Cold-Brewed Coffee

Yay for summer! Summer means hot weather and an even hotter kitchen. We get direct morning sun and every use of the stove top just amps up the heat even more. This hasn't stopped me from making my morning coffee, of course! This time of year calls for iced coffee, which is, frankly, a pain in the butt to make. I feel silly boiling the water to make the coffee only to cool it down again with ice cubes. But now, all that has changed. I want to share with you the easiest and most delicious way to make iced coffee EVER: cold brewing.

Here is the recipe I used.

And here is my recap of how it went down around here:
First I did a single batch. I just mixed 1.5 cups of tap water with 1/3 cup ground coffee in a large mason jar, screwed on the lid, and let it sit on the counter overnight (at least 12 hours.) The next day, I put a regular melitta drip cone over another container and slowly poured the coffee brew into that. Most of the grounds just stayed at the bottom of the mason jar. I then rinsed out the mason jar and used it to store my coffee concentrate. To make delicious iced coffee, just pour some of the concentrate over ice and add water and/or milk to taste. I found that it did not need any water, just some milk. This made about one very large or two coffee cup sized iced coffees which I consumed with glee. Yesterday I made a larger batch and am storing the remainder in the fridge.

So why is this the best way? So many reasons!
1. The coffee is damn delicious. Seriously. Apparently the cold brewing prevents much of the bitterness that is released when coffee is heated. Thus the coffee is very strong and smooth without being bitter. It is almost sweet! You can get seriously buzzed on this stuff because it is easy to drink a lot and forget how strong it is!
2. It is way easier than dealing with heating up and then cooling down coffee and if you make a big batch, you only have to do it every three or four days. Right now there is enough concentrate for at least two more days in the fridge.
3. No heating up the kitchen with boiling water!
4. On that note, it is also the greenest option. You don't have to waste the energy of heating something just to cool it. In addition, since you can make several days worth at once, it also cuts down on coffee filter use. If you have a fine mesh reusable filter you could use that and be even greener.

So, you ask, are there any cons? I can think of only one: you don't get that nice morning coffee aroma. Well worth the trade-off in my mind! Give it a try and tell me what you think.