Roll your eyes or clap your hands—whatever. If you’re acquainted with cold brew, you know that once you taste anything “craft” like beer, kombucha, or vinegar, there’s no going back. So how to increase your cool now that cold brew has gone to the masses? Impress your friends and snobbish baristas with these four tips that make cold brew worth every extra buck, even if you’ve never dipped a straw into those dark, icy, and delicious waters.

  1. Cold brew is like an aged wine, so be picky about how long yours was steeped. Iced coffee is quick and dirty: It’s simply chilled double-strength coffee that’s has been brewed hot and poured over ice. But to make cold brew, baristas must let coffee grounds steep in consistent, cool-temperature water for the better part of a day, says Erin Williamson, founder and head brewer at Pier Coffee, a Seattle-based cold brew company. In fact, Starbucks reports in a press release that its new made-in-store cold brew requires 20 hours of steep time to deliver “the right balance of sweetness with citrusy and chocolate notes.” That’s probably how the chain also justifies its slightly higher price point: a 16-ounce cold brew will set you back $3.25 at Starbuck versus $2.65 for the same size iced coffee. At hipper spots, expect to pay close to $4. MORE: Shut Up, Finally, and Just Drink Your Coffee
  2. Describe a cold brew like you would an overpriced Chablis.    How did cold brew achieve a coolness factor like that of craft beer? “The short answer is that we—meaning those in the specialty coffee industry—have gotten better at making it,” says Williamson. “The overall buzz about a new way to unlock flavors in coffee is really driving the conversation.” Fruity, citrusy, chocolatey, woody, nutty, and grassy are a handful of the descriptions we’ve seen associated with cold brew. Use ’em to describe your mason jar of joe, and you’ll instantly sound sophisticated.
  3. Drink yours black (um, duh). Cold brew coffee tends to be less acidic, so it can be gentler on your digestive system if coffee normally bothers you. Less bite also means you don’t need as much milk and sweetener (true cold-brew lovers take it black) so you could also end up saving on calories. MORE: Four Hacks to Turn Coffee into the Ultimate Health Drink
  4. Make yours at home.       While you can’t make cold brew in your Keurig, it’s easier than messing with coffee filters. Start with a bottle of concentrate, like one of the clean picks below. Pour over ice, then dilute with as little or as much water as you’d like, depending on your taste preferences. Or mix with milk for a creamier drink. Califia Farms Concentrated Cold Brew Coffee: It’s non-GMO and designed to pair with almond milk—right up a clean coffee drinker’s ally. Chameleon Cold-Brew Coffee Concentrates: Organic, fair trade, packaged in a glass recycle bottle, and available in flavors like mocha and vanilla. Kohana Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate: On the sweeter side of concentrates, try this organic and fair trade product over ice cream or in a smoothie. MORE: How Science is Messing with Your Morning Coffee