Nitro Cold Brew: What It Is and How to Make It at Home
It pours like a stout and drinks like coffee with cream in it, with nothing in the glass but coffee and gas. How strong it is, the cans worth buying, and the right gas for a home keg.
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Nitro cold brew is cold brew with nitrogen gas forced into it as it pours from the tap. The gas breaks into millions of tiny bubbles, so the coffee comes out thick and creamy, cascades down the glass like a pint of Guinness and settles under a tan head of foam. It tastes a little sweet, and there's no sugar in it: a grande at Starbucks has 5 calories.
The caffeine comes from the cold brew, not the gas, and it's a lot. Starbucks lists 280 mg in a 16-ounce grande of Nitro Cold Brew, against 205 mg for the same size of its regular Cold Brew. The difference is ice: nitro is poured without it, so the cup holds more coffee.
To make it at home you need two things besides cold brew: a small keg with a stout faucet, and gas cartridges to charge it. Get the Royal Brew keg: it takes both kinds of cartridge, and the gas changes the foam more than you'd think. The keg makes sense if you'd drink nitro most days. For a glass on the weekend, skip the gear and buy cans, about $3.50 each.
What the nitrogen actually does
The first sip is mostly texture. The bubbles are too small to fizz, so instead of the prickle of soda you get something closer to cold coffee with a splash of cream, heavier on the tongue and very smooth, with the foam softening the first mouthful. Starbucks describes the result as "velvety-smooth coffee with a subtly sweet flavor," and it drinks almost like an iced latte with no milk and no sugar in it.
Why nitrogen and not the carbon dioxide in soda? Beer is the easiest place to see it. Craft Beer & Brewing explains the difference: nitrogen bubbles are "much finer and more abundant than CO2 bubbles," the head is thicker, and the drink tastes sweeter, while "CO2 is an acid, which adds a bit of bite." Coffee already has its own acidity, and a smooth cold brew is exactly where you don't want more bite.
Nitro vs. regular cold brew
It's the same coffee. Starbucks steeps its cold brew for 20 hours, then pours part of it through a nitro tap. So the taste of the coffee doesn't change, only how it feels and how it's served:
| Nitro Cold Brew | Cold Brew | |
|---|---|---|
| Caffeine, grande 16 oz | 280 mg | 205 mg |
| Ice | none | yes |
| Texture | creamy, with a foam head | like iced coffee |
| Calories, black | 5 | 5 |
Starbucks doesn't sell nitro in a venti: the grande is the biggest cup.
What's in a can
Canned nitro is sealed with nitrogen that's released when you pop the top. High Brew uses a small widget inside the can for it, the same trick as a can of Guinness, and Starbucks says its coffee is infused with nitrogen from the moment you open it. You get the creamy texture without buying a keg.
- Starbucks Nitro Black Unsweetened, 9.6 oz: 155 mg of caffeine. Starbucks says to tilt the can once, open it and pour into a cold glass.
- High Brew Nitro Black, 10 oz: 200 mg, no sugar, no dairy.
That puts both cans at 16 to 20 mg of caffeine per ounce, in the same range as the coffee-shop cup. If you drink one in the afternoon, count it as a strong coffee.
Keep a glass in the fridge for it, since Starbucks asks for a cold one. A tall, clear glass also lets you watch the cascade, which is half the fun.
How to make nitro cold brew at home
At home, nitro is a small keg and a cartridge. You fill the keg with cold brew, screw in a gas cartridge, shake it so the gas mixes into the coffee, and leave it in the fridge. The stout faucet, the same kind of tap a bar uses for Guinness, does the rest as you pull the handle.
Nitrogen or nitrous oxide: check the cartridge
Check the gas before you buy. "Nitrogen cartridges" in a whipped cream dispenser is common advice, and it's easy to assume every home keg runs on nitrogen. Neither holds:
- Coffee shops and cans use nitrogen (N2).
- A whipped cream dispenser takes 8 g cartridges of nitrous oxide (N2O). Pure nitrogen cartridges aren't meant for it: the ones on Amazon say "not for whipped cream" right in the title.
