Nitro Cold Brew Recipe
Naturally sweet with robust flavor and less acidity, you'll love making this popular coffee shop drink at home!
How to Make the Best Nitro Cold Brew
Nitro cold brew is a modern twist on classic cold brew coffee that creates a naturally creamy texture and smooth mouthfeel without any added milk or cream. By infusing cold brew with nitrogen gas, you get those gorgeous cascading bubbles and a dense, velvety foam head that rivals what you’d find at your favorite specialty coffee shop.
What makes nitro coffee special is the chemistry of those tiny nitrogen bubbles—they’re smaller and more numerous than carbonation bubbles, which creates that signature dense foam and gives the coffee a rich, creamy appearance. The drink is naturally sweet with robust flavor and notably less acidity than hot-brewed coffee, making it a refreshing and smooth option any time of day.
Making nitro cold brew at home is surprisingly simple and requires just two ingredients and basic equipment like a soda dispenser or whipped cream canister. Once you master the cold brewing process, you’ll enjoy a café-quality nitro coffee experience from your own kitchen.
Nitro Cold Brew
Naturally sweet with robust flavor and less acidity, you'll love making this popular coffee shop drink at home!
Ingredients
Cold Brew Base
Instructions
Preparation
- Grind the beans to a coarse size grind. The grounds should resemble kosher salt.
Brewing
- Combine the coffee grounds and cold filtered water in a large container. Let sit for 12 to 16 hours. Strain through a paper filter or a fine-mesh cheesecloth (see notes). Because nitro coffee is brewed to be ready to use it is a slightly different ratio than traditional cold brew coffee, it does not need to be diluted.
Nitro Carbonation
- In a soda dispenser or a whipped cream canister, add the cold brew coffee. Seal and add the nitrogen cartridge. Give the canister a shake. Turn it upside down and release it into a glass with the dispenser tip at the bottom of the glass. Let the coffee settle and the creamy foam head form before sipping.
Notes
- Use a paper filter or fine-mesh cheesecloth for straining to achieve the cleanest brew.
- The coarse grind is essential—it should resemble kosher salt in size.
- Nitro coffee is brewed at a different ratio than traditional cold brew because it doesn't require dilution.
- A soda dispenser or whipped cream canister with nitrogen cartridges creates the signature creamy foam head.