Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Coffee concentrate

Lynne of Splendid Table - the soundtrack of my life - mentioned making a coffee concentrate by mixing a pound of medium grind coffee with 11 cups of cold water and letting it sit all day and then keeping it in the frig. I halved the recipe yesterday and this morning I tried mixing 2 oz of concentrate with 6 oz of boiling water. It wasn't hot enough for me. It had an even wonderful full taste, but it wasn't hot. Then I began sipping ice cold concentrate from the measuring glass and it was glorious. Tomorrow I will make milky ice coffee - very milky.

2/1 edit: I've relaxed the formula a little, I mix a half pound of coffee ground on an 8 and 6 cups of cold water and leave it overnight. In the morning I strain it into a glass pitcher with a tight cap. I'm going to start using some as a flavoring in meringues and chocolate sauce.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

This is our summer beverage - cold toddy!

Cristina said...

The word verification word below is "danterno"!!! Could it be because your coffee concoction is infernal, purgative or paradisiacal?

Kay said...

With the addition of sweetened condensed milk this would taste like Thai iced coffee, no?

I would never cavil or quibble but if you want hot coffee why not make it the usual way? Is it to have a handy way of making just one cup? This is very interesting to me. I make a Melitta pot every morning and drink just 2 cups from it (wasting the rest except in iced coffee season or if somebody happens to stop over). The first one is hot and the second one is lukewarm. I accept this. I don't know any better.....

(My word verification is "satist". This is someone who enjoys torturing others by feeding them delicious food and wine until they're really really full.)

kelli ann & lorie said...

The Splendid Table is, well, splendid. I like her uncomplicated enthusiasm. A foodie in the best sense of the word. and she really makes you feel like you can do anything in the kitchen.

David said...

Stupid question. How do you avoid a huge amount of grinds in your coffee?

Mrs. Lear said...

David, not a stupid question! I forgot to note that I strain the concoction into a glass pitcher with a tight fitting top.

Kay, it is freaky of me. I was trying to avoid preparing the usual 2-cup stovetop contraption where 1 cup ends up too cold to drink. I will have to reacquaint myself with the press pot somewhere in the cabinet. Hot coffee just doesn't measure up to the cold concentrate! I am still searching.

Anonymous said...

I forget where I had heard of this concoction. Other than the odd way the ground coffee seems to expand and then contract in the "holding tank" I love love love this coffee - especially as iced latte. So full of coffee flavor and no bitterness. It's good stuff.
My word verif: odolo One of those sad little cries you make when you realize you're out of coffee...

Doug said...

Its so bizarre, this morning I got up early and was really focused on life in general, and even having a rare for me now a days cup of coffee and I flashed on the flavor of a coffee concentrate I use to make in a vegetarian restaurant years ago when I lived in Alaska. I hadn't even thought of that for years but yet here I could almost taste that flavor again all these years later. Going on line today I find this site as well as a toddy coffee maker site which both confirm this is the type of coffee we served our customers. That was a fond time in my life and to have that flavor in my head again after all these years, well now I have a recipe and I'm looking forward to tasting a taste I havn't tasted in 30 years. I love concentrated coffee for its unique flavor, its economy, and of course the memory's.... thanks for the recipe.... Doug