Cold Brew Coffee Review

My parents and grandparents made cold brew all of my life. Our fridge always housed bottles of liquid gold, cold brewed coffee concentrate. We never had to worry about shelf life because we went through it quickly. Hot black coffee was the natural way to start and end the day and to offer to guests. Once some friends even let themselves in our house just before we returned home from a trip and hid my mom’s cold brew and ate up the ice cream in the freezer. The ice cream was forgivable, but we couldn’t imagine a more horrible prank than to hide the coffee! 

While I had to use mini 4 cup coffee pots thru college, I soon got my own Toddy Cold Brew system. Cold brew regular and decaf liquid concentrate are always in my fridge. While we dabble with French press and pour overs at our house, we always have cold brew on hand for hot or iced coffee. My favorite benefit is the lower acidity of the cold brewed coffee than the traditional hot drip method. I do not think you weekly use more or less ground beans than making a daily pot of coffee, but another huge benefit is that you waste less coffee by making a cup at a time. 

There are many videos of how to try this without equipment or stores that sell cold brew concentrate, but if you are ready to do this on a regular basis, I’d recommend investing in a Toddy Cold Brew System and an electric tea pot. Grind up your favorite beans, add cold water, and let it sit 11-24 hours. Drain the concentrate into the jar and enjoy it hot or iced! For an extra treat, drizzle some concentrate over vanilla ice cream! 

I may be slightly prejudiced toward cold brew as I’ve even been known to take it on vacation with me when we spend a week at a beach house. Want to know more of my favorite items? Click here for a few more of my current favorite things.

Table Talk: What is your favorite way to enjoy coffee? What is a good recipe that uses coffee? What coffee memories do you have from your childhood?