How to Cold-Brew Iced Coffee
Matthew Yglesias of The Internet Food Association has an easy way to go straight to iced coffee, skipping the whole pour hot liquid over ice step:
"What you need to do is fill a pitcher with a mixture of water and coffee (if you’re grinding your own, aim for a coarse grind) in a ratio of about 1 cup of coffee to about 4.5 cups of water. Stir it up to mix, and stick it in the fridge for, ideally, a 12 hour overnight brew. In the morning, strain the mixture." Pour it over ice, and you're set. Note: this yields a more caffeinated brew and apparently is easier to guzzle down because of the lower acidity. Try diluting it with some water or milk, or beware of the caffeine jitter fest.
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21 Comments:
Try a Toddy maker its pretty simple but the filters are wonderful in that they really help remove some of the oils and acidity that make coffee sometimes hard on your tummy. Also its a concentrated brew so I get about a gallon of iced coffee out of 1 lb of ground coffee (course grind) .
I dont work for them!
huneybumper at 8:10AM on 04/14/09
Agreed - Toddy is the way to go. It's a very simple system but their thick felt-like filters seem to improve the quality of the finished product.
phaelon56 at 8:23AM on 04/14/09
if you have to refrigerate over night, you might as well brew it the old fashioned way and chill it.
spartana07 at 8:31AM on 04/14/09
The reason why you cold brew it is when you brew coffee hot and put it over ice you have to brew it stronger which in turn makes it alot more bitter and acidic. These flavors seem to be much more pronounced when drank cold. Cold brewing leads to a very clean iced coffee.
savageo6 at 9:09AM on 04/14/09
I just double-filter through two normal coffee filters. The Toddy seems a bit, well, fussy.
shoneyjoe at 9:29AM on 04/14/09
I do this all the time in the summer, cut with a little bit of milk. Iced crack. I thought my heart was going to beat out of my chest.
KBestOliver at 9:34AM on 04/14/09
I use the nytimes iced coffee recipe from a few years back. Lately I've been using condensed milk to make vietnamese iced coffee...holy shit if you want iced crack...
ChiefHDB at 10:04AM on 04/14/09
I use 3 cups of cold water and 2/3 cup dark roast coffee in my 4 cup pyrex. Stir. Cover. I let it sit overnight on the counter. Strain through a coffee filter into another 4 cup pyrex. Refrigerate. Half coffee half skim milk and a nice healthy packet of asparatame. Lots of ice. No drama, low cost and I dont have to sit in a drive thru line.
Thank you Smitten Kitchen for that one!
ChelleyD01 at 11:49AM on 04/14/09
What's wrong with a good old fashioned Frappé? Just some instant coffee, water, ice and (optionally) a dash of milk or creme and sugar. Put it in a shaker, and shake away for about 20-30 seconds, and pour. Lovely.
mrbill1234 at 12:13PM on 04/14/09
...with condensed milk. Ahhh.
Cassaendra at 1:40PM on 04/14/09
I make this all the time according to a NYTimes Style Magazine article from a few years back, it is my favorite. It's like crack. Little milk and simple syrup, you've got what tastes like coffee ice cream yet packs a SERIOUS caffeine punch.
-Ben
Ben Cooks Everything
fozziebayer at 4:43PM on 04/14/09
Made this according a recipe on Splendid Table podcast. Produced copious amounts that took a team of 3 to handle the straining of the grounds. Lovely results but a big, huge mess. Glad to see more a more manageable recipe.
VioletCrumble at 5:39PM on 04/14/09
Fill 1/4 (+/-) of the glass w/coffee. Top w/ice. The ice doesn't melt nearly as much.
twosavoie at 5:52PM on 04/14/09
I make my own ice coffee in the same manor. Double brewing(double the coffee grounds, not brewing twice), as some suggest, just doesn't work the same.
I use half and half instead of milk myself, as it seems ot make it even better.
Raiders757 at 11:13PM on 04/14/09
When I worked at a coffee shop a couple of years ago, we would freeze leftover brewed coffee into ice cubes, and use those for our iced coffee drinks. That way, as they melt, more coffee goodness!!
yummyinmytummy at 11:58PM on 04/14/09
@yummy: That's a really cool idea...as long as your freezer doesn't taste like ass. I'll have to try that.
Cassaendra at 7:27AM on 04/15/09
Mrbill1234 said "What's wrong with a good old fashioned Frappé?".
For most of us the answer was in his question. Instant coffee. That's what's wrong with the Frappé. That said - if you like the flavor and it works for you then there's no good reason to go the cold brewed coffee route (except for economy - I believe the cost per serving will be much lower with brewed vs. instant).
phaelon56 at 9:29AM on 04/15/09
For those not wanting to invest in the Toddy maker, you can use a regular old French press. I have been making iced coffee this way for years. Just put your mixture of coffee and water into the French press before you go to bed, then when you wake up it is ready to go! The press saves you the time and money of dealing with fussy filters/systems.
Kismetized at 6:28PM on 04/15/09
I heard about the cold brew method two years back listening to The Splendid Table, and modified their method to suit myself. I have two inexpensive glass covered jugs, one for brewing, the other for the finished product. I use one cup ground coffee to four cups cold water, I too let it sit in the fridge for 11 hours (the SP version said leave it on the counter for the same). I strain it through the a chemex filter in a ceramic drip funnel (Melitta). It works just fine for me. The SP method was still bitter and acidic, and far too strong. I tried diluting it, but couldn't get the mix right, so I played around with it and came up with a solution that works for me. I didn't see the point in shelling out for the Toddy thingie, which they did mention on the show.
Mares at 10:42PM on 04/15/09
Yay. Smitten Kitchen.
http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/08/cold-brewed-iced-coffee/
wunami at 8:27AM on 04/18/09
I found the Toddy to be pretty shoddy, if you don't mind the play on words!
Some of the best cold-brew coffee I've ever had came from the Hourglass Coffeemaker -- www.hourglasscoffee.com . It's a cold-brew coffee maker, but it's made with healthier plastic and lets you make more coffee at once.
himay at 10:13AM on 04/18/09