Trying My Hand at Cold-Brewing Coffee

Ready to Weigh Out 12 Ounces

My son was recently telling me how he has started cold-brewing his coffee.  I had never heard of that so I did a little research and it sounded quite intriguing.  Apparently the process takes away the acidity and leaves you with wonderful flavor and less caffeine.  So I ordered a cold brewing system - the Toddy Cold Brewer and today I started the brewing process.  The first thing I had to do was take my pound of coffee beans and weigh out 12 ounces, since that is what the instructions recommended.

Coffee Grinder Set to Coarse

The next thing I had to do was set my coffee grinder to a coarse setting.  They recommend grinding it at the same setting that you would grind for expresso.  Since I don't drink expresso, I just put it in the middle of the coarse settings and hoped for the best.

1st Round of Grounds

Then I took the plastic container that comes with the system, made sure that I put the cork in the bottom on the outside and the filter in the recessed area in the bottom inside and then added a cup of water and 6 ounces of my ground coffee.  I poured 3 more cups of water into the container carefully and then the rest of my ground coffee.  I let that sit for 5 minutes.

Pour in 3 more cups of water.

After it rests for 5 minutes, I poured in the final 3 cups of water very slowly.  The instructions caution you not to stir because it could then clog your filter and you will not be able to get the coffee essence to flow out after the brewing process.

Tamping Down with a Spoon

The final step was to gently tamp down on the top of the grounds with a spoon to make sure that all the grounds had been dampened.

Now we wait.  I'm going to let it steep for 12 hours and then I'll be draining off the coffee concentrate this evening.  Tomorrow I'll taste my first cup and give you a report.  In the meantime, after grinding a pound of "Nut and Honey" coffee beans, the house smells divine.