I have a thing for coffee. Slowly and steadily I have become more enthusiastic (and annoying) about it.  So I thought I’d stay true (and annoying) and share this with you :]

About a year or so ago, I discovered cold brew coffee. Up until then, I thought all cold coffee drinks were brewed with hot water and cooled down with ice. This is not the case with smooth cold brewed coffee, as it is brewed in cold water! However, as most people, I was led to believe that to enjoy cold brew coffee at home, I had to buy lab-like equipment and be as precise as a neurophysicist. Unsurprisingly, given that I can be quite intense on certain subjects, I did my research and concluded they were all attempts to make me buy more stuff I did not need or want. In fact, it turned out cold brewed coffee is quite simple to make, once you get the hang of it.

Around that same time, I started to see more and more fancy pharmacy-like bottles of cold brew sold on counters, cold brew served at coffee shops in mason jars and costing at least twice what another drink cost, and so on. In short, it seemed it had become trendy to drink cold brew while it remained an elaborate & mysterious drink that people would pay dearly to have. Granted, cold brew is GREAT and I see why people will pay for it even if it’s ridiculously pricey… But I wondered if they would pay so much as often if they found out how EASY it is to make at home?

Hence, this blog post. I want more people to know about cold brew and give it a try ♥ I want less suffering from sensitive stomachs ♥ More people experimenting, while using those beans they were about to throw away cause they’re no use for espresso anymore ♥ I want cold brew to be mainstream, not fashionable. As defined by the Urban Dictionary, “Once certain concepts […] have reached mainstream audiences, hipsters move on to something new…” So yes, I want to de·hipsterify it. Why? because I’d like to drink from normal cups. By all means, keep your mason jars for cupboard storage and reuse them! But please give me something normal to drink from.

WHAT YOU NEED.

This is the easiest way I’ve found and the most effective for me so far:

• I use beans that are medium-dark roast and sometimes mix different types to get a better end result. I am no barista, I simply experiment and take notes on what has worked best with what I have at hand. So don’t be shy, use any coffee you have and start testing.
• For filtering, you don’t need to buy a French press if you don’t have one – you can filter your coffee with other kitchen tools, but people often have these coffee makers at home and the filtering mesh is usually pretty fine.
• Third, use room temperature or cold bottled water. Tap water will make terrible coffee.
• And finally, time. This will vary mostly on your personal preference for coffee and on the size of your ground coffee beans, but I suggest planning your coffee break 24hrs in advance.

HOW TO BREW IT.

STEP 1. Measure & grind

Grinding your coffee. Pay attention as if the coffee grinds are too big, you’ll get murky water for coffee… And if they’re too small, you’ll most likely get a coffee concentrate that may or may not be drinkable. I set the grinder for “filter” coffee and this is what comes out. For reference, on the LEFT you have coarse salt and on the RIGHT you have fine salt. I’d say coffee grinds have to be about halfway in between.

– Place your grinds in the French press or equivalent container.

STEP 2. Mix, stir & wait

Mix in water (cold or room temperature) and stir lightly. The amount of water used will also have an effect on the resulting coffee, but I’ve found that its impact is not as high as the coffee grind size. Note: the measurements shown on post-its ABOVE are what has worked for me and are meant to be used as guidelines, feel free to experiment.

– Cover and set aside for at least 16-24 hours.

STEP 3. Press & refrigerate

Gently move down the French press’ filter. If you have time to spare, let is sit for 5 mins to reduce sediments. Pour the filtered coffee into a glass container that you can keep in the fridge up to 2 weeks. Discard the used coffee grinds.

STEP 4. Enjoy!

The resulting cold brew should be sort of a concentrate coffee, closer to the strength of an espresso. So be careful on not drinking it too often, some studies say it has MORE caffeine than any of the other usual coffee drinks.

If you need some inspiration as to how to drink your cold brew, here are some suggestions:

Serve cold and add flavoured syrups for a Hazelnut Iced Espresso

Add hot water for an Americano.

Or pour over ice and add milk for an Iced Latte. Click & watch the magic:

A video posted by @mlecanda on May 11, 2015 at 9:54am PDT

Pour over vanilla ice cream for a slow-melting Affogato.

Keep pouring...

Other serving suggestions include the use of boozy liquids for coffee-based cocktails – espresso martinis and orange liqueurs have been tested and approved...

Feel free to share your own ideas below 😉

PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD ON COLD BREW!

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