There is something about a coffee fix, it can be the difference between a horrid morning and an ok one, or a good day and a great one.  We all have our preferences when it comes to coffee, but a growing trend is towards cold brewed coffee.

Not to be confused with an iced coffee (which is a warm brewed coffee that has been chilled) cold brew coffee is made by slowly infusing coarse ground coffee with room temperature water at room temperature and then filtering it.  The brew you create will give you a stronger coffee than you need so be prepared to dilute it with some extra water, again this will be to your taste.  In addition to adding extra water you can also add a milk of your choice to give it a lovely rich flavour, adding sugar is totally up to you – you may find you need less sugar as the coffee will be less bitter.

The main benefit of cold brewed coffee is that because the beans don’t get washed in hot water but gently soaked instead, the coffee will have less bitterness and a smoother flavour.  In addition, it has been claimed that if you have reflux issues with regular coffee the cold brew may be less irritating on the stomach. In order to cold brew your own coffee it is ideal if you have a coffee grinder, but if you don’t you can use a mortar and pestle, as we are after a coarsely ground coffee.  Can you use store bought ground coffee?  You totally can but you are looking for the coarsest grind you can find, the finer the grind the quicker the coffee will infuse and the stronger the flavour will be, and the ore bitterness you will add, so keep an eye on it, test small batches until you find a good balance of taste that you like

You are generally looking for a 1 to 4, coffee to water ratio for you cold brew.  This is a great way to only brew as much coffee as you need, so 250gms of coffee will need 1 litre of water.

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Ingredients

• 250gms coffee beans of your preference

• 1 lite of room temperature water

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Directions

• In a mortar and pestle or in a coffee grinder crush the coffee in small batches until coarsely ground.  If you are using a mortar do this in small manageable sized batches and it is easy work.  Add them to a jar, bottle that can accommodate at least 1200ml.
• Now top up the jar with your water, push the ground coffee down with a spoon until all the grounds are soaked with water.  Seal or cover the jar and set aside in a cool dark place or in the fridge, the colder the liquid is the longer it will take to infuse.
• Stir or shake the picture once or twice, and allow it to infuse to your taste, usually at least 12 hours but up to 24 depending on your taste.
• Then it is time to filter the coffee, I like to use a combination of a paper and plastic filter, to double filter the mixture.  The plastic filter catches most of the bigger pieces and then the paper filter makes sure nothing else gets in.
• Store your coffee in the fridge and then enjoy over ice, either with or without milk, with or without sugar.

HINTS:

1.  If you want to use a ready ground coffee you can get away with the coarser types, espresso coffee is too finely ground, however.
2. If you want decaf use decaf coffee beans, the process remains the same.
3. If the cold coffee is too strong for you, just add a little water to it when you have some coffee.