Dubai summers made cold brew the best-selling coffee on our menu by June. It is also the one that takes the longest to make. Here is the recipe behind it, in plain terms.
Cold water, a long time
We grind a washed Kenyan coffee coarsely, cover it with filtered water at room temperature and leave it for 18 hours. Cold water extracts less bitterness and less acidity than hot, so the result is round and chocolatey, with the Kenyan blackcurrant still showing at the edges.
Sweetness from dates
Rather than sugar syrup we cook Medjool dates down with water and strain them. Date syrup has a caramel depth that sugar does not, and it is how coffee has been sweetened in this region for a very long time. A strip of orange peel goes in the glass to keep it from feeling heavy.
At home
Use one part coarse coffee to eight parts water, steep in the fridge overnight and strain through a paper filter. Dilute it one-to-one with cold water or milk. It keeps for four days, which is roughly how long it lasts in our own fridges at home.