A little thing changing my life: cold brew coffee

cold brew tutorial
I love watching the almond milk swirl into my afternoon iced coffee.

I take a really high dose of a heart med that at even 1/4 of what I take, makes people feel really really fatigued and lethargic. And I have two toddlers. Thank GOD no one has ever told me to cut out caffeine, because I need it to live and care for two toddlers. I usually have a cup of hot coffee in the morning and a big ass iced coffee in the late afternoon to help me survive til bedtime. This summer, I have picked up a new coffee habit that has changed my life, no lie.

I started cold brewing coffee.

I realize this sounds like fancy hipster crap, and you’re already thinking I’m about to bombard you with some new, difficult, pretentious coffee thing. But this is like, the lazy passive way to get delicious coffee-shop-esque iced lattes. You literally do it in your sleep.

What you need:

  • a French Press, ideally, but otherwise, a large jar or pitcher would work
  • If you don’t have a French Press, you’re going to need a fine mesh strainer
  • Coarse ground coffee, but if you don’t have a grinder, you can use ground coffee, just make sure you REALLY have a fine mesh strainer
  • cold water
  • time

Method: in your press or jar, put half a cup of ground coffee, and then fill with cold water. (If your press is a different size than mine, your ratio might differ– mine holds about 32 oz. of liquid.) Stir. Leave on your counter overnight. In the morning press it and pour it into a jar, through a strainer if necessary to catch any grounds. Keep the jar of fresh cold-brewed coffee concentrate in your fridge.

The resulting brew is going to be super concentrated. I like to dilute it 50/50 with either almond or coconut milk, over ice. If you use vanilla almond milk, you will want to kiss yourself. A note: because you’re likely going to want to mix this with some sort of milk-substance, it’s not super crucial to have super high quality beans, since you’ll not be noticing many subtle nuances of flavor. HOWEVER, I would like to plug our favorite coffee source, Leiva’s Coffee, which is a Little Rock company selling delicious Guatemalan coffee and committed to reinvesting in the community where the beans are grown. Hot or cold, I promise you’ll like their coffee. And they’re not paying me to say that, I’m just a fan. They will even ship it right to your door– that’s how we get our 2 lbs. a month.

Bam. Coffee shop worthy iced coffee, at home. It just might change your life.

 

doing good to the last drop

I know I wrote a while back that the babies had stolen my taste for coffee. Well, I’m happy to report, I got my love of coffee back, and thank goodness, because not only am I sleep deprived, but we’ve found an awesome local (to Little Rock) source for awesome Guatemalan coffee that comes with a little something extra. Leiva’s Coffee is to coffee and philanthropy what Toms Shoes is to shoes and philanthropy, only instead of just giving away shoes (or I guess they’d be giving away coffee?), they invest in Guatemalan communities. The coffee itself is farmer-direct, and they use their profits to fund housing, schools, and health clinics. If you already drink coffee anyway, why not choose a product that gives you great farmer-direct coffee that makes the world a better place?

Full disclosure: while my husband is acquainted with Geovanni Leiva from his work with YoungLife, I have never met anyone from Leiva’s Coffee, and they have no idea I’m writing this post. I wasn’t compensated in any way, and in fact, we buy 2 pounds of their bold roast coffee per month through their coffee club subscription. It’s delicious in our French Press.

%d bloggers like this: