Cold Brew Coffee?

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JHZR2

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First off, we don't even own a coffee maker. We will occasionally drink tea in the colder months, but never coffee. I'm just not a big drinker. Don't need it to get through the day or to feel energized. I will have a cup if at a conference or meeting where it is served, or a breakfast where it is included. Fwiw, at work they serve Folger's red.

But I have developed a taste for iced coffee. No sweetener, cream or half and half only. It seems that I like 100% Colombian or 100% Arabica, but I wouldn't know the first thing, and footer's red is as good as any to me.

I read that cold brew coffee was in some ways better and had long shelf life. Apparently less acid but more caffeine, or something like that, and could be stored in the refrigerator. I don't know, seems to me that especially in the summer,,if making iced coffee, the cold brew would be better. But hot brew apparently leaches different fatty acids and oils, so I'd still be on the fence. But, does anyone do cold brew? Like it better?

If I bought one of those French press devices, I assume I could make cold or hot coffee (as much decided by the temperature and humidity in my home as any other metric at this point) at my desire,right?

Is one way really better than the other?
 
Try the Aeropress. $25 on Amazon. Smoothest way to make coffee without going high end.
 
i like cold brew better than regular iced coffee, but i've never made it. I just get it from local cafes that make it or Peet's.

I have not tried the starbuck's one that they're promoting now.

To me, it is less acidic, if I drink a large regular coffee my stomach is a little upset (i.e. burpy), and that doesn't happen with the cold brew.
The Peet's flavor is also more "floral" but this also depends just on the beans used-and Peet's uses beans with characteristics specific for iced coffee.

They also sell bottled coldbrew like at certain more trendy supermarkets (whole foods) -so you can just give that a try first to get the idea.

The cold brew recipe is fairly simple, I don't believe you actually need coffee-specific tools because the timing is so long, just put the grounds into water, and it doesn't actually need to be "cold" I think many actually make it at room temp. Then you filter out the concentrate afterwards.

But just like any coffee, the results in flavor and caffeination can differ depending on time, beans, grind etc etc.

All the coldbrews usually end up with a concentrate that does need to be diluted down for drinking
 
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if you don't drink a lot of coffee though, the differences are going to be slight.

It'll be like the difference between drinking a Bud light vs coors light. If you gave that taste test to someone who doesn't drink beer; both are going to be 95% the same to the non-beer drinkier.
 
Originally Posted By: Benito
Try the Aeropress. $25 on Amazon. Smoothest way to make coffee without going high end.

That does look pretty cool. I also like those gadgets for Vietnamese iced coffee, although that isn't exactly cold brewed, I figure.
 
When did iced coffee become popular ? 15-20 years ago I didn't see anyone selling iced coffee, but it is available at almost any coffee house and most fast food chains.
 
Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
When did iced coffee become popular ? 15-20 years ago I didn't see anyone selling iced coffee, but it is available at almost any coffee house and most fast food chains.


Maybe a New England thing as I remember it back in college and especially Dunkin Donuts.
 
I often have two cups of coffee a day. Hot in the morning. Iced in the afternoon. I use just a regular espresso machine for both, so the coffee coming out is always hot. If I want it iced, I just put some ice cubes in a glass, pour 2 parts cold milk over it and 1 part hot espresso. That's it. You could skip the milk, and maybe add some water instead to dilute the espresso.

Alessi is my typical go-to coffee brand.
 
Originally Posted By: madRiver
Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
When did iced coffee become popular ? 15-20 years ago I didn't see anyone selling iced coffee, but it is available at almost any coffee house and most fast food chains.


Maybe a New England thing as I remember it back in college and especially Dunkin Donuts.


It might be; my parents moved to western VA about 25 years ago and got strange looks when they ordered iced coffee.
 
Get Nescafe Clasico (not the Classic unless it is from EU or Latin America), mix it with cold water and shaved ice, shake it well and you will end up with a nice frappe.

The instant coffees made for the US consumers taste like poo.
 
Originally Posted By: Alfred_B
The instant coffees made for the US consumers taste like poo.

Yeah, no kidding.

If you have a Euro deli (or even a Euro section in your local supermarket), see if they carry Jacobs Kronung instant coffee. I think I've seen it at both Meijer's and Walmart. Not a big fan of instant coffee in general, though, but sometimes it's better than nothing.
 
Call me a "stick in the mud" but cold coffee seems like an oxymoron. :p

Back in the 80s and early 90s, (early in my professional career) I was a pretty big coffee addict- I probably had 10-12 cups a day by myself- my work group had a Krups CompacTherm that produced at least 5-8 pots a day between 5 or 6 of us. I don't do that anymore.

I still have the same circa 1993 vintage CompacTherm in my office (it just gurgled to a stop) but I drink maybe 2-3 cups a day, One a day on weekends. No more caffeine-deprived headaches here!

I will probably try cold-brewing just for grins, but I'll have to find a way to heat it up to drink it without altering it too much. I've always preferred fairly dark roasts anyway, and those are inherently less acidic than light roasts. Starbucks "blond roast" tastes like dishwater mixed with swimming pool acid, if you ask me. People shy away from dark roast because it has a strong and smoky taste, but dark roasts can actually be a lot more mellow if brewed a touch weaker... especially if you like cream as well. Bean source matters as well. When I was in Hawaii a few years ago I visited a coffee plantation (Greenwell Farms) and since then I treat myself to a pound or two of their Private Reserve or Peaberry every 6 months or so- really fresh beans that are grown in the right climate also make a huge difference. Kona coffee is stupid expensive, though, so I usually wind up getting Columbian or Ecuadorian beans roasted as dark as possible ("Italian" roast- the ones where the beans are shiny because they're sweating their own oil) from a local roaster.
 
Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
Call me a "stick in the mud" but cold coffee seems like an oxymoron. :p

Back in the 80s and early 90s, (early in my professional career) I was a pretty big coffee addict- I probably had 10-12 cups a day by myself- my work group had a Krups CompacTherm that produced at least 5-8 pots a day between 5 or 6 of us. I don't do that anymore.

I still have the same circa 1993 vintage CompacTherm in my office (it just gurgled to a stop) but I drink maybe 2-3 cups a day, One a day on weekends. No more caffeine-deprived headaches here!

I will probably try cold-brewing just for grins, but I'll have to find a way to heat it up to drink it without altering it too much. I've always preferred fairly dark roasts anyway, and those are inherently less acidic than light roasts. Starbucks "blond roast" tastes like dishwater mixed with swimming pool acid, if you ask me. People shy away from dark roast because it has a strong and smoky taste, but dark roasts can actually be a lot more mellow if brewed a touch weaker... especially if you like cream as well. Bean source matters as well. When I was in Hawaii a few years ago I visited a coffee plantation (Greenwell Farms) and since then I treat myself to a pound or two of their Private Reserve or Peaberry every 6 months or so- really fresh beans that are grown in the right climate also make a huge difference. Kona coffee is stupid expensive, though, so I usually wind up getting Columbian or Ecuadorian beans roasted as dark as possible ("Italian" roast- the ones where the beans are shiny because they're sweating their own oil) from a local roaster.


I drink a lot of iced coffee. In fact, it's pretty much all I drink (for coffee). For me, the reason is, I do not like hot food/drink. I'd prefer everything to be lukewarm or cold. I'll eat the spiciest food on the planet ... but if it's steaming hot, I won't touch it.

But it is refreshing on a hot day to grab some coffee out of the fridge and drop a few ice cubes in.

For what it's worth, I don't much care for the diabetes special that shows up in DD, McDonalds, Starbucks, etc.


Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
When did iced coffee become popular ? 15-20 years ago I didn't see anyone selling iced coffee, but it is available at almost any coffee house and most fast food chains.


I started doing it before it became popular, or before I knew it was a thing!
 
Originally Posted By: Miller88
For what it's worth, I don't much care for the diabetes special that shows up in DD, McDonalds, Starbucks, etc.


The plain black coffee from those places has no sugar or calories in them. One of the few coffees I can't stand is Folgers. Maxwell House(blue can) seems so much better. Chock Full of Nuts is also good. I know there's better but those both get the job done just fine.

Also the average ceramic coffee cup easily holds 16 ounces of liquid. So two cups can really be 4 measured cups of coffee.

Around here Mcdonalds is having any size soft drink for $1. So I can a large unsweetened ice tea for a buck...not bad.
 
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Originally Posted By: satinsilver
Originally Posted By: Miller88
For what it's worth, I don't much care for the diabetes special that shows up in DD, McDonalds, Starbucks, etc.


The plain black coffee from those places has no sugar or calories in them. One of the few coffees I can't stand is Folgers. Maxwell House(blue can) seems so much better. Chock Full of Nuts is also good. I know there's better but those both get the job done just fine.

Also the average ceramic coffee cup easily holds 16 ounces of liquid. So two cups can really be 4 measured cups of coffee.

Around here Mcdonalds is having any size soft drink for $1. So I can a large unsweetened ice tea for a buck...not bad.


The plain coffee from those places has a chemical taste. I do frequent the $1 large unsweetened iced tea from McDonalds.
 
Originally Posted By: Miller88

I drink a lot of iced coffee. In fact, it's pretty much all I drink (for coffee). For me, the reason is, I do not like hot food/drink. I'd prefer everything to be lukewarm or cold. I'll eat the spiciest food on the planet ... but if it's steaming hot, I won't touch it.

But it is refreshing on a hot day to grab some coffee out of the fridge and drop a few ice cubes in.

For what it's worth, I don't much care for the diabetes special that shows up in DD, McDonalds, Starbucks, etc.


Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
When did iced coffee become popular ? 15-20 years ago I didn't see anyone selling iced coffee, but it is available at almost any coffee house and most fast food chains.


I started doing it before it became popular, or before I knew it was a thing!


I agree with spicy foods and temperatures...

Ill say though that one of the things that made me realize that I like iced coffee was one day when I had to eat mcdonalds. I didn't want soda, but my meal came with a beverage, so I got an iced coffee, cream, no sugar. Sweet I cant stand (I got another one there once where they didn't follow instructions - yuck), but their $1 iced with cream and no sugar, so long as they don't dump excessive cream in there, is great!
 
Originally Posted By: satinsilver
One of the few coffees I can't stand is Folgers. Maxwell House(blue can) seems so much better. Chock Full of Nuts is also good. I know there's better but those both get the job done just fine.


Ill be the first to confess that Im not a coffee snob, but they brew folgers red can at work and that with half and half is very good tasting to me.

So if that's bad, I like to know what good is... Though Im not keen on becoming a coffee addict or require caffeine to gt though my day.

I would like to try chock full of nuts (named after a sandwich, not the coffee itself, and NYC is starting to have stores open again by that name).
 
I remember a coffee thread on here where some were roasting the coffee beans and buying 66 lbs. bags from Bolivia. Graded A and AA.

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/3507253/1

My mom and brother also thought that Folgers didn't taste that good. They usually drink it black so that may make a difference. Plus it doesn't smell that good when you sniff it in the can prior to brewing. MH at the same price point just seems smoother imo.

Also at Mcdonalds you can tell them how many creams you want in the coffee since they use an auto dispenser here. For the last week I'm keeping my consumption to two measured cups. Where I used to do four. Maybe cut it down to one. Then drink more green tea.
 
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