I do still loves me good espresso. But the cold brewed coffee I make at home is just so damned convenient, plus it just tastes so wonderful. Smooth, full of strong coffee flavor without bitterness. So the Mrs. and I have mostly given over our ristrettos and cappuccinos and are enjoying the great flavor of our own cold brews.
Uncomplicated recipe: I cup Folgers medium roast for every 4.5 cups of water, put in a pitcher which is stirred, covered, stirred again maybe at 12 hours, then after 24 or so hours put thru a coarse filter, then a fine filter, using gravity only! Chill, dilute any way we please (I like mine diluted with half and half and a couple ice cubes, the Mrs. likes hers with a splash of hazelnut syrup plus the half and half and ice), and serve.
I use my French press in the fridge or I have a 1 L bottle that has a drinking top and the bottom unscrews with a fine mesh filter in it. Add the ground coffee to the bottom, screw the base on, flip it and add water to the top. Very convenient!
But Folgers??? Given your taste in cheese I would have expected more of you!
I put a cup of ground coffee in a quart jar and fill it with filtered water. Seal it. Shake it. Leave it overnight or up to a day. I use an old coffee maker basket with coffee filters in it to strain the grounds. Then i put the concentrate in a bottle and take that to work. I add hot water at work to make a cup of hot coffee.
I’m open to suggestions for what beans work best, folks. I did try my favorite espresso beans for the brew, grinding them coarsely rather than super fine, but I got a rather sour product that did not please. So I save that for my shots of espresso.
Otherwise, the improvement in taste I get using the cold brewing process on Folgers was so great that there was no obvious need to upgrade them. But hey, I’m ready to experiment.
It’s interesting you should say that, Quadgop, because one of the benefits I’ve always noticed about homemade cold-brew is that you can use the very crappiest of beans (the aforementioned Folgers… I happen to use to bargain-bin stuff from Aldi) and it doesn’t seem to make much difference in the end product.
I love cold brew, but my biggest problem is that I keep forgetting to make it ahead of time. And I only like hot coffee when it’s below 50 degrees outside.