Cold-brewed Iced Coffee

The New York Times had an article about cold-brewed iced coffee this week. I tried it this weekend and it came out great! The cold-brewing takes away some of the bitterness and enhances the taste of the coffee. The recipe calls for mixing about 1/3 cup of ground coffee with 1.5 c of water and leaving it at room temp overnight, then straining it twice. They recommended diluting the final product with water, but I like it undiluted with a healthy shot of milk/cream.
Definitely worth a try.

article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/27/dining/27coff.html?em&ex=1183435200&en=d66f5c307985f83c&ei=5087%0A


recipe:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/27/dining/276drex.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Thank you for spotligting this. I saw this article and then promptly (and accidently) threw it away.
I enjoy cold brewed because it cuts the acidity of the coffee by 50-70%. I have been known to cold brew in the middle of winter and warm the coffee in the micro because of this.
I completely agree with you about the flavor as well.
Thanks again

I tried it and next time would do probably 1/2 cup coffee to 1 1/2 cups water. I still used some sugar and milk, and put it over ice. It's certainly more convenient than brewing coffee in the morning that has to cool then.

Holy coffee beans, Batman! I tried this over the weekend using Cafe du Monde (coffee and chicory). Let it steep overnight in the refrigerator, perhaps an hour or two more than 12. Made some Thai iced coffee with it (or did I make Vietnamese?). Smoooooooth. Lacking any and all bitter edge whatsoever. I can see that this is going to become a new item taking up refrigerator space on a regular basis. The only other substantive comment I would offer is that I found (at least for this coffee) that I diluted it pretty much as 1:1.

OK, are you supposed to refrigerate it or let it sit out?

Not sure I see a difference, ultimately. The NYT said to let it sit out; I thought refrigeration would slow any process down even more. (Just a random, unscientific thought that occurred to me and may be right or may be buncum (sp?)). My guess is that, ultimately, it don't make no never-mind.

I've been making cold-brewed coffee for a while following these steps:

Combine 1 lb of (freshly ground) coarse ground coffee with 3 quarts of water in a sealed pitcher. Let sit on the counter for about 24 hours. Strain the coffee through a double layer of cheese cloth. You'll get about 2 quarts of coffee-concentrate. Store in an airtight pitcher in the fridge.

I prefer a mixture of 1 part coffee to 1 part water for both iced coffee and hot coffee.

I talked with folks at Intelligentsia about some of the details. They recommended a 24 hour, rather than 12 hour, soak. They also recommended keeping it on the counter, rather than in the fridge.

The stuff keeps for a very, very long time, so I'm not sure that making it 2 cups at a time a good use of time.

I brew it in a cafetiere overnight, using slightly coarse grounds and a bit o' chicory. And it doesn't hurt to shake things around once or twice during the soak, either. Adds a bit more je ne sais quoi, whatever that is.

In the morning, push the plunger and it's done.

Geo

I tried it heated up, and it didn't do it for me. The cold was good, but the hot, feh.

I read this in the NYT at the beginning of the summer and loved it at first. I even went out and bought a pitcher for this sole purpose.

However, after a week or two, I think I have to disagree with the NYT about one particular point: there is not the same amount of caffeine.

Given as I kind of need that caffeine to function properly (and I drink up to 8 cups of hot coffee daily) I had to abandon the technique.

It was delicious, however. The acidity was cut way down, the coffee had a really nutty flavor to it (Intelligensia Organic Breakfast Blend).

I should reserve this for summer weekend mornings.

I use Intelligentsia's Black Cat.

You need a very coarse grind. It should soak for 24 hours completely covered by water. Let the toddy filter (or cheesecloth, or whatever) absorb the first addition of water, and then top it off.

At work we make it with 5 pounds of Black Cat per 20-22 quarts of water. This is the concentrate, which is then diluted by about half.

It should be refrigerated. "Off" flavors can develop if it is not kept cold throughout the process.

I have heard that maximum caffeine is extracted by the cold-brew process as the bean is in such a looooooong contact with the water, but I could be wrong.

