So what is this whole “cold brew coffee” buzz about? Have you noticed the sky high prices of this stuff located in the milk isle of your grocery store? It sparked my interest to take on the challenge of experimenting with this at home. I am a big time coffee lover, in fact my body depends on it to get me through the day, but there is nothing like that first sip of hot coffee in the morning when you wake up. It warms me up and makes me feel like I am ready to strap on my superhero cape to take on the day. More like Wonder Woman actually. So it is going to take a really good recipe to open my mind to drinking something cold in the morning, when my brain is expecting something hot.
Cold Brew is simply a chillier version of your typical morning beverage. It has a smoother finish because of the lower acidity levels, which is nicer on your tummy. It also has more concentrated caffeine levels, so unless you want to be jumping off the walls at your office, I recommend diluting it just a bit with some ice and any type of milk or flavored syrups. There are all kinds of different cold brew contraptions that you can purchase, but you don’t really need it unless you are going to make cold brews on a regular basis. I just used a large food container to soak the coffee grinds and strained the beans through my coffee maker. Pretty easy.
I went to buy coffee beans at Fiore’s coffee chop as they were the closest location that sold SweetWater Organic Coffee. This company locally roasts their organic coffee in small batches and has a strong vision and mission to developing relationships and supporting small farmers that produce a quality product. Plus with a coffee name like “Café Cubano Blend”, I couldn’t pass it up. This particular blend I bought is a dark French roast from Central and South America. It has some chocolate, caramel and nutty notes that make this roast bold and rich. It is delicious! SweetWater also sells their coffee at the farmers market and a few other locations around town.
I thought maybe I should develop a recipe that pairs well with the different flavor notes coming off of the coffee, so I created a Cherry Almond Cold Brew Coffee, click on recipe title to view the recipe. I thought this would be perfect since cherries go well with chocolate and the almond brings out the nuttiness in the coffee.
First, I coarsely ground the coffee beans. You don’t want to use a fine grind as it makes the coffee cloudy. In a bowl or food container, mix the grinds and water together. Make sure all the grinds are wet, cover with a kitchen towel and let it sit at room temperature for at least 12 hours. The photo on the left below is what it looked like once I mixed the grinds with the water and the photo to the right is what it looked like after sitting for 12 hours. You can see that after some time, it develops a dark color that looks just like coffee when it is freshly brewed in your coffee pot.
To make the cherry syrup, I put whole cherries into a pot, with a little bit of sugar and almond extract. You do not have to remove the pits for the recipe, thank goodness. Not only does it take forever but your fingers are stained red after touching all those cherries. Quite frankly, anything that is a time saver automatically qualifies as one of my favorite steps in a recipe. So I simmered the cherries on low until they started to burst and then mashed them until all the juice was extracted. Once you strain the cherries, what you have left is the almond cherry juice. You can add this syrup to sparkling water, shaved ice, your favorite cocktail or even a sauce that you want to boost in flavor, like a bbq sauce.
I was so excited to try this coffee experiment that it was the last thing I thought about before I went to sleep and the first thing I thought of when I woke up the next morning. I quickly got up to get started preparing the coffee. I strained the coffee in my coffee pot and then poured some in a coffee cup. Then I added the almond milk, some of the cherry juice, gave it a quick stir and added ice cubes.
You can make coffee ice cubes with some of the cold brew so that your coffee doesn’t get watered down as the ice melts. You can also store the cold brew in your refrigerator which will result in a cold cup without having to use ice cubes. Adding the almond extract in the cherries really made a difference in this drink because the almond milk did not provide a whole lot of almond flavor. You could easily substitute with fat free milk, soy milk or any nut milk of your choice and it would not really make a much of difference in taste. The cherry syrup didn’t taste super sweet, which I liked so I could adjust the sweetness myself without having to sacrifice the cherry flavor. The combination of the coffee, cherry and almond flavors married well and this recipe provided a skinnier version to what could be a very fattening drink at your favorite coffee shop after they add whipped cream, full fat milk and flavored drizzles.
Tasty, easy to make, inexpensive and no misspellings of my name on the cup. I’m not quite sure that I am ready to claim cold brew coffee as Wonder Woman’s super blend, but this recipe is perfect for a midday pick me up or to cool you down on a hot summer day.
That you didn’t over-complicate the cold brew process is especially good. Kept it simple, without buying gadgets.