A little-known fact about coffee is that cold-brewing will yield an incredibly
flavorful cup of coffee, with far less acid and caffeine. This has been somewhat of a “trade secret” for years. Cold-brewing enthusiasts claim that this method produces the smoothest, richest coffee ever. We Americans have been addicted to hot drip coffee for awhile, but this is not the only way, my friends. In other places, like Vietnam, Peru and the island of Java, coffee has quite a cold-brew history.
So how does it work?
It’s a simple, low-tech system that will give you a cold coffee concentrate that you can use for hot or cold coffee and coffee drinks. Toddy is the main retailer of this brewing system, which will run you about $40, or you can make your own with a couple jars and a mesh strainer at home.
The Toddy system was invented in 1964 by a chemical engineer named Todd Simpson. Apparently, when he ordered coffee in a Guatemalan café, he was served a cool concentrate with a container of boiling water on the side. His mother, who normally was unable to drink coffee because of its ill effects on her stomach, had no trouble at all with this version, and so, the Toddy was born.
The basic process goes like this: combine water and coarsely-ground coffee in a jar, let it sit for about 12 hours. Strain into another container, and voila, you have an audacious concentrate to use for hot or cold coffee. So easy. To make a hot cup of coffee, Toddy recommends adding 3 parts water (or milk) to one part coffee; however, some may prefer a lower ratio, even one-to-one. The beauty of this is that you can experiment and make it exactly to your personal preference.
To sum up, here are some advantages of cold-brewing:
1. The concentrate will stay fresh and full-flavored in your fridge for up to 14 days.
2. You’ll have coffee on hand for other recipes – everything from milk shakes to tiramisu.
3. It’s a base for flavored cold coffee drinks or hot coffee.
4. Brewing is low-tech and super simple.
5. Great for parties; you can serve a crowd all at once instead of standing at the drip coffee maker for an hour.
6. Good for those who have a tough time stomaching hot-brewed coffee, because it’s about 2/3 lower in caffeine and has a pH of about 6.31 (closer to neutral than your typical hot brew, which is about 4.5 – 6).
Local note: Commercial cold-brew isn’t so easy to find, but one fabulous coffee shop in Boulder that makes their own cold-brewed coffee is Coffee Sanctuary. They are a bit off the beaten path, on purpose. Their aim is to be a great neighborhood coffee shop, and between their cold-brewed java, home-made chai, and daily offering of several single-origin coffees, it would seem they are hitting the mark.
Seattle’s Best is a larger chain that also uses cold-brewed concentrate via the Toddy system, for all their cold coffee drinks. Borders Book Store is the spot to find them in the Denver/Boulder area.
Comments? Email Korina.
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Comments
Oh wow, thanks! I'm an IBS patient and I've been wondering why coffee can't be made in a way that may not kill my gut so much. I'm going to try this.
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