A Fresher Cold Brew
I have done a few batches of cold brew coffee now, and I'm learning things as I go. In the past, I have used muslin bags to put the coffe grind into, and then let that sit in the water. The past two batches, I have just put it all in a bowl with a towell over it, and then proceeded to double filter it, per instructions of Jamie Oliver's Drinks Tube channel on YouTube.
The first two times I tried this, I just used Folgers breakfast blend. I know what you're thinking...how can you possibly expect excellent results from that coffee. Well, I'll have you know that I've been able to fool quite a lot of people by making French press coffee from Folgers. They are some good beans, but maybe not as fresh as is needed in cold brew coffee?
This time, I decided to pick up some actual whole beans, grind them and see how it turns out. I grabbed some Eight O'Clock coffee. I believe it is a medium, Columbian roast. I ground up 1 cup of beans, coarsly. I put them in a bowl. Then, I added about 6.5 oz of water to the grind...ensuring to soak all of the grind sufficiently. Finally, I just cover it with a towel on the counter for 12-24 hours. Last time, it was more like 18 hours. I've let this batch sit a little longer, so we will see if it is stronger, or better in some way.
I also don't know if the concentrate is supposed to be stored in the fridge or just on the counter in an air-tight container. I have been keeping mine in the fridge, but that presents a problem. When I go to add some boiling water to a bit of the concentrate, it is not hot enough for me, and I don't even put milk or anything else in my coffee that would cool it down at all. If I could just leave this out at room temperature, it would be idea. Then, when I added some boiling water from the kettle, it would be a nice, hot cup of coffee.
The solution ended up brewing for about 24 hours before I double filtered the grind out of it. I poured it all through a sieve first. Then, I just wet a kitchen paper towel, put that in the sieve and strained the mixture again. This last step caught more than I expected, since the concentrate already looked pretty pure. There is a lot of very find grind that is not caught by even the finest of sieves.
I've now had multiple cups of this cold brew coffee, mixed with hot water, and I can say, it is delicious. I'm not sure if it is a stronger concentrate or just the fresher beans, but I have been enjoying what I made.
Have you still not tried this? Give it a try and let me know what you think.
