cold brewing

The way I am making cold brew comes out delicious, so I'd like to tell you about it! After nearly purchasing a device recommended by the gospel-writing people at Wirecutter, I came to my senses...

tldr: I use a bag marketed for making almond/cashew milk, fill it with grounds, and steep it in a water-filled mason jar.

If you spoke to me a year ago, I would have said that I hated cold brew for its bitterness, its priciness, its tang. And these are the feelings I get from many cold brews offered today. But then I tried a simple homemade concoction (grounds + water + long steep) from a pitcher, and I was hooked. Something about a bountiful carafe that although gestating over 24-hours feels faster than so-called "instant coffee" because there is no preparation requisite at the moment of craving. For making hot coffee, my routine had mutated into nearly a dozen minutes each morning grinding and boiling and steeping and stirring. I was credit-card-in-hand about to purchase the OXO solution when a voice in my head told me to not buy anything new. At least nothing plastic, something that might outlive me. I would have to buy something because although I have coffee many coffee toys...

...I couldn't get that flavor through my moka pot

...I couldn't get that flavor by making iced coffee with my AeroPress

...and I couldn't get that flavor by refrigerating what comes out of a drip machine

...and I couldn't get that flavor by icing instant coffee

Although disparaged by Wirecutter, I decided to go the DIY route.

For a few weeks, on my wanders of Brooklyn (as I am wont to do), I would pop into grocery stores of various focus to see if they sold the bags that would suit my needs. None had! Cheese cloth is an easy find, but a bag for making almond or cashew or macadamia milk, not as common as I thought it would be. I found by happenstance (a Zoom panel about minimizing your waste, as it were) a "no waste" store in Astoria that sold exactly what I was looking for. Not having a reason to go to Astoria at the moment, I popped onto the manufacturer's website and thought I should just order direct. But of course my own contemporary affliction is to react with utter disgust towards shipping fees of any kind. I couldn't really find anything else on the site I really wanted, that I wasn't getting already from the Cooperative I belong to!

There's a "no waste" store in my neighborhood Precycle which I highly recommend, but I found they didn't see what I needed in their inventory. I marched my cursor right up to the "Contact Us" link on their website, and made my Big Pitch for why they should add this product to their catalog. And I heard back, they they already do.

And now I have it.

THE END

PS. I would also like to highlight the Porto Rico iced coffee blend, that's what I use for the grounds. It's so sweet, and satisfying! What is my recipe? I don't know...10 scoops of coffee? For a medium jar? I should know this...