Cold Brew Concoctions
If you are anywhere near Perth at the moment you know it is bloody hot. Pets are melting into dramatic puddles under the aircon, thongs are sticking to the pavement, every second sentence out of peoples mouths are ‘omg its hot.’ That dry heat that seems to permeate every cell of your body. I don’t know about everyone else but I just cannot handle the thought of hot coffee at this time, especially when it's already cracked thirty degrees by 7AM. Cold brew coffee has been my morning caffeine fix saviour (at least until I get into work at Don Massimo and grab my Gingerbread Iced Latte) and I'm here to let you know it's a lot simpler than you probably think!
We have all seen the mad scientist-esque contraption in your local coffee shop, the one that releases a drip of water every two minutes and usually has a big DO NOT TOUCH sign in front of it. This is cold DRIP coffee, and is actually quite different from cold BREW. While cold drip is overly finickety and takes a lot of work to get just right, Cold Brew is here for us coffee loving, simple living folk.
Our beginner recipe is 40 grams of coarse ground coffee to 500ml of room temperature water (we do recommend filtered, but tap is fine), and combine in a jug. I started off using an old teapot, but you can use a french press, or even one of our gorgeous coffee servers. Let it steep for 12-18 hours at room temperature. If you put this in the fridge you will get a slightly smoother coffee, but the minimum brew time goes up to 24 hours. Now this recipe provides a perfect iced long black, to drink straight or with a splash of milk. If you want a stronger extraction, you can of course up the coffee vs water ratio, but with higher coffee grounds comes greater responsibility, you need to be wary of over extraction paired with bitterness, so be sure to experiment.
When your coffee has finished brewing, you need to get rid of the coffee grounds, then it will stay fresh for another 4-5 days in the fridge. There are two ways to do this. I use my drip coffee stainless steel filter, but you can also use a sieve lined with a clean chux or piece of cheesecloth.
If all of this seems too experimental for you then do not worry, I have an even simpler solution for you in the form of our drip coffee pots. Simply brew as normal with hot water, then stick the whole thing in the fridge overnight. Because our drip pots are made of tempered glass it can handle the temperature change, then just drink as normal (but cold) in the morning. Just a warning though, you only do this method with a drip pot. If you use a french press it will result in over extraction, unless you decant the coffee into another container, but it will not have the beautiful bright notes that are so refreshing on these hot days.
Now not to toot our own horn, but columbian coffee is ideal for cold brew. Grown at a slightly lower altitude, you end up with a brighter coffee which responds brilliantly to a slow extraction, keeping that full body flavour, but having the almost fruity sweetness that is so indicative of cold brew. Cold brew is also great on your tummy, having much less acidity than heat extracted coffee, it is a lot easier on your digestive system.
Please feel free to share your cold brew concoctions with us on social media, tagging us @donmassimocoffee and using the #coldbrewconocotion.
Stay cool and hydrated (water in coffee counts right?).
