The Cold Brew Method
It’s June. It’s hot. You wanna look cool; so you pop on a pair of your favorite sunglasses and your not-so-favorite-but-practical shorts (or cut offs. Admit it, we all have/had a pair at one point), lay out in the sun and reach for a cold brew.
Coffee, that is. It’s a great pick-me-up that will cool you down in that dragging sweat stain we call summer. And with that appetizing metaphor, let’s delve in shall we?
The first and most obvious thing about cold brewing is we’re not usig any heat whatsoever to brew our coffee. This way our result won’t melt any ice and water down any of our hard work.
First thing’s first; grab your favorite Medium/Dark roast. I chose a Medium Ethiopia roasted by Augie’s in Redlands, CA. I could go on and on about how awesome their coffee is, but I’ll just paraphrase for now; it’s down to clown. Great aromatics, full body and smooth finish. I’m not normally one for Ethiopia but this is my exception.
Step Dos: Turn on some R Kelly, light some candles, and get a little bump and grind going. You want this to be somewhere between meduim and fine. Though this step is totally up to your judgement, keep this in mind: The finer the grind the stronger the coffee. For me, a 15 did the trick.
Turn off that R Kelly everyone knows you have on your iPod so don’t even deny it, and check out your finished product. You should have some nice, consistent grounds that you can take a minute to photograph for no reason other than it just looks so beautiful.
Lookin good, Loo-kin-gooooood. And moving on.
Next you’ll want to find a glass container/pitcher/thing to brew your coffee in. I felt no need to go out and spend money, so I just looked for things around the house and found this old coffee pot I don’t use anymore. A little big but it’ll work. Fill that with 3 cups of cold filtered water.
AND YES FILTERED WATER DOES MAKE A DIFFERENCE
You’re about half way done at this point. Like I said, easy stuff. After you’ve filled your whatever with cold, filtered water, measure out 2/3 cup of grounds into your water. And if you’re messing with the recipe at all, just make sure you keep that ratio; 2/3 coffee for every 3 cups of water.
Another gratuitous shot of those grounds, for measure.
And in they go.
Next you wanna give that a quick mix. Don’t get too crazy with it, all you really wanna do is fully saturate the grounds with the water, once you done that you’re done mixing. But a little extra never hurt, your choice.
Super easy so far, right? The next step is the most tedious part.
After you have your almost-finished product, go ahead and cover it with some plastic wrap or something and let it sit at room temp for 12 hours. Or 24, or 36. The longer it sits the stronger the coffee. I found that 24 hours did the trick perfectly. If you can’t tell, this method gives you a lot of control and input on how strong and flavorful your iced coffee comes out, another reason why it’s so freaking cool. And don’t forget: If you have roommates/live with family, leave a note as passive, or directly, aggressive as you want. There is nothing more irritating than waiting a day to drink your delicious cold brew coffee and then realizing that morning someone thought it was old coffee and dumped it out. ugh.
Cool, now that you’ve done everything I’ve mentioned so far, as well as seen my ugly hand writing, it’s time to go find something to do for a day.
What’d you do, hike a mountain? Fish? Zip line? personally I spent a day trying to find that Spongebob sign without a watermark so I could make that joke.
As you can see, no dice.
Now that it’s been a day, it’s time to filter your coffee. Here’s what you’ll need: Your cold brew coffee; some type of filter (or a damp paper towel and a funnel if you’re as frugal as me, but to save time I’ll do that one by request); and something to filter it into, preferably a beverage container but you know, whatever. No use in going out and spending more money, I just used stuff I had around the kitchen.
Now what I used here was a basic gold plated mesh coffee filter. Why gold? Is it because I’m such a Baller? Is it because I don’t drink anything unless it’s touched as much bling as me? Swag? CREAM? No, the gold simply preserves the flavor, i.e. it doesn’t leave any metallic taste in my coffee. These typically come with most coffee makers, but you can pick them up at like Smart and Final, William-Sonoma, or my personal favorite, Bed Bath & Beyond. Basically anywhere they have coffee/kitchen junk.
Next step is filter the coffee into your container. Make sure to get all of it, and don’t worry if you have a huge chunk of grounds at the bottom of your coffee pot or whatever you used; that’s normal and nothing to freak out about.
And one more gratuitous shot for the road
And wham, bam, thank you ma’am, you now have some delicious cold brew iced coffee concentrate.
Now all you do is keep a 1:1 ratio and add that to some cold, filtered water; top it off with some ice, maybe a little cream or milk or whatever, and you have your self a delicious cup of iced coffee. No melted ice, no watered down flavor, you can make it as strong as you want, just mess with the ratio. I know this method is a little more tedious than just brewing a double batch of coffee and icing it down, but it really does yeild a more flavorful, full bodied iced coffee that all your friends and family and enemies and in-laws you’re trying to impress will talk about forever. Or at minimum a month.
And guys please, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, or just want to tell me how your cold brewing experience went, feel free to inbox me at anytime. I’m lame so I’m always free. And thanks for sticking with me for this unnecessarily long tutorial, and all my lame dad jokes. Catch you next time.
-CJ