- The GrowlerWerks uKeg Nitro, one of the best-known home kegs, runs on nitrous oxide only, in 15 g cartridges.
- The Royal Brew kegs take either: two 2 g nitrogen cartridges for the classic cascade, or one 8 g nitrous oxide cartridge for what Royal Brew calls "a creamier, sweeter foam."
- The Hatfields NitroPress, a handheld siphon, uses nitrogen, three cartridges at a time.
Both gases give you a creamy glass. Nitrous oxide gives the sweeter, creamier foam. Nitrogen is what the coffee shops pour, so if what you want is the drink you order at Starbucks, use nitrogen.
The Royal Brew 64 oz holds up to four pints and fits on a fridge shelf. Royal Brew's instructions are short: fill it with cold brew that's already made, charge it, shake it, chill it, pour. Fill it to about three quarters, since the gas needs room at the top. The cartridges come separately, and the tubing, a wrench and a cleaning brush are in the box.
Step by step
- Make the cold brew first. The keg doesn't brew. Use my cold brew recipe, or skip the waiting with a bottle from my guide to cold brew concentrates.
- Dilute it to drinking strength. Nitro comes out of the tap as the finished drink and goes into a glass with no ice, so if you made a concentrate, cut it with water before it goes in the keg. Milk goes in the glass, not the keg.
- Strain it well, so no grounds end up in the keg. A second pass through a paper filter is cheap and easy.
- Fill the keg to about three quarters, around 40 to 48 ounces in the 64 oz model.
- Charge it: two Royal Brew N2 chargers for nitrogen, or one 8 g nitrous oxide cartridge.
- Shake it so the gas mixes in, then put the keg in the fridge until it's cold.
- Pour by pulling the faucet all the way open, into a tall glass. Wait for the cascade to settle before you drink.
Royal Brew says charged cold brew keeps fresh for up to a week in the keg.
What a glass costs
Nitrogen isn't free. At about $23 for ten Royal Brew cartridges, two per 40 ounces comes to roughly $4.60 of gas a fill, or about $1.40 per 12-ounce glass before the coffee. One 8 g nitrous oxide cartridge per fill is about half that. A can of Starbucks nitro runs about $3.50 in the eight-pack. So the keg pays for itself only if you drink nitro most days; if it's a weekend treat, buy cans.
What you need
What you need
- Royal Brew Nitro Cold Brew Coffee Maker the keg and stout faucet, for nitrogen or nitrous oxide.$151.99 as of 12:28 PM ET
- Royal Brew Nitrogen Chargers pure nitrogen for the coffee-shop cascade, two per fill.$22.99 as of 12:28 PM ET
- Starbucks Nitro Cold Brew, Black Unsweetened no gear at all, 155 mg a can.$27.92 as of 12:28 PM ET
- High Brew Nitro Cold Brew, Black a stronger can, 200 mg, no sugar.$36.00 as of 12:28 PM ET
Common questions
Is nitro cold brew sweet?
It tastes a little sweet, but there's no sugar in the black version: Starbucks lists 5 calories for a grande. The creamy texture and the foam make it read as sweeter than the same cold brew over ice. Flavored versions, like Vanilla Sweet Cream, are a different story, so check the menu.
Does nitro cold brew have more caffeine than regular coffee?
Per cup, usually yes. A Starbucks grande nitro has 280 mg. The nitrogen adds none: it's strong because cold brew uses a lot of coffee, and because there's no ice taking up room in the cup.
Can you make nitro cold brew with a whipped cream dispenser?
Yes, but it will be the nitrous oxide version: a whipped cream dispenser takes 8 g N2O cartridges, and pure nitrogen cartridges are sold as not for whipped cream. Expect the sweeter, creamier side of nitro rather than the coffee-shop cascade.
Can you put milk in nitro cold brew?
Yes, in the glass after the pour. Starbucks sells its own with vanilla sweet cream on top. Taste it black first, though: the texture already does part of what cream does.
How long does nitro cold brew keep?
In a charged Royal Brew keg, up to a week in the fridge, by Royal Brew's count. Canned nitro keeps until the date on the can; once it's poured, drink it while the foam is up.
