# Mason Jar Coffee Source: https://dailyextraction.com/methods/mason-jar-coffee/ Last updated: 2026-10-20 > The easiest way is cold brew. Put 40 g of coarse coffee in a 16 oz (about 470 ml) mason jar, add 320 g of water, stir until every ground is wet, and put the lid on loosely. Leave it 12 to 24 hours, then strain it through a sieve, cheesecloth or paper filter, and dilute with ice, milk or water to taste. ## At a glance - Ratio: 1:8 (concentrate) (40 g coffee : 320 g water) - Grind: Coarse (sea salt) - Water temperature: Cold or room temperature - Brew time: about 18 h - Category: Immersion & Steeping (Immersion) - Difficulty: Beginner - Origin: Global & Modern - Also known as: jar steep method, mason jar cold brew, jar coffee ## Steps 1. **Add the coffee first**: Put 40 g of coarsely ground coffee in the bottom of a 16 oz mason jar. 2. **Pour in the water**: Add 320 g of cold, ideally filtered, water on top, so the coffee gets fully soaked. 3. **Stir**: Stir gently until all the coffee is wet and nothing is floating dry on top. 4. **Steep**: Screw the lid on lightly and leave it on the counter or in the fridge for 12 to 24 hours. Pull & Pour's favourite is 18 hours, or the full 24 in the fridge. 5. **Strain and dilute**: Strain it into a glass or a second jar through a sieve, cheesecloth or coffee filter, then add ice, milk or water to taste. A **mason jar** is one of the simplest coffee brewers you can own: put coffee and water in, wait, and strain. It's best known for **cold brew**, steeped overnight with the lid on, and it fits neatly in the fridge. With a cloth or paper filter stretched over the mouth, a jar can also make a **hot cup**, poured over like a [pour-over](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/cloth-bag-pour-over/). Here are two published cold brew recipes, the hot jar method, and how to keep the glass in one piece. ## The short version - **Cold brew:** 40 g of coarse coffee and 320 g of water in a 16 oz jar, steeped 12 to 24 hours. - **Coffee first, then water**, then stir until everything's wet. - **Strain** through a sieve, cheesecloth or paper filter. - **Dilute** with ice, milk or water: it's a concentrate. - **For hot coffee**, warm the jar first so the glass doesn't crack. ## How much coffee and water? Two published recipes land on almost the same strength: | Recipe | Coffee | Water | Ratio | Steep | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Pull & Pour | 40 g, coarse | 320 g, in a 16 oz jar | 1:8 | 12 to 24 hours (18 preferred) | | Starbucks at Home | 4 tbsp (22 g) per cup, coarse | 180 ml (6 fl oz) per cup | About 1:8 | 12 hours | Both make a **concentrate**. Pull & Pour explains that the strong 1:8 ratio lets you add ice or milk without the coffee tasting weak. For cold brew you can drink straight, it suggests **12:1 to 16:1** water to coffee instead. You can scale either recipe up or down to fit your jar. ![Chart of coffee grind sizes from extra fine to extra coarse, with coarse highlighted for mason jar cold brew](https://dailyextraction.com/diagrams/grind-size.svg#coarse "Mason jar cold brew uses a coarse grind, to avoid over-extracting during the long steep.") Grind **coarse**. Pull & Pour says the long brew time would over-extract a finer grind. ## How do you make cold brew in a mason jar? This follows Pull & Pour's recipe for a 16 oz jar: 1. **Add 40 g of coarse coffee** to the bottom of the jar. 2. **Pour in 320 g of cold water**, ideally filtered. Coffee first, water second: Pull & Pour finds it hard to mix the other way round. 3. **Stir gently** until no dry coffee sits on top. 4. **Put the lid on lightly** and leave it on the counter or in the fridge for **12 to 24 hours**. Pull & Pour likes 18 hours, and suggests the full 24 if the jar is in the fridge. 5. **Strain** into a glass or a clean jar, through a sieve, cheesecloth or a coffee filter. 6. **Add ice, milk or water** to taste. Starbucks at Home's version covers the jar with **cheesecloth held by a rubber band** while it steeps, then strains through the cheesecloth into a jug after 12 hours. For a cleaner cup, I'd strain twice: once through a sieve for the bulk of the grounds, then through a paper filter for the fine silt. ## Can you make hot coffee in a mason jar? Yes, two ways. **Jar pour-over (Chowhound's method).** Hold a piece of **cheesecloth or a coffee filter** over the mouth of the jar with the jar's ring or a rubber band, leaving enough slack to make a dip for the coffee. Put the grounds in the dip, **pour hot water slowly** over them, then lift off the ring, filter and grounds. Chowhound suggests a jar that holds about an **8 oz** serving, and a **medium or fine** grind for this method. **Steep and strain.