Cold Brew: My New Coffee Obsession

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It seems everywhere I go I cannot escape cold-brewed coffee. At first I didn’t get the hype. I am admittedly espresso obsessed. I had abandoned iced coffee years ago because it was too weak and too bland to get me excited. When it’s hot outside (pretty much all the time in Florida) and I want an iced coffee drink, I turn to iced lattes. Been drinking them for years and I believed my problems were solved. Why would I need anything more?

But then, this weekend, I found I had about 8 oz of coffee beans leftover that weren’t making good espresso anymore (I’m a stickler for fresh beans.) And of course, my news feeds were brimming with photos and raves about cold brew. So I decided it was worth a shot.

Cold Brew is simple to make…

Take 8 oz of coffee beans, grind them coarse (I went with the grind I would use for French Press,) add 5 cups cold water, stir, cover, and let sit for 12 hours at room temperature. After 12 hours room temp brewing, I strained through cheesecloth and moved the concentrate to cute glass bottles, ready to enjoy.

And the flavor is wonderful!

This makes a really lovely coffee concentrate. It has less acidity than brewed coffee, but has a really solid coffee bite that stands up to milk and ice. I go 50/50 cold brew to whole milk, over ice, with a tsp of simple syrup or agave nectar. It’s perfect.  I don’t have to turn on my espresso machine to pull a shot! And because it’s already cold, the ice doesn’t melt super quickly either.

Since I’m such a fan of Blue Bottle Coffee, I may take a bit of their advice and add some chicory to the mix. I enjoyed chicory coffee in New Orleans, but not enough to brew it at home. I’m not going to make that final decision with cold-brewed coffee until I make it myself. I can’t wait to taste the results.

I’m in cold coffee heaven. Why didn’t I try this sooner?