Cold-Brewed Coffee

Coffee is something some people see as utilitarian (the only way to wake up in the morning), some see it as almost an art form of choosing the right region's soil, the perfect roasting conditions, etc. But if you're like me, coffee is mostly what you drink when you want to relax in a nice, cozy coffee shop or sit down to talk to some friends.

I like the smell of coffee and the taste of coffee-flavored foods, but the taste is so bitter and it is so acidic that I usually end up masking the coffee flavor with generous amounts of milk and honey.

Well, I have found the answer: cold-brewed coffee. The process brings out the flavor of the coffee and leaves behind most of the bitterness and acidity. As far as I can conclude from reading various websites, cold-brewed coffee stays good for 7-10 days in the fridge and only has 30% less caffeine than traditionally-brewed coffee. The only drawback is the 12 hour or overnight brewing time required, but if you are like most people with an automatic-timer on their coffee pot, you set up your coffee the night before anyway. Even if you don't do that, it keeps for at least a week, so you can always make it ahead of time and keep it around for when you get a craving.

For my first attempt, I used my Barnie's Decaffeinated Cupcake-Flavored Coffee. It was delicious. I could have taken it black, but I added the tiniest bit of milk and sugar 'cus I love sweet things (example: faced with choosing between French fries or cookies, I will take cookies every time). Next time I will try it with my Snickerdoodle flavored coffee!

Anyway, so here's the deal, taken from this lovely NYTimes article:

Ingredients:
1/3 cup ground coffee (medium-coarse grind is best and I recommend flavored coffees)
Water, cold or room temperature

1. In a jar, stir together coffee and 1 1/2 cups water. Cover and let rest at room temperature overnight or 12 hours.

2. Strain twice through a coffee filter, a fine-mesh sieve or a sieve lined with cheesecloth. I simply put a coffee filter in my coffee-maker and poured the grounds/water mixture into the filter where you would normally just put the grounds. Be sure to pour slowly so that you don't get a messy overflow of wet coffee grounds. Discard grounds. You now have a coffee concentrate that will keep in the fridge for a week or so.

3. In a tall glass filled with ice, mix equal parts coffee concentrate and water, or to taste. If desired, add milk and sweetener.To make hot coffee, dilute concentrate one-to-one with water and heat in the microwave.

Makes 2 drinks.

Simply heat in the microwave if you desire hot coffee.