Toasted coconut cold brew: Skip the expensive and highly-processed take-out cold brew and make your own version at home! This coconut coffee syrup is made with just 3 ingredients!

It should be no surprise to you, if you’ve been around these parts for long enough, that I’m a pretty big fan of coffee-flavored treats.

I’m particularly fond of these espresso dark chocolate coconut cookies, this cappuccino fudge cheesecake, these caramel frappuccino cupcakes, and these turbo-charged brownies with salted caramel peanut topping. Yes, it’s safe to say that coffee is a big thing here.

It’s a “thing” I look forward to most about our weekends. That first hot cup on a morning where there’s no rushing around.

Watching the sun come up from the porch. Pure bliss!

My weekday mornings, of course, are a bit more hectic. And when June hits and the windows usher in that cool, dry early summer morning air, it’s ALWAYS iced coffee in my tumbler on the way to work. However, it wasn’t until this summer that cold brew finally took hold of me.

Enter this toasted coconut coffee syrup: the perfect cold brew, iced coffee, iced latte, or hot latte sweetener. Simply made, it’s toasted unsweetened coconut steeped in hot simple syrup and then strained to leave a smoothly flavored coffee syrup. After it’s chilled and poured into a cup of cold brew, my commute doesn’t seem so bad.

The flavored coffee offered by my favorite bagel shop in New Haven inspired this creation but there’s no comparison here. No preservatives or artificial flavors in this coconut syrup – just a hint of coconut in my now favorite cup of cold brew.

This toasted coconut cold brew just helps make life so, so good. It’s the simple things, right?

Toasted Coconut Cold Brew Coffee

Name: Toasted Coconut Cold Brew Coffee
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 12 h 20 min
Yield: 1
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 2 cups whole coffee beans; 2 quarts water; 1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes or sweetened shredded coconut; 1 cup granulated sugar; 1 cup water

Yield: about 1 ½ quarts cold brew | about 1 cup toasted coconut coffee syrup

Active Prep Time: 5 minutes

Inactive Prep Time: 12 hours

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 12 hours 20 minutes

Toasted coconut cold brew coffee is a terrific summer drink that will save you some time and money by making at home. This cold brew is actually a coffee concentrate and it needs some water in the drinking glass to help mellow it out, unless of course, you're into really strong coffee. Then by all means, skip adding water to your glass and go for the gusto!

Ingredients

For the cold brew concentrate:

2 cups whole coffee beans
2 quarts water

For the toasted coconut coffee syrup:

1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes or sweetened shredded coconut
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup water

Instructions

To make the toasted coconut coffee syrup: Preheat oven to 425° F and adjust the top rack to the second notch from the top of the oven. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat and spread the coconut out in an even layer. Toast the coconut for 7-10 minutes until nicely browned and toasted, tossing after 5 minutes. Watch the coconut carefully as it can burn easily.
Stir the sugar and water together in a small saucepan and bring the mixture to a simmer over medium-high heat. Simmer for 5 minutes, remove from the heat, and stir in the warm toasted coconut. Cover and allow the coconut to steep in the syrup for 30 minutes. Pour the syrup through a fine mesh strainer into a mason jar or resealable glass bottle to cool. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before using. There may be some coconut residue in the syrup; if that bothers you, strain the syrup once more and if not, shake before adding to your coffee.
To make the cold brew: Grind the coffee beans on the coarse or French press grind setting (typically setting 1 or 2 on a burr grinder) or have your favorite coffee shop grind your favorite beans. If using freshly ground coffee (that you're scooping from a bag of ground coffee), you'll need about 1¼ to 1½ cups of coarsely ground coffee.
Fill up a large pitcher with 2 quarts of water and stir in the coffee with a wooden or plastic spoon. Cover and allow the coffee to sit at room temperature out of direct sunlight for 12-24 hours.
Strain the coffee through a double layer of cheesecloth or a paper towel (my preferred method) in a fine mesh strainer set over another pitcher. If you notice coffee grounds floating in the strained coffee, strain it once more. I don't find this to be an issue with the paper towel method. Refrigerate until cold.
To serve: Fill a glass with ice. Pour about 2 tablespoons of the syrup into the glass then pour the cold brew into the glass until the glass is about ¾ full. Add a good splash of water to the glass and stir until the syrup combines with the cold brew. Serve or drink immediately.

Notes

To time out the parts of this recipe out, make the coconut syrup while the coffee is steeping and chill it until cold so that it's ready to use as soon as the cold brew is ready. This way, you'll have everything ready to just pour and go!

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