I've been a Barista in high end coffee for about 4 years now. One of the things you learn early on is that it is distasteful to ever ice espresso. Many go forward never questioning why this is such a bad idea, but I have an inquisitive mind and looked into it further.
It turns out that coffee is high in chlorogenic acid, which, as the coffee cools, forms quinic acid, which has a noteable and overwhelming astringent flavor. So the task is to brew coffee in a way that does not involve heat, and also reduces the apparent acidity. In the 60's the Toddy method became popular and it produces a finished product that is notably less bitter and actually puts forward a deep caramel and chocolaty flavor. It is perfect for a warm day.
I decided to make my own cold brew coffee brewer.
It turns out that coffee is high in chlorogenic acid, which, as the coffee cools, forms quinic acid, which has a noteable and overwhelming astringent flavor. So the task is to brew coffee in a way that does not involve heat, and also reduces the apparent acidity. In the 60's the Toddy method became popular and it produces a finished product that is notably less bitter and actually puts forward a deep caramel and chocolaty flavor. It is perfect for a warm day.
I decided to make my own cold brew coffee brewer.
Step 1: Materials
Supplies:
-6oz of a well roasted coffee
-one piece of felt (.29 cents at michaels)
-two large coffee filters
-a two-liter bottle
-thread
-scissors
-6oz of a well roasted coffee
-one piece of felt (.29 cents at michaels)
-two large coffee filters
-a two-liter bottle
-thread
-scissors
Step 6: Weigh
Weigh out 6 ounces of a good, quality coffee. Bad coffee will only get you bad cold brew.
Step 10: Set in your brewer
Set them in your brewer, fill with a little over 6 cups of good, clean water
Step 14: Enjoy!
End product. A super clean, crisp, cold brewed coffee. You can use this as a concentrate and dilute with a few ounces of water or drink it straight up. Tastes delicious and huuuuuuuuge caffeine content.
p.s.
The double filtration is extremely important. A lot of places that do cold brew use the reusable fabric filters, but they tend to leave solids in the coffee and it gives it a certain grittiness that I can't stand. Double filtered cold brew coffee is one of my favorite coffee preparation methods.
p.s.
The double filtration is extremely important. A lot of places that do cold brew use the reusable fabric filters, but they tend to leave solids in the coffee and it gives it a certain grittiness that I can't stand. Double filtered cold brew coffee is one of my favorite coffee preparation methods.
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Lucky hot water is cheep / free and while i have experimented with carrying instant grounds is almost always ends up moisture from the atmosphere ruining the grounds, a liquid coffee concentrate would solve these problems.
i would like to trie your method. I am in germany and here cold coffee is really unkonwn. I want to maeke drinsk of it like starbucks cold coffee shakes.
But I have one question: Could I use other materials for the last - double filter instead of felt? I do not have any felt at home. Could I just use clean cotton instead oft it?
Thank you.
But the chemicals in the felt do worry me. It would be nice to find an inexpensive reusable filter. Cheesecloth seems like it would let grounds through. Perhaps a well-worn/well-washed cloth would work.
I will commence experimentation...
I love the idea i may try it this weekend !
I use a 270g bag of preground espresso beans, I replaced the felt filtering with a layer of 3 paper filters sitting on a funnel (worked very well that way!) I also did it in just a 2L jug (the sort I usually put orange juice in), rather than mangling a coke bottle. Worked Great!
A half shot of caramel syrup, a couple of ice cubes, and a good dash of full-cream milk, it was just too good!
DEFINITELY making this again soon, it's almost spring time now so I'll need something to cool me down. haha (That's Australia for you..)
AFAIK modern felt, usually (but not always) polyester, doesn't contain extra chemicals... but that's not much assurance.
You can always make your own felt if you can find the "roving" -- which is the cleaned and carded wool. Water + agitation + temperature changes = felt! (or even just water + agitation, if you have the time)
If you can get information about how the roving was processed, then you can have a much better idea of what chemicals (if any) were involved.
My personal preference would be to *not* use a synthetic felt, and probably not a wool felt purchased at a store, for exactly that concern: not knowing what chemicals were used. But I would be fine using felt that I made, or other items that met my own idea of what is 'food safe.'
You can rinse the felt out and let it dry on a dish rack and reuse it!
Followed the instructions to the letter. Coffee used was Starbucks Tribute blend, they ground it as coarse as they could at the store. The bags set for 16 hours.
After draining (really does take forever) the coffee had a powder or texture taste to it, not sure what that is or how it happened but it doesn't taste good at all. Thought it may have been the felt? (Michaels white felt, .89c per square). Can you give me any insight as to why it might have turned out this way? I am really excited to brew this, everyone says it's sweet and full of caffeine.
Thanks for your input, an entire set of new materials awaits replies to try again.
Neither tea nor coffee are good growing media for most pathogens, so they do not quickly become "contaminated".
REALLY?! This is what passes for SCIENCE these days?
Then there's that inconvenient fact that even though it doesn't actually DO anything to the average human on consumption, it's still killed by the UV rays of the sun while the tea is steeping.
So yeah. Let the fear mongering continue.
The CDC and WHO come out with their yearly scare to justify their paycheck. That's the long and the short of it. Remember Swine Flu? Or should I just say H1N1? Oh, that's right, that's the REGULAR FLU. In fact, by percentage, "Swine Flu" killed fewer people than regular flu. (And my fiancee and I caught it. Yes, we were tested and tested positive. It was more mild than a regular yearly flu.) How about the mono "epidemics?" Bird flu? West Nile Virus? Go ahead and pick your scare for the year. But then do a little research on it and you'll find that not a single one of these diseases is any more deadly than the common flu. Every now and then they hit on something that's a legit danger, such as Mad Cow Disease. But after crying wolf so often, it's hard to believe them when they do.
My background: I did medical research at Naval Medical Research Unit #3 (NAMRU-3) in Cairo Egypt as a 91T in the U.S. Army. Currently researching for a book about biochemistry in diets.
So any issues with "sterility" are moot.
Hot brewing does not cook or sterilize anything, so cold brewing is just as safe as hot brewing given the fact that the coffee beans, as I said in the beginning, are already -roasted-.
And to be honest, if contaminants in your tea or coffee are an issue, you might want to re-examine where you're getting your product.
Billions of Americans drink coffee prepared in drip coffee makers (which do not boil the grounds) every day without problems, so I think we'll be okay.