Photo by BRUNO CERVERA on Unsplash
My caffeine addiction takes me to new experiences when it comes to drinking coffee.
I've done all the Latte variations (I can remember when it was simply called Milky Coffee!) I revel in drinking espresso, double espresso or even triple espresso, I've had flavoured coffees, i've tried Blue Mountain (bloody expensive and nothing special).
I thought I'd tried them all, that is until the day that I had a glass of cold coffee.
No, I'm not talking about picking up the mug in the morning and knocking back what was left over from the night before, I'm talking about cold brewing coffee as a drink.
I chanced upon this when I was checking the BBC news website and found a random article. It was the middle of summer and I thought that the opportunity to drink a cold drink fro a change would be most welcome.
The only issue was, that it takes three days to make! (Ok, you will see some recipes that say twenty four hours but, let me assure you, the tree day wait is worth it!)
So, how did I go about making this nectar of the gods?
It's a simple process.
First you need your container, a mason jar will do the job, but I use a thermos flask.
It's recommended that you double the amount of coffee that you would normally use because cold brewing is a gentler process and doesn't remove so much of the coffee/caffeine etc from the coffee grounds.
I use six tablespoons (heaped of course) of my favourite coffee (or the nearest to hand!)
Next, I add the water, with the thermos it's 1.8 litres, with any other containers just fill it to the top.
Then I close the lid and that's it.
Put it somewhere out of the way (preferably in the dark) and leave it.
If you are impatient then go back after twenty four hours, if you are strong willed, wait three days.
Once you have gone back to your jar of black gold, you need to filter it to remove the coffee grounds, or, in my case, I just pour it slowly, but, filtering is probably the better way to go for your first time.
It's recommended that you filter at least three times, that will reduce, if not eliminate the dark sludge that you may get in your glass.
Then pour your first glass.
Now, here's a word from the wise (well, experienced), you pour it into a shot glass, this stuff is powerful! Once you have your shot sized portion you can consider pouring it into a larger glasss and adding more water, but, for me, that seems to defeat the point of cold brewed coffee. (I just pour it straight into the larger glass anyway, unless there are friends visiting, then we do the ritual of coffee shots all round.)
Cold brewed coffee, because it's not brining out the bitter oils from the grounds, is much smoother and some say sweeter than normal brewed coffee, and it is strong, but that's the point.
But, beware, it's powerful stuff!
Hope you try it for yourself, if you do, let me know how you got on, maybe we can swap ideas!
Oh, and one final point, I have the good fortune that my water comes from a spring, so it's free of all the crap that normal tap water contains. If you are going to use tap water and don't have a water filter, leave a jug of water in the fridge for 24 hours to let the chlorine evaporate away, it makes it taste better.