It’s that time of year when people say, “It’s too hot for coffee.” These people do not understand coffee and are not to be trusted.
My grandmother loved coffee, and she liked it amazingly strong. There was no such thing as a day that was too hot for coffee. Her theory was that on a hot day, you should drink a hot cup of coffee, as it would warm up your insides and make you feel cooler.
I am far more effete than my stern grandmother, and once the temperature gets above a certain point, I really do not want more than a single hot cup of coffee in the morning. After that, I want a cooler and more refreshing drink.
Being a Virginian, I often do enjoy iced tea. However, my Yankee husband isn’t much of a fan.
What we can agree on is a nice class of sweet and creamy iced coffee.
A friend of my encouraged me to try the cold-brew method for making coffee. You know what? For iced coffee, it is utterly perfect. It is also quite easy.
| I’m using a two-quart Mason jar for this, but you can really use any container.
Take about 40g (call it a heaping third of a cup if you’re measuring by volume) of medium ground coffee. You don’t want fine ground, or you’ll have a very bitter result. |
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I confess I didn’t measure the water properly. My favorite coffee ratio seems to be 1:19 coffee to water. This is a few milliliters more than that, but I just filled up the jar with water here. I am confident the result will be fine.
Cap the jar, give it a good shake to mix up the grounds, and put it in the refrigerator. |
| Now we wait. Cold brew’s real disadvantage is that you do have to plan a little in advance. You should let this coffee steep in the fridge for at least 12 hours. In this example, it was more like 24, but who’s counting, right? | |
| After 24 hours, I think this baby is well-steeped. Now, we need to get rid of the grounds. |
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You can strain the coffee any way you’d ordinarily strain anything with a coarse grind. Cheesecloth is dandy, as is any paper filter.
Because I already own a steel mesh filter and a Chemex coffee maker, it seemed to me to be ideally suited for the task. |
| And so it does! |
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Ideally, you’d store this coffee in a container in the fridge, but with my husband and I both drinking it, I’m not really going to bother. It’ll be used in an hour.
The advantage here is that cold-brewed means that you’ll have nicely mellow coffee that doesn’t become too diluted when you add some ice. A friend of mine pointed out that some people like to make coffee ice cubes to go with their drink. This is also an excellent option, but I did not do it for the experiment.
Iced coffee is lovely in the summertime. If you’re a coffee lover, do try it. And hopefully, Grandma won’t be too ashamed of my effete delicacy!
I like this idea. Much cheaper than the overpriced coffee house versions.