Cold brew coffee has improved my marriage.  Weird?  Yes.  You see, Husband HATES coffee.  He hates the smell of it brewing, he hates the taste, and he can’t imagine why I would want to drink it.  In the past, I just waited till he was out of the house and I made a quick cup of instant coffee for myself.  Then recently I bought a French press so my teenage granddaughter could enjoy homemade coffee at our house instead of wanting to buy expensive kiosk coffee.  Big problem.  I got a taste for real brewed coffee! But poor Husband was miserable smelling that coffee smell.  Enter cold brew.  Real coffee without the smell.  Real coffee without the bitter taste.

We’ve all been hearing more lately about cold brew coffee.  First of all, just for the record, cold brew refers to the method of brewing, not the temperature of the resulting drink. Cold brew isn’t the same as iced coffee.  You can certainly drink cold brew hot!  Confused yet?

Cold brew means that the coffee grounds have not been exposed to hot water in the brewing process.  The grounds have simply soaked in room temperature water to extract the flavor and nutrients for 12-24 hours.  The resulting brew is concentrated and can be stored in the fridge for up to two weeks.  When you need a cup of Joe, simply dilute the concentrate with hot or cold water or milk at about 1:1 or less to taste.  The resulting drink isn’t bitter like normal coffee.  It’s smooth and mild but flavorful because you can taste more than the bitter flavor.

Benefits of Cold Brew Coffee

More antioxidants, phytochemicals, nutrients than high temp brews

67% less acidic- great for those who suffer from acid reflux, heartburn.  Heat releases oils from the beans that are acidic.  Also, less acid is better for your teeth.

More caffeine (unless decaf beans), but you’re diluting the concentrate.  If you dilute with equal parts concentrate to water, the caffeine is the same as hot brewed.  If you want Expresso-type caffeine levels, simply dilute less.

Needs less sugar because no bitter taste- fewer calories from sugar, better for teeth

Smooth taste doesn’t change over time.  No more stale, day-old coffee!  No more wasted coffee.  Temperature changes cause taste changes.  Hot brewed coffee changes taste as it cools.  Cold brewed has never been hot, so it’s chemistry doesn’t change as it cools.  https://www.thedailybeast.com/coffees-dirty-little-secret

Brew cold, drink hot or cold- experiment with how much of the concentrated brew to use and how much hot or cold water/milk to dilute it with.

Convenient- just keep some concentrate in the fridge ready anytime for a smooth cuppa.

How to Cold Brew Coffee

1 cup coarse grind coffee preferably dark roast (Dark roast starts out with less acid, but Light roast also works because of no heat method)

4 cups cold or room temperature water

I use my French press.  I just put the 1 cup of ground coffee in the bottom of my french press and add 4 cups cool water.  Stir it and put on the lid but don’t press the sieve part down.  After 12 hours, or up to 24 hours if I forget, I press the plunger slowly to separate the grounds out of the brew and pour into a glass jar with a lid and put it in the fridge.  Done.  (Be sure not to drink the fine grounds that may slip thru as they are tiny slivers of the beans which are acidic.)

So can I be honest and say that the idea of a whole cup of ground coffee made dollar signs flash in my brain?!  But when I did some math, I realized that I’m getting much more than 4 cups of coffee from my grounds.  This is a concentrate.  I’ll get at least 8 cups of coffee from my 1 cup of grounds when I dilute equal parts concentrate to water/milk.  Which is exactly the same as I got from using 2 TBL grounds per cup of hot brew. But the flavor is so much smoother, less acidic and delicious!  Plus, I’m getting more health benefits.  And there’s no waste.  The concentrate will stay fresh in the fridge for about 10 days.  But mine doesn’t last that long!

PS  Confessions of a tightwad.  Don’t read this if you’re a coffee connoisseur.  I re-use the cup of grounds and get another brew, albeit very weak brew.  Did you shudder?

For Further Reading

https://www.thedailybeast.com/coffees-dirty-little-secret