** You can also treat the jar like a [French press](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/french-press/) without the plunger: coarse coffee and hot water, steeped, then strained through a sieve or filter. I'd use the French press guide's proportions, **30 g of coffee to 500 g of water**, and strain it carefully, as there's no mesh to hold the grounds back. ## How do you stop the jar cracking? Mason jars are thick glass, and Tasting Table explains why that's a risk with hot water: glass conducts heat poorly, so the inside heats and **expands** before the outside does, and a big temperature gap can **crack** it. Thick glass is more vulnerable than thin glass, not less. - **Use a heat-rated jar**, as Chowhound advises, and never one straight from the fridge. - **Warm it first** with warm water. - **Pour slowly.** Tasting Table suggests a **metal spoon** in the jar helps absorb some of the heat. - **Heat from cold, not suddenly.** If you're heating a jar in water, Tasting Table says to put it in the water first, then bring it to the boil. *General guidance only. Take care with hot water and glass, and stop using any jar that's chipped or cracked.* ## How long does it keep? Pull & Pour says mason jar cold brew keeps **up to a week** in the fridge; Chowhound says cold brew can last **up to two weeks**, and hot brewed coffee about **three to four days**. The jar's lid makes it easy to store either way. I'd drink it within the week. ## Mason jar coffee vs other methods - **[Cold brew](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/cold-brew/):** the full guide to cold brew ratios, grind and every way to make it. - **[Cold brew concentrate](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/cold-brew-concentrate/):** strong cold brew made to dilute. - **[French press](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/french-press/):** hot immersion brewing, with a mesh plunger to hold the grounds. - **[Cowboy coffee](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/cowboy-coffee/):** another no-gadget method, with a pot over the fire. Explore every immersion method in the [immersion chapter](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/immersion/). ## Words used in this guide - [Steeping](https://dailyextraction.com/glossary/steeping/): Steeping is leaving ground coffee to sit in water so its flavour dissolves out, as in a French press or cold brew. - [Coffee concentrate](https://dailyextraction.com/glossary/coffee-concentrate/): A coffee concentrate is coffee brewed much stronger than you would drink it, using less water, and then diluted with water, milk or ice to serve. - [Total dissolved solids (TDS)](https://dailyextraction.com/glossary/tds/): Total dissolved solids (TDS) measures how much coffee is dissolved in the cup, shown as a percentage. - [Fines](https://dailyextraction.com/glossary/fines/): Fines are the very small, dust-like particles that every grinder produces alongside the main grind. - [Pour-over](https://dailyextraction.com/glossary/pour-over/): Pour-over is a way of making filter coffee by hand: you pour hot water over ground coffee in a filter cone and let it drip through into a cup or jug. - [Brew ratio](https://dailyextraction.com/glossary/brew-ratio/): The brew ratio is the weight of coffee compared with the weight of water, written like 1:16 (1 g of coffee for every 16 g of water). - [Immersion vs percolation](https://dailyextraction.com/glossary/immersion-vs-percolation/): Immersion brewing steeps all the coffee in all the water at once, as a French press does. ## FAQs ### What ratio should I use for mason jar cold brew? Pull & Pour uses 40 g of coffee to 320 g of water (1:8), a concentrate to dilute with ice or milk. Starbucks at Home uses 4 tablespoons (22 g) of coffee per 180 ml cup of water, about 1:8 too. Pull & Pour gives 12:1 to 16:1 water to coffee for cold brew that's ready to drink. ### How long should mason jar cold brew steep? Starbucks at Home steeps it for 12 hours. Pull & Pour gives 12 to 24 hours and prefers 18, or the full 24 if the jar is in the fridge. ### Can you pour boiling water into a mason jar? Carefully. Chowhound advises using a heat-rated jar that isn't cold, because a sudden temperature change can crack thick glass. Warm the jar first with warm water and pour slowly. ### How long does mason jar cold brew keep? Pull & Pour says up to a week in the fridge, and Chowhound says up to two weeks. I'd go by the shorter figure and taste it before drinking. ### Is a mason jar better than a cold brew maker? It makes the same coffee. Pull & Pour notes that a cold brew maker's main advantage is an easier way to separate the grounds; with a jar you strain by hand. ## Sources - [How to make cold brew in a mason jar](https://pullandpourcoffee.com/how-to-make-cold-brew-in-a-mason-jar/) - [How to make cold brew coffee with a mason jar](https://www.starbucksathome.com/brewing-guides/brewing-at-home/cold-brew-mason-jar) - [How to make coffee without a coffee maker](https://chowhound.com/1504364/how-to-make-coffee-without-maker) - [When filling mason jars with hot soup, be sure to warm the glass first](https://www.tastingtable.com/1442838/filling-mason-jars-hot-soup-warm-glass-first)