to soft peaks (about 90 seconds in a stand mixer). Keep cold.
How to build it
- Stir vanilla syrup into oat milk in a tall glass.
- Add ice, then cold brew.
- Spoon strawberry foam thickly on top, mounding it high.
- Slot a sliced strawberry on the rim.
Freeze-dried strawberry powder, not strawberry syrup. Powder gives the foam structure and a real strawberry flavor. Syrup turns into pink sugar water that won't hold a peak.
The right bag changes everything
Every recipe in this cookbook is built on our Cold Brew House Blend. Micro-roasted in small batches. Fair trade. 300mg of organic hemp per 12 oz bag.
