Brew-Ha-Ha

There seems to be this big ole magic attention being paid to Cold Brewing of coffee (link: not martha). I don't think it will blow up like the No Knead Bread phenomenon even though I heard about it back about the same time last year at least with the Toddy Maker. I used to be a barista in College and one of my bosses used to make his personal batch of flavored coffee this way because it would not be so bitter and the flavoring oils would not be burned off when it was brewed using hot water. I never gave it all that much thought for regular coffee until about a year ago.

My Mom's cousins were in town talking about the bread and how wonderful it was and we got on the band wagon (just a little aside, when was the last time you baked a loaf? its been months for me... I will make a loaf this weekend). They also talked about the cold brew process and how they had bought a Toddy System. Mom and Dad already had one (they can't be without a gadget, even way back when, when ever they did actually get theirs) but had probably never used it. So they brought it out. And you know what? It did make really delicious coffee, even the Maxwell House that my Dad loves (::shudder::) was palatable. My parents also have an "instant hot" water faucet on their kitchen sink so it was really a nice thing for them to be able to use.

For me? Not so practical. I have used my microwave for storage for the last year and a half or so. But I made a batch on my counter. It takes a tremendous amount of coffee. Over a pound. But, and this is the honest truth, it made Maxwell House taste good. I think under normal circumstances Maxwell House tastes bad so this was good news if I ever had to economize my coffee purchases I would not be stuck with bad coffee per se. It would be a good alternative. What is "brewed" is a concentrated coffee that they say is about double the strength of regularly brewed coffee. I would say maybe.

I used a regular 48 ounce jar, put the pound of coffee in the jar, filled it with water and let it sit for about 24 hours. I filtered the concoction twice and it was good. Palatable. But I like my coffee hot, no matter what most of the time, so it hasn't been something I have done more than once. Its easier just to set the grind and the timer on my coffee maker and walk away and that is my instant "hot". There is a Toddy System available on Amazon which I have on a list just in case by some freak chance of nature I find that I have room to store it I too won't be without the gadget, but really it is unneccessary. Besides I have the worlds smallest pantry (tm) and haven't the room. The filters that are sold with the Toddy System are compressed felt that are about 1/8th of an inch thick, in case you are wondering. They are washable so can be used more than once which is nice, because they are not cheap.

Maybe when I am making my bread I will mix up a batch of cold brewed coffee since honestly they take about the same amount of time to "make" and take up about the same amount of precious counterspace.

But I will stick with my hot coffee from my Melitta Mill & Brew ( this one is fancy it gives you the weather... cooooool) which I love.