Horchata Cold Brew

A recipe from Luigi and Mary Di Ruocco of Berkeley

Hi, Everyone—Thank you all for your patience while the California Table was on “vacation” (read: while I was finishing up the manuscript for my next cookbook). Now that the news is public, I can finally tell you all that I’ve spent the last six months writing a small, gifty cookbook called Snacking Dinners that will be published by Hardie Grant next spring (2025). More info to come as soon as we have a cover, a pre-order page, etc!

My next interview is a super fun one: Later this week I’ll be sharing a conversation I had with New York Times best-selling author Evelyn Skye (author of, among other things, the Netflix collab Damsel). In the meantime, however, I thought that since the next couple of days are going to be pretty hot, today would be the perfect time to pull this delicious recipe out of its original interview—with Luigi Di Ruocco of the pioneering coffee company Mr. Espresso—and turn it into a stand-alone missive, so that those of you who haven’t seen it can get a chance to try it.

Horchata Cold Brew

This recipe was created by Luigi Di Ruocco’s wife, Mary. It pairs Mr. Espresso’s rich cold brew with homemade horchata for a perfect blend of sweetness, bitterness, and creaminess. (It’s so good, in fact, that I turned some into ice cream last year!) You can make this in one big batch or keep the cold brew and horchata separate and mix them to your desired flavor. If you don’t have time to make your own horchata, be sure to get a high-quality version for this; local taco spots, where they make it in small batches, will offer the best quality.

Serves 8

4 cups Cold Brew Coffee (recipe below)
4 cups Horchata (recipe below)
Ice

Combine the cold brew and horchata in equal parts, and serve over ice. (Alternatively, fill a cup 2/3 of the way with ice and add the coffee and horchata one at a time, adjusting the ratio to your taste).

Cold Brew Coffee

Makes 4 cups

½ cup (112 grams) coarsely ground coffee
4 cups (860 grams) cold water

1. Combine the coffee and water in a 4-cup (or larger) French press. Let the mixture sit at room temperature for 24 hours.

2. Depress the plunger, and pour the cold brew into a jar or storage container. Refrigerate until ready to use. Dilute with ice when serving.

Horchata

Makes ~4 cups

1 cup uncooked white rice
1 cup water
1 cinnamon stick
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, separated
3 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cinnamon Simple Syrup (recipe below)

1. Put the rice, water, cinnamon stick, and 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon in blender or a deep container (if using an immersion blender). Blend ingredients together until the rice and cinnamon sticks are broken into small, uniform pieces.

2. Cover the mixture, and let it sit at room temperature for 24 hours.

3. After 24 hours, strain the liquid through a cheesecloth into a large storage container, squeezing to remove all of the liquid.

4. Add the milk, cream, vanilla extract, and remaining 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon to the liquid, and add cinnamon simple syrup to taste. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Cinnamon Simple Syrup

2 cinnamon sticks
1 cup water
1 cup granulated sugar

1. In a small pot, brown the cinnamon sticks over low heat until they are fragrant (but be careful not to burn them).

2. Add the water and then the sugar to the pot, and bring the mixture to a boil, stirring.

3. When the mixture has boiled (and the sugar has dissolved), remove the pot from the heat. Pour the syrup (with the cinnamon) into a heat-proof storage container, and let it stand at room temperature for 24 hours to infuse before using.