Yup... Starbucks "coffee" tastes like burned floor sweeping after some manufacturing process has finished for the day. Never saw the attraction myself.
Over the years I admit I have become a coffee snob and will no longer drink coffee out in public, ESPECIALLY Starbucks. I cold-brew my own at home and it has spoiled me from drinking that hot-brewed sludge offered in cafes and restaurants.
Not in my experience. I'm not a fan of licorice, so I think I'd notice. It might have to do with the blend of beans you use and how they were roasted, as well as any other mix-ins (milk, whatever) you might add.
Us, too. We grind our coffee every morning. R/O filtered water. Drip maker. It’s better than anything we can buy. Sometimes we make Vietnamese pressed coffee in the afternoon for a guaranteed pick me up.
I take coffee to a hgh ritual. I no longer hot brew coffee, it's too acidic for my taste. I have discovered how to cold-brew coffee and it is an entirely new experience.
I got a cold brew coffee set from Amazon (a Japanese thing that cost about $18).... it consists of a carafe, a mesh infuser, and a seal-tight lid. I buy decent beans at various stores around town (Sumatra from Indonesia, Yirgacheffe from Ethiopia, or even Trader Joe's dark roast) and grind them to Espresso fineness.
I fill the carafe with filtered water up to where the threads start. I put the ground coffee in the infuser up to where the mesh ends, seal it off with the lid, and then let it slowly sink into the decanter (at its own pace, can take a few minutes) and then seal the whole thing up, give it a few shakes, and put it in the fridge overnight. Anytime I pass the fridge, I reach in and shake it some more, turning it end over end to make sure the water is getting to all the grounds.
Twelve hours should give you a nice thick coffee concentrate, but I prefer to let mine go for AT LEAST 18 hours, sometimes even 24 or 48 hours.
What you end up with is a thick coffee concentrate that is about 70% less acidic than hot brewed coffee. DO NOT try to drink this straight, it just might blow your head off, it's that strong. I fill a cup to about 1/4th full with the concentrate and then pour filtered water in it. Good rule of thumb, you should not be able to see the bottom or sides of the cup if you've mixed it right.
Heat that in the microwave for about 2 minutes and you'll have the best cup of coffee you've ever had.
Coffee in its natural state has a sweetness to it. The first time I tasted actual cold brew coffee, it was Sumatra beans from Indonesia, grown in volcanic soil that gives it an almost "chocolaty" taste and naturally sweet. Later I discovered Ethiopian Yirgacheffe and liked it even more. Also good are Trader Joe's Bolivian and Sumatra beans and a couple of their dark roasts. I just take it to their in-store grinder, set it to "ESPRESSO" fine and let it grind into the container. To me (IMHO), the finer the grind, the more bang for the buck you get.
Brewing coffee is really a matter of allowing the oils of the bean seep out of the grind and into the water. So the finer the grind, the more coffee oils you get.
I don't consider this a "down side" (although some may), but with that level of fineness, I get a tiny bit of sludge at the bottom of the carafe, but as I said, I don't mind it, I just pour that out... maybe a tablespoon or so of it. It just tells me that I got all the coffee out of the grounds.
I put my used up grounds in my compost barrel, as it adds nutrients to the compost, and then to the soil when I plant my garden in spring.
I tend to like strong coffee, black and robust, but not acidic. That's what I find with cold brew. You can mix the concentrate as strong or weak as you like it, experiment with it some to find your preference.
For me, as I said above, I make it strong enough that I can't see the inside or bottom of the cup, and it never causes me acid reflux. One-quarter cup of concentrate, fill to the top with filtered water, microwave 2 minutes, ad VOILA!
I'm so spoiled with cold brew that anything else from restaurants or at meetings is just so much swill to me.
Nah, I LOVE dark roast. I want my coffee to be strong enough to not be able to see the bottom or sides of the cup, strong enough to invade Poland if I so desired, strong enough for a spoon to stand up in it.
The trick is in the brewing. Cold-brew dark roast and you'll have the best (and strongest) coffee you'll ever taste. Hot-brewing brings out all the acid in coffee. Cold-brewing brings out the natural sweetness in coffee and reduces the acid by almost 80%.
Yup... Starbucks "coffee" tastes like burned floor sweeping after some manufacturing process has finished for the day. Never saw the attraction myself.
