Super Simple Cold Brew Coffee

For this method of preparing Cold Brew Coffee, you need neither a French Press, nor any sort of filter or strainer.

Like any method of making Cold Brew Coffee, you need to prepare in advance. Put a few spoons of ground coffee, or even Turkish coffee, into a jar or pitcher, stir and refrigerate for at least a few hours. Then before serving stir again. Now for Super Simple Cold Brew Coffee, there is a small but crucial difference.

The second stirring is five 5 or so minutes before serving. During that time the coffee grounds will settle on the bottom. So all you have to do is pour your nice tasty coffee into your cup, glass, mug or whatever.

Yup! You can't get anything easier than that! Enjoy!

Power Coffeeworks Passionate About Coffee

 A few days ago I finally made it to Power Coffeeworks to see what they could offer me for French Press and Cold Brew coffee. The visit started off on the right foot, since they were roasting coffee beans just as I walked in. It smelled soooo good.

That was the first time I ever found coffee beans being roasted in a coffee place. I don't know where the other coffee places do their roasting, but I was reassured to see that in Power Coffeeworks it's done on site. For that alone, I will return to Power Coffeeworks when I need ground coffee.

The shorter the time the roasted beans are stored, the fresher and better the coffee.

When I told the person in charge what I needed the coffee for, French Press and Cold Brew, I could see that he was passionate about coffee. To be honest, we argued about the best way to cold brew the coffee. I've been doing it in my French Press most of the time, and he insisted that a simpler way makes better coffee. Just put the water and coffee into a jar and use a simple paper filter or tea filter/strainer.

There is a nice selection of coffees to choose from. I chose Ethiopian and their dark house blend and decided to start with the Ethiopian. So, that evening I did my usual cold brew prep in the French Press. The following morning I had a wonderful cup, ok cups, of nice strong coffee. It kept me going for very long day of studies and lots of walking. By the time I got home that night, the last thing I wanted to do was to wash out the French Press, so I made the simplified version for the following day.

I just put the ground coffee and water into an ordinary glass jar, gave it all a stir, covered and put it into the fridge. The following morning I took out an old tea strainer, placed it over a glass and poured coffee in. Then I added my usual sugar and milk.

Since cleaning the simple strainer is a lot easier than cleaning out a French Press and its strainer/plunger, I'll stick with this method. The ground coffee was coarse enough, so that it didn't go through the strainer. The cold brew coffee was perfect.

It's clear that Power Coffeeworks has an excellent coffee-grinder. And as long as you have a simple tea strainer you can easily prepare cold brew coffee.

Enjoy!

Perfect for Drinking My Cold Brew Coffee

I thought I'd have to shop for a new glass for drinking my summer morning cold brew coffee. I even started looking in stores for the perfect glass cup. I didn't find something new, but I realized that I had the perfect glass cup at home.

I will just have to get a supply of straws, since they can't be cleaned.  What do you think?

Summer's Back, So Is Cold Brew Coffee

You can see the "frost" on my stainsless
steel French Press

Yesterday morning I had my first cold brew coffee of the season:

hot summer weather
finally cold brew coffee
a pleasure to drink
#morningcoffeehaiku

I discovered it a couple of years ago, and now I make it in the summer. It's easiest done in a French Press.

The only difficult part is remembering to prepare it the night before.

A good stir after adding cold water to the ground coffee and another stir after taking it from the fridge a few hours later are the most "complicated" parts of the process.

Then you use your French plunger, just like hot coffee, but the flavor is better, at least IMHO. Even in the winter I don't like my coffee very hot. I really do enjoy this great way of drinking cold coffee, and there aren't any ice cubes to dilute/weaken the flavor.

Cool Your Coffee with Coffee Ice

When I have leftover coffee, usually perked, I freeze it in disposable cups. And then when I want cold coffee and don't want an ice cube to dilute the flavor or, like yesterday, I had forgotten to prepare the cold press coffee in advance, I can just add frozen coffee aka coffee ice.

Summer Treat, Cold Brew Coffee

Last summer I discovered a new coffee-making technique, Cold Brew Coffee.  Apparently, there are a number of ways to do it, anything from tying the coffee grounds in a clean cloth (like for cheesemaking) or piece of stocking, just make sure there's no detergent, thing for holding tea leaves in water or French Press. Since I have a nice big French Press, that's what I use.

Today I finally drank some.

At first it looks like the coffee will be too light.

But in the morning after a nice stir, you can see that it brewed perfectly while sitting in the refrigerator.

And it tastes absolutely delicious. 

For Shabbat's cold coffee, when it is forbidden to use a filter, I simply perc a nice large quantity, and when it has cooled enough. Then I pour the coffee into glass jars to put in the fridge. That way it's ready and waiting for me in the morning.

And I'll let you in on one more little coffee secret. You don't need hot water to make instant coffee. Stir it in cold water; add your usual sugar/milk plus a few ice cubes, and you'll be surprised at how good it can be... That is of course if you have an instant you like.

Summer! Cold Brew Coffee, Homemade

Last summer I discovered a new coffee taste and brewing method, Cold Brew. It's so easy, as long as you remember to prepare in advance, and the flavor is super fantastic.

• Just add water to the coffee in your French Press, or jar if you have a filter you can use. 
• Give it a stir.
• Then cover and put in fridge overnight or for a few hours until it brews and chills.
• Before drinking, give it a good stir.
• Press the plunger or filter it.
• Enjoy!

A Coffee Secret Most Don't Know...

As I hinted in last night's blog post, Coffee Kapora..., there's a coffee making technique, the easiest that nobody or almost nobody knows. It makes even simple Cold Brew look complicated. For cold brew, you do need a bit of equipment, the French Press or some sort of filter. Though you don't need boiling water.

If you want some quick cold coffee, all you need is water and any instant coffee. I've done this here and in the states with all sorts of instant coffees.

You need more than that. Just add the instant to your water and stir a bit. I've been amazed at how quickly I have coffee. Then I add my sugar and milk. Yes, there are time when even a coffee snob like myself must be realistic and compromise.

When I need to drink some coffee in the morning, and this is all that is available, then I just make it and drink it very happily. As it is written in Pirkei Avot, Ethics of the Fathers:

Who is rich? One who is happy with what he has.

So, enjoy, and don't cry over spilled coffee...

Coffee Kapora...

As you all know, I've been making my Shabbat coffee in advance when I'm hankering for cold coffee Shabbat morning. Yesterday, Friday morning, I perked a nice big pot of coffee, let it cool and it filled two jars, one to the top, and the other a bit less. I knew that would give me more than enough coffee for Shabbat and figured I could drink the rest tomorrow morning/Monday.

So I started with the less full jar and had a nice mug full which perked me up and poured the rest into the mug for my second, but there wasn't enough. So I took out the other jar from the bottom shelf of the door, and somehow it just slipped out of my hand and dropped just a few inches, and... you guess it... crash!

It was all over the floor, my nice strong, delicious perk-me-up coffee... Splash! So, I mopped it all up, best as I could, and very carefully collected the glass and placed it all in the garbage and the pail of wet things to be laundered, and made do with a different sort of coffee, which I'll blog about tomorrow morning.

Stay tuned...