Meaning & use
brewed coffee
Last updated
Meaning
noununcountable
Coffee made by soaking or filtering hot water through ground coffee beans, as opposed to instant powder or a shot of espresso.
Grammar: Uncountable: a cup of brewed coffee, not 'a brewed coffee' in careful writing, although cafes say it when ordering.
Patterns
- a cup of brewed coffee
- a pot of brewed coffee
I prefer freshly brewed coffee to the instant kind.
The cafe sells brewed coffee for two dollars a cup.
Freshly brewed coffee filled the kitchen with its smell.
Common combinations
- freshly brewed coffee
- The smell of freshly brewed coffee woke me up.
- cup of brewed coffee
- A cup of brewed coffee costs less than a latte here.
- pot of brewed coffee
- She left a pot of brewed coffee on the counter.
- cold brewed coffee
- Cold brewed coffee tastes smoother and less bitter.
- order brewed coffee
- He ordered brewed coffee and a muffin.
Synonyms and how they differ
- filter coffee
- Filter coffee is the usual British term and refers specifically to coffee dripped through a paper filter.
- drip coffee
- Drip coffee names one method, hot water dripping over grounds, while brewed coffee also covers presses and pour-overs.
- regular coffee
- Regular coffee is a casual order for plain coffee, and in some regions it means coffee with milk and sugar.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: brewed coffee or espresso?
brewed coffee vs espresso
Espresso is made by forcing steam-heated water through fine grounds under pressure, giving a small, strong shot, while brewed coffee is a larger, milder cup.
Practice
At a US cafe you ask for plain brewed coffee. Which drink is NOT what you would expect?
Choose one answer.
A cappuccino is an espresso-based drink, not brewed coffee in the cafe sense. Drip, filtered and French press coffee are all brewing methods.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “brewed coffee”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.