I’m a big coffee drinker and during the warm weather months of late it tends to be cold brewed coffee; I just think it tastes better this way cold. The cold brewing process seems to have less acid.
The ratio of grounds to water that I’ve found works the best is somewhere around 3/1 or 4/1 cold water to coffee grounds but I also add a lot of ice and milk. You’ll have to figure out what works best for you.
In the beginning you might want to start small – try 1/3 cup grounds to 1 cup water – then adjust to suit yourself. You can ramp this up to make pitchers of iced coffee as you like.
I’m not sure how long the extract is good – I tend to drink it all up before this becomes an issue – but I would think it would be good for a while if kept refrigerated.
The process couldn’t be easier. You can get really nice equipment to do this (Google “Toddy coffee system”) but any big clean jar with a tight fitting lid will do fine. Add the grounds, add the water, shake, and let steep. I find I like it best steeped overnight but experimentation will tell you what works best for you; I suspect you need at least four hours, though. Strain the grounds from the liquid and you have an extract.
The resulting extract can be diluted with water/milk/anything you like, really and served over ice. Or if you want a cup of hot coffee put some of the extract in a coffee cup and add boiling water to taste.
I’ve heard this is how “Vietnamese coffee” is made – the cold brewed extract is poured over a glass of ice that has sweetened condensed milk in the bottom of it.
You can add most anything – syrup, etc. Sometimes I throw cinnamon in with the coffee grounds, that’s a nice change.
Other equipment/etc in the next thread. Yes, I really like coffee.
We’ve a Rancilio Silvia espresso machine.
Plus a Mazzer Mini burr grinder.
We order “Bella Donovan” from Blue Bottle Roasters in San Francisco and grind it very fine.
We each pull ourselves 2-4 shots of very concentrated, inky espresso per morning.
Black, lots of raw sugar.
