Cold Press Coffee
It is hard to believe that the 4th of July has already come and gone. Summer is in full swing, and I am loving it! I spent the past week up north in Grand Marais with my mom, and it was so hard to come home. Grand Marais is one of my favorite places in Minnesota, and I could spend much longer than one week there hiking the Superior Hiking Trail and seeing all the waterfalls.
Nothing is better after a long hike than getting an iced coffee and sipping it on a bench overlooking Lake Superior in all its glory. I am a sucker for iced coffee, and they go hand-in-hand with summer! However, buying them at the coffee shop can add up; and why buy iced coffee when it is so easy to make?
Cold press coffee is the best, nay, the only way to make iced coffee at home. If you simply brew hot coffee and pour it over ice, you end up with a watery, lukewarm beverage that is a mere shadow of what an iced coffee could be. Cold press (or you may hear it referred to as cold brewed) is very simple to make, but it does take a full 8 to 12 hours. By letting the coffee grounds steep in cold/room temp water over night, it slowly extracts flavor from the grounds and yields a low-acid, yet strong, coffee concentrate.
There are just two ingredients needed, your favorite coffee and water. I do a ratio of 1 gallon of water to per 1/2 pound of coffee grounds. Simply mix them together, and let them sit overnight.
I got this big pitcher at the grocery store, and it is the perfect size for making cold press coffee. I like to stir this up Saturday nights, and then strain and enjoy it Sunday mornings (and drink it for the rest of the week).
The straining process requires a fine mesh sieve and cheese cloth. I finally found cheese cloth at the grocery store this past weekend (seriously, how have they not had it until now?), and it really makes the process go very quickly.
Once all the coffee is strained from the grounds, I pour it in a pitcher with a spout. This pitcher fits perfectly in my fridge, and ensures I can have iced coffee all week long.
All that’s left is to get a glass full of ice, any add-ins that tickle your fancy, and fill ‘er up with coffee! I do like to chill the concentrate for an hour or two so it is nice and cold before enjoying my first cup.
I like to add a little vanilla sugar, and some half-and-half. Before you get on any high horse about using half-and-half in my coffee, you should know that it has the same calories (per serving) as any standard non-dairy coffee creamer you buy at the store.
And it looks really pretty as it swirls into the coffee.
As the weather continues to heat up, get a large pitcher, some coffee grounds and water, and make this delectable cold press coffee! And no, I don’t normally drink my coffee from a stemless wine glass, but it’s the weekend so I figured, “why not!”
- 1/2 pound ground coffee
- 1 gallon water
- Cheese cloth
- Coffee add-ins cream, sugar, flavored syrups, etc.
- Mix coffee grounds and water together in a large pitcher. Let sit overnight on the counter top.
- Place cheese cloth in a mesh sieve over another large pitcher. Strain coffee mixture through the cheese cloth.
- Transfer coffee concentrate to a serving pitcher, let chill in the fridge for several hours.
- Add ice to a glass, fill with coffee concentrate, and add any desired extras.
**Cardinal Rule** Before I had cheese cloth, I was using coffee filters to strain the grounds from the glorious coffee. While that works in a pinch, it does take a LOT more time. If you can find cheese cloth, that is really the way to go!