French press Cold brew, part I

Filling ground coffee with cold water

Ok, your first response to "cold-brewing" was probably "what the.... you can't cold-brew coffee!" Everything you hear about brewing coffee, and particularly espresso, talks about getting the temperature hot enough to do the job right.

But when we talk about applying heat to coffee, we are really talking about fast brewing or brewing-on-demand. We are talking about extracting the flavor elements quickly. That is NOT always necessary, though. If you are willing to do your brewing in advance of when you want to drink your coffee, the cold-brewing is an option.

Cold brewing takes time. However, it dissolves through the grounds only certain elements of the coffee. Surprisingly enough, about 90% of the flavors elements and the normal caffeine content come through this way, while only about 15% of the oils and acid will. it WILL change the taste of your coffee, but not the way you might think. It will strongly concentrate those most volatile flavor elements that most people like, making "super-flavor" coffee. The flavor elements you like about a given coffee will probably be up to twice as strong, yet the overall brew will have far less bite and acidity.

Is this a good thing? For people who like the acid and bite, which is part of the attraction of strong coffee, they may not like cold brewing. Other people take one sip and say "Oh my god, that is fantastic." My recommendation is simple; Try it once or twice and see if you like it. Also different varieties will respond to cold brewing differently, so it´s hard to predict. Writen by; Melanie Brault

Placing the french press in the fridge

What I did, was simply to grind some very coarse coffee and pour it into my large french press, seen at the picture above. I have seen a statement saying to use espresso ground coffee, but I thought that it would be to strong, because it would brew about 12-14 hours.

Next up was the filling with the cold water, I took the french press to the kitchen table and filled the french press. I used the normal serving for normal french press, so it would be easier to correct, if it was to strong nor weak. Final step was placing the entire french press in the fridge and waiting until it had brewed.

Watch along friday, when I take the french press out and take a sip!

// Hendrup

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