Welcome to the second post in our Cold Brew Coffee at Home series!
Like any other coffee, cold brew’s flavor starts with the coffee bean. Fresh roasted, bulk ground, or specialty packaged — the coffee you choose will be the backbone of your cold brew experience. However, cold brew is more forgiving than your average java from a commercial coffee maker. If you have some older, stale coffee lying around, odds are it will make decent cold brew.
In an ideal universe, you’ve gone out to select your specific variety of coffee with your specific cold brew purpose in mind. Maybe you’re making a sweet coffee concentrate to pour over ice cream at a birthday party — you could experiment with flavored coffee like Mocha, French Vanilla or Salted Caramel. Maybe you want to use your favorite Breakfast Blend for a large pitcher of ready-to-drink coffee for the whole family to drink this week. Maybe you want a sweet and smoky dark roast to use in your coffee cocktails for Sunday brunch. Cold brew is completely customizable — starting with the coffee.
Above all, freshness is the most important aspect of all coffee. Whatever form of coffee you choose, you should opt for the freshest coffee you can get your hands on. All Day Gourmet is a great place to start. It is made from Arabica beans, but not roasted until you actually place your coffee order. You can find several different coffee flavors, and even options for tea and other beverages at Coffee Wholesale USA.
When you’re making your own cold brew coffee, you have a few options to choose from. You can use coffee grounds, which are easy to find. You can also use Filter Packs to keep from having to strain your coffee after it’s done steeping. You can even use a single Coffee Pod to make an individual cup of cold brew. Just know that if you’re using a Filter Pack or a Coffee Pod, it will take a little longer to get to the strength you want. In fact, go ahead and use 2 filter packs for each pitcher of water. You’ll thank us later.
Next week we’ll be covering water: how much to use when brewing, how to dilute a concentrated cold brew, how to brew your coffee so that it’s ready to drink without the diluting nonsense… See you then!