EDIT: If they say at Intelligentsia that you can let it sit out, then you probably can. Who knows why mine developed "off" flavors when I tried it that way? Maybe I am "off."

has anyone bought a cold brew "system" ?? or is this one of those things that would just be better kept to a pitcher or a mason jar, save yourself the cabinet space?

the coffee & tea exchange sells two systems for cold brew coffee (among a lot of other coffee making supplies they sell...). one is very high end ($50 - http://tinyurl.com/29kd9vu ) and promises to be BPA free and what not. it's an all in one so you don't have to switch from pitcher to pitcher, and it's very rugged. the other is called the Toddy--basically a white pitcher developed for the purpose, very utilitarian. http://tinyurl.com/22p3gv3 The store itself brews all of their iced coffees in what they say is a bigger version of the Toddy ...

also, am i crazy or is this basically how a lot of people make Vietnamese iced coffee if not using the press, without calling it by such fancy names?

I don't have one of those systems and have not used one. I can't see the added benefit of using one of these. Basically, all you need is a large pitcher or bowl.

The Toddy is fairly popular and inexpensive, but it requires that you use their filters. I believe Intelligentsia also uses a "bigger version" of the Toddy, or something similar. But, clearly, just using a large pitcher isn't practical for a high volume coffee shop.

I've had a Toddy for over a decade. You can live without it but it simplifies the process. The filter is a fabric/nylon puck that lasts for many, many uses. You put the rubber stopper in the bottom, fit the filter in the upper container, add ground coffee and water and let it steep overnight. Then pull the cork and drain into the carafe, cover and refrigerate. Everything rinses easily and is very durable.

I use the NYT cold brew method and I love it. No fancy containers, no worrying about how coarse ground the coffee is, no refrigeration.

I grind 1/3C coffee in my cheap coffee grinder. Some of it is fine, some is medium. Still works. Then I dump it in an old Folgers plastic container w/a lid. I add 1 1/2 C filtered water (my only concession to inconvenience) and let it sit on the counter overnight. In the morning I strain it through a paper coffee filter in a Melitta cone. I add a bunch of ice and milk to taste and I'm good to go. I use Metropolis Coffee, my current favorite roast is La Cordillera.

I thoroughly messed up my sleep schedule this weekend making cold brewed coffee, so I thought I may as well share in what I learned the hard way.

1. Most recipes are for lighter, or at most medium, coffee. On day 1, all I had in my cupboard was dark roasted, which produces an absurdly powerful concentrate when you follow the same recipe.
2. I hate mixing mass and volume, so my master ratios are (for now) 150g of light roasted coffee per liter of water, or 100g/L of dark.
3. Two-stage filtration works the best, because there is going to be a LOT of sludge at the bottom. Pour through a fine sieve to capture the grounds first, then through a coffee filter to get the silt.
4. Too much coffee grounds will clog your sink. Wipe up excess with a paper towel and throw it in the trash.
5. Don't use the cone-shaped coffee filters. I thought that would be perfect for pouring through a funnel into a soda bottle, but it turns out the coffee sludge clogs up conical filters way too quickly.
6. Rinse out the sieve you used in #3 above, then lay a large coffee filter inside of it and pour through in spurts. You may have to go through 2-3 filters for a liter, because the coffee sludge will clog up even a large filter.
7. Don't try to squeeze the sludge through the filter as it clogs up. You might tear the filter and have to start over from the beginning.
8. 12 hours of steeping is sufficient, but 18-24 is better, even for the dark roast.
9. Dilute the concentrate at least by 1:1 with water or milk; you can use less cream, but I didn't have a good measurement.
10. Based on my physical reaction, I'd say the cold brew has plenty of caffeine. I stayed up 41 consecutive hours after testing my first batch.

Still to be determined: I usually see steel or glass containers recommended for steeping, but I used plastic water/Gatorade bottles without ill effect. I did not test if the coffee flavor leeched into the plastic, though one of them did stain slightly brown after steeping, so it seems plausible.

That's all, folks. Now excuse me while I bounce off the walls for a bit.

I do a lot of cold-brew and I've gone through any number of devices, starting with the Toddy (see above). My latest/current favorite is this dead-simple pitcher/filter:

https://www.amazon.com/Cold-Brew-Coffee ... cher&psc=1

Caffeine extraction is a function of temperature, so all else being equal you pull less caffeine in a cold-brew than normal brewing at higher temps. HOWEVER, most cold-brewing uses a higher ratio of grounds/water so it may wash out. But it's unlikely that you'll have extracted copious amounts of caffeine.

I only wish coffee would keep me awake like it did in grad school. I can have a triple espresso before bedtime and drop off like a baby minutes later.