Saturday, June 30, 2007

cold turkey. er, I mean coffee

This story begins with our French Press coffee maker. Did you know those can get moldy? I found that out a few days ago. I think the rise in humidity hit the filter part while it was still warm & wet from being washed, and well, mold came. It was gross. So we threw it away. Then of course because we couldn't have coffee, we suddenly wanted coffee. Nevermind that it's far too hot for any heated beverage.

A compromise. Miraculously, the NY Times posted a recipe on how to make cold-brewed coffee. It's basically soaking coffee beans for 12 hours then filtering it out and adding more water (or milk) in the morning. You can add hot water OR cold water. Genius. We didn't have any coffee to do this. So off to the coffee store. We bought vanilla-almond coffee, a new French Press (it's lime green!) and a complete cold-brewing system.

Yes, we had to buy both because the cold brewing system still takes overnight (for hot or cold coffee) and the French Press makes hot coffee in 5 minutes. We are both so impulsive that we can't plan out 12 hours in advance if we will want coffee or not, but it's nice to be able to have cold coffee when you suddenly decide you want it. (The coffee stays good in the fridge for 2 weeks.)

So this morning was our first experience tasting cold-brewed coffee. They brag about how there's less caffeine and less acidity in the coffee this way but it tastes better. I never make my coffee strong, so even with a 1:4 ratio of "coffee concentrate" to chocolate soy milk, it was still very strong and tasteful of coffee. However, it did not make my stomach hurt, which lends credence to their "less acidity" claim. BUT I was all jittery and shaky later, which makes me think there was more caffeine in it than my normal cup. Or that I hadn't eaten anything all day. Probably both.

Point is,* the coffee tasted good, and I could enjoy it cold because it is now July and too hot for the heated kind of coffee. It was a good buy. And so goodbye.






* Have you noticed how many of my blogs end with the words "point is" or some variation?

12 comments:

Alex Elliot said...

You learn something new every day! I make cold coffee all the time, but I just pour hot coffee over ice cubes. I'll have to try cold brew coffee because it sounds different. Glad you're happy with your new gadget!

super des said...

It doesn't get all watered down like the ice cube way. And you can do it without the fancy gadget.

SUEB0B said...

I tried the cold brewed thing and didn't like it. It made a huge mess and took forever to strain and the coffee wasn't that great. Maybe I LIKE the acid part? Anyway, back to my regular melitta filter life.

super des said...

The fancy machine makes it less messy.

Count Mockula said...

Very interesting. We drink hot coffee every morning regardless of the weather (and we use a French press, too!), but the cold thing sounds like a worthwhile experiment. I am actually not a huge fan of cold coffee unless it's in the form of an iced latte or mocha, but it's worth a shot.

super des said...

YOu could make it an iced latte...

They actually give you recipes for everything from lattes to White Russians.

Brillig said...

Your "point is" is very functional. Like the moral of an Aesop Fable. You don't want us to miss the moral of the story, right?

super des said...

I should start writing fables. With talking animals.

LittlePea said...

It is good that way. I usually put a lot of cream in my regular coffee but my friend makes it cold so when I have coffee at her house I put a drop of milk because it tastes so good. But I won't let myself drink coffee until the end of October anyway since it's a thousand degrees outside so I shouldn't be discussing coffee...still though, I'm happy for you and jealous at the same time.

super des said...

Pea, I command you to drink cold coffee. (I don't put extra water in it - I use only soy milk!)

Icecreamman said...

Saw this and thought I would recommend this if you don't want to make it yourself..

www.coolbrew.com

super des said...

Well if I didn't want to make it myself, I'm sure there are over 1 million places in NYC to go. Plus, I wouldn't have bought the new coffee maker.

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