How to survive a steamy summer: Brew coffee in the refrigerator, creating a smooth and low-acidity coffee concentrate for making iced coffee and coffee smoothies.
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It happens every summer, some years during an unseasonably hot June, some years in always-steamy July.
Predictably, even if the timing is inexact, one morning hot coffee suddenly offers no pleasure. On that morning’s dime, I switch from hot java to iced coffee.
For years, I brewed hot coffee, then chilled it in the fridge. Last year, praise be and thanks to Dinner with Julie, I discovered cold-brewed coffee. What a revelation.
How easy is this? Simply mix ground coffee with cold water and let it rest for a few hours.
But cold-brewed coffee is more than 'easy'. The coffee is smoother and less acidic. It’s easy to make just enough for one or two. It's oh-so-sippable, a cool treat to accompany the soundtrack of a steamy summer.
I love the rhythm of cold coffee. Day One, I mix the first batch of concentrate in a glass jar. Day Two, I strain the coffee through the coffee maker’s filter into a second glass jar, freeing up the first jar to make a fresh batch for tomorrow. While tomorrow’s coffee brews, I sip on today’s iced coffee all day long.
Rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat, all summer long.
How do you stay cool in the hot summer? Share a quick idea via recipes@kitchen-parade.com. How to print a Kitchen Parade recipe. Never miss a recipe! If you like this recipe, sign up for a free e-mail subscription. If you like Kitchen Parade, you're sure to like my food blog about vegetable recipes, too, A Veggie Venture. COLD-BREWED COFFEE
Time to table: 8 – 24 hours
Makes 1-1/2 cups coffee concentrate (easily multiplied for more)
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COFFEE CONCENTRATE
- 1-1/2 cups cold water
- 1/3 cup ground coffee (that’s 5 tablespoons or 4 of those little funnel-shaped coffee scoopers)
- 1 tablespoon sugar, optional
- Pinch of cinnamon, optional
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ICED COFFEE
- Water or milk
- Palm sugar or sweetened condensed milk
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COFFEE SMOOTHIE
- Cream
- Sugar
COFFEE CONCENTRATE Stir the water and ground coffee in a glass jar, making sure to wet all the grounds. If you like, stir in sugar and a little cinnamon, especially if you are a fan of flavored coffee. Cover and let steep in the refrigerator overnight or up to 24 hours. Drain through a coffee filter. If drinking later, refrigerate.
ICED COFFEE Combine equal parts coffee concentrate and water or milk. Pour over ice and sweeten as desired.
COFFEE SMOOTHIE Combine ¼ cup coffee concentrate, 1/4 cup cream, 2 – 3 tablespoons of sugar and five ice cubes in a blender. Yum!
ALANNA’s TIPS Brew the Coffee Concentrate with fresh-ground coffee beans if you like. But I stick with my everyday coffee, the wonderful Folgers 100% Colombian. Yes, I know: Folgers and ground coffee, cancel my foodie credentials. But this stuff is good – and affordable, $7 or $8 on sale for a huge tub. A little coffee grit will accumulate in the bottom of the jar and even the cup. But it’s no more than, say, what you’ll find at Starbucks. Via SFGate, the San Francisco Chronicle has published still more ideas on variations of cold-brewed coffee.
Ways to Strain the Coffee Grounds
There are different ways to strain the coffee grounds to make the Coffee Concentrate.
As pictured, use a paper coffee filter tucked into a strainer. Just be sure to pour the liquid in slowly, otherwise, it'll spill all over.
My coffee maker has a metal filter that works great for straining the cold-brewed coffee.
Jennie from In Jennie’s Kitchen uses a French press
Summer Savers:
More Cold Drinks for Hot Summers
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It is a system with a filter basket that you put the coffee grounds in with water and let sit overnight. There is a filter and cork in the bottom. In the morning you pull the cork and it fills the storage carafe below with a condensed coffee syrup. To make hot coffee, you use about 1/3 coffee syrup and 2/3 water and then I zap it. It keeps about 2 weeks. It comes from Toddy Cafe and I have gotten replacement filters from Amazon.
The only drawback is you don’t smell the brewing coffee!
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Thank you for taking a moment to write! I read each and every comment, for each and every recipe. If you have a specific question, it's nearly always answered quick-quick. But I also love hearing your reactions, your curiosity, even your concerns! When you've made a recipe, I especially love to know how it turned out, what variations you made, what you'll do differently the next time. ~ Alanna