Over the years I admit I have become a coffee snob and will no longer drink coffee out in public, ESPECIALLY Starbucks. I cold-brew my own at home and it has spoiled me from drinking that hot-brewed sludge offered in cafes and restaurants.
Cold-brew is the best. Never bitter.
It has a very slight licorice taste. Doesn't it?
Not in my experience. I'm not a fan of licorice, so I think I'd notice. It might have to do with the blend of beans you use and how they were roasted, as well as any other mix-ins (milk, whatever) you might add.
That's right, fren.
Us, too. We grind our coffee every morning. R/O filtered water. Drip maker. It’s better than anything we can buy. Sometimes we make Vietnamese pressed coffee in the afternoon for a guaranteed pick me up.
This may sound like a stupid question. How do you cold brew?
I take coffee to a hgh ritual. I no longer hot brew coffee, it's too acidic for my taste. I have discovered how to cold-brew coffee and it is an entirely new experience.
I got a cold brew coffee set from Amazon (a Japanese thing that cost about $18).... it consists of a carafe, a mesh infuser, and a seal-tight lid. I buy decent beans at various stores around town (Sumatra from Indonesia, Yirgacheffe from Ethiopia, or even Trader Joe's dark roast) and grind them to Espresso fineness.
I fill the carafe with filtered water up to where the threads start. I put the ground coffee in the infuser up to where the mesh ends, seal it off with the lid, and then let it slowly sink into the decanter (at its own pace, can take a few minutes) and then seal the whole thing up, give it a few shakes, and put it in the fridge overnight. Anytime I pass the fridge, I reach in and shake it some more, turning it end over end to make sure the water is getting to all the grounds.
Twelve hours should give you a nice thick coffee concentrate, but I prefer to let mine go for AT LEAST 18 hours, sometimes even 24 or 48 hours.
What you end up with is a thick coffee concentrate that is about 70% less acidic than hot brewed coffee. DO NOT try to drink this straight, it just might blow your head off, it's that strong. I fill a cup to about 1/4th full with the concentrate and then pour filtered water in it. Good rule of thumb, you should not be able to see the bottom or sides of the cup if you've mixed it right.
Heat that in the microwave for about 2 minutes and you'll have the best cup of coffee you've ever had.
Excellent thank you. I have to try this because the acid really bothers me. I guess I have some ordering to do.
Coffee in its natural state has a sweetness to it. The first time I tasted actual cold brew coffee, it was Sumatra beans from Indonesia, grown in volcanic soil that gives it an almost "chocolaty" taste and naturally sweet. Later I discovered Ethiopian Yirgacheffe and liked it even more. Also good are Trader Joe's Bolivian and Sumatra beans and a couple of their dark roasts. I just take it to their in-store grinder, set it to "ESPRESSO" fine and let it grind into the container. To me (IMHO), the finer the grind, the more bang for the buck you get.
Brewing coffee is really a matter of allowing the oils of the bean seep out of the grind and into the water. So the finer the grind, the more coffee oils you get.
I don't consider this a "down side" (although some may), but with that level of fineness, I get a tiny bit of sludge at the bottom of the carafe, but as I said, I don't mind it, I just pour that out... maybe a tablespoon or so of it. It just tells me that I got all the coffee out of the grounds.
I put my used up grounds in my compost barrel, as it adds nutrients to the compost, and then to the soil when I plant my garden in spring.
I tend to like strong coffee, black and robust, but not acidic. That's what I find with cold brew. You can mix the concentrate as strong or weak as you like it, experiment with it some to find your preference.
For me, as I said above, I make it strong enough that I can't see the inside or bottom of the cup, and it never causes me acid reflux. One-quarter cup of concentrate, fill to the top with filtered water, microwave 2 minutes, ad VOILA!
I'm so spoiled with cold brew that anything else from restaurants or at meetings is just so much swill to me.
Thank you! I saved your comment.
Ban dark roast! :)
Nah, I LOVE dark roast. I want my coffee to be strong enough to not be able to see the bottom or sides of the cup, strong enough to invade Poland if I so desired, strong enough for a spoon to stand up in it.
The trick is in the brewing. Cold-brew dark roast and you'll have the best (and strongest) coffee you'll ever taste. Hot-brewing brings out all the acid in coffee. Cold-brewing brings out the natural sweetness in coffee and reduces the acid by almost 80%.
Anon knows his covfefe!
raises mug gesture
Salud!