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Cold brew coffee? +/-

Doc4

Stumpy in cold weather
Staff member
Now, it's head and shoulders above bad coffee (especially burnt coffee), and I believe that is a large part of cold brew's popularity. A lot of folks still don't know decent coffee, much less good coffee.
You may be on to something there.
 
I enjoy both cold brew and iced coffee.

While you can make coffee ice cubes, I usually lack that much foresight/motivation. I usually use a french press to make both cold brew and iced coffee. For iced I will use less hot water to account for added volume from ice melting. During brewing I toss some ice right in the french press until the coffee becomes cool, then pour into a cup over ice to enjoy cold.

Can't say why I've never made a cold drink fro my Moka Pot. Need to try that.
 
Once it turns warm here in the Northeast United States, I consistently make a batch of cold brew to have on hand.

Here is the difference, and I'll get into how I make it.

  • no acidity. the hot water makes the coffee acidic
  • very high caffeine content. as many of you know, the lighter the roast, the higher the caffeine content. The way I make cold brew is I make a concentrate. This is hight octaine
  • smooth the cold brew brings out the essence of the bean
  • it has a shelf life -- I find that if its in the fridge longer than a week, it starts to go bad
  • very refreshing -- nothing beats a good ice coffee on a cold day.
Here's how I make it.

  • I use a French Press or press pot. I use about 8 tablespoons of very coarsely ground coffee in what I believe is a 34 ounce french press.
  • I pour in filtered cold water.
  • I pull out my phone and set a stopwatch and start it
  • One to three hours later, I take a spoon and carefully flip the bloomed grounds on top. I never stir up the grounds.
  • I leave it on the counter. It doesn't need to be cold to brew
  • between 17 and 24 hours later (i've done it as soon as 7, but I find after 11 hours its great) I decant that into something and put it in the fridge.

How I make my ice coffee is:

  • fill up a glass with ice.
  • pour in the concentrate i just made. I fill it between 1/3 and 1/2
  • Fill the rest with milk. Sometimes I water it down with a splash of water.

Hope this helps. I'm going to pour a glass right now.
 
I enjoy cold brew coffee for a few reasons.
1. It's convenient. Set it so that it brews overnight, in the morning a decent cup of coffee.
2. It makes cheap coffee taste decent. The really long brew time seems to mask some of the off flavors of buying bad coffee.
3. Extra caffeinated

Is it as good as fresh roasted, freshly brewed coffee? No. Does it have a purpose? yes. Personally, if I'm going to drink cold coffee, I prefer the Japanese Iced Method.
 
I used to make it like so:
Line a cup with a cotton sheet, i got it in a cooking store.
Put 18gr of ground coffee
Add water
Cover
Place in fridge for 24 hours
Next day: use the cotton to collect the coffe and squeeze out all the liquid, cotton is a 3d filter sort.

The coffee is very tasty, it is different taste than espresso/moka.
It has been 3 years since I last make it.... should do it again sometime.... good summer drink for sure
 
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