Anybody try cold brewed coffee? - Page 3

by **ohofmann** on Mon Jul 11, 2011 7:18 pm

mute wrote:I've been eyeballing the Hario "Cold Water Coffee Dripper" lately: http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products...e-dripper/

Looks pretty sweet. Expensive, but I might take the plunge. I typically cold brew in my french press, but I like the idea behind the drippers a lot.

Been using it for a month, but still have to find the right combination of coffee type, amount and coarseness of the grind. Currently using 40g of coffee, 500ml of water, a coffee drip-coarseness; a run finishes in about 4 hours, but tends to be still quite bitter. Going with more coffee and a coarser grind next.

by **Bob_McBob** on Mon Jul 11, 2011 8:37 pm

In my experience, the grind does not really matter if you are doing such long brew times. There is a fairly linear relationship between brew ratio and strength vs. extraction. The lower the brew ratio, the stronger and more underextracted the coffee is. The Hario cold brew device instructions recommend using pretty much a regular brewed coffee ratio, and the resulting cold brew will taste a lot more like regular coffee than the toddy concentrate. I enjoy both types of cold brew. Hario style ratio for drinking straight, toddy style ratio to have a concentrate to mix with so much milk it doesn't matter anyway.

by **aecletec** on Mon Jul 11, 2011 8:58 pm

JohnB. wrote:If you tasted the difference between the Toddy & the Mitzudash cold brewing methods you might think so. Here's a link to the Hario brewing directions: http://www.avenue18.ca/News%20Folder/58...uction.pdf

One thing that isn't mentioned is that you use a drip grind as opposed to the coarse grind of the Toddy, ect. As you can see the grounds are not "mixed" into the water, the water is dripped through the grounds which remain in the filter so nothing needs to be "filtered" out afterwards. Less coffee is used, less contact with the grounds as they are not mixed into the water & there is a much shorter brewing period.

While there may not seem to be a huge difference between the Toddy & Mitzudash brewing methods the difference in the cup is night & day. If you want iced coffee that tastes like excellent siphon/drip brew the Mitzudash is the way to go.

I can't say I've had a Toddy brew, but I've drunk cold brew from drip systems and also from my full immersion methods. I have a filter that appears to be very similar to the one used in the picture and I haven't noticed much difference to the others I've used. It seems to me that it would be the grind size, contact time, temp (room, cold, iced etc) and water volume plus filter type that are the variables in play.

I have experimented with the whole range of grind sizes and brew ratios and actually ended up with something approaching an espresso grind (room temp with about 100g coffee to 600 to 900ml - strangely enough varying the water volumes this much doesn't seem to make much of a difference to me) and to my taste the results compare favourably to the cafe drip brews I've had... but I still prefer hot brewing

by **mute** on Tue Jul 12, 2011 8:07 pm

ohofmann wrote:Been using it for a month, but still have to find the right combination of coffee type, amount and coarseness of the grind. Currently using 40g of coffee, 500ml of water, a coffee drip-coarseness; a run finishes in about 4 hours, but tends to be still quite bitter. Going with more coffee and a coarser grind next.

Please keep us apprised of your findings. In the past I've sort of half-assed my cold brew, tossing a cup (gasp) of french press grind in my press, throw the lid on and let it sit on the counter for overnight (at least 12 hours), then pressing it and transferring it to a mason jar. I typically find that it's low acidity and pretty smooth, but a bit on the watery side when added to milk and some sugar (I'll admit, I like my iced coffee light and sweet).

I've got some amex points to blow, the Hario is looking pretty good if I can find some counter space for it.

by **bigbad** on Thu Jul 14, 2011 7:19 am

JohnB. wrote:Sounds like you need to read the Mitzudash brewing directions as that isn't how it works. I own a Toddy & used it for a couple seasons but as I said previously I don't care for the "cold brew concentrate" flavor. If you are going to dump in cream, sugar & flavorings it really doesn't mater what you use as you won't taste the coffee anyways. The brew I get with the Mitzudash is very similar to siphon brew only stronger so it stands up to ice better. Unlike the Toddy/Filtron it does not produce a concentrate & it does bring out the varietal flavors of the coffee you are using. Typically I'll make a brew using a S/O Ethiopian or Kenyan beans & drink it straight over ice.

As far as the concentrate flavor goes adding more water will dilute it but it won't bring back the varietal flavors of the coffee that that brewing method masks over.

I've never tried the Hario, so I can't speak from experience.

That said, there seems to be plenty of documentation that suggests the Toddy/Filtron/Press are capable to drawing out the beans' varietal flavors.

According to this review, four of the top five New York cold brews are extracted from a Filtron or Toddy...

http://newyork.timeout.com/restaurants-...ed-coffees

by **bigbad** on Thu Jul 14, 2011 7:23 am

JohnB. wrote:If you tasted the difference between the Toddy & the Mitzudash cold brewing methods you might think so. Here's a link to the Hario brewing directions: http://www.avenue18.ca/News%20Folder/58...uction.pdf

One thing that isn't mentioned is that you use a drip grind as opposed to the coarse grind of the Toddy, ect. As you can see the grounds are not "mixed" into the water, the water is dripped through the grounds which remain in the filter so nothing needs to be "filtered" out afterwards. Less coffee is used, less contact with the grounds as they are not mixed into the water & there is a much shorter brewing period.

While there may not seem to be a huge difference between the Toddy & Mitzudash brewing methods the difference in the cup is night & day. If you want iced coffee that tastes like excellent siphon/drip brew the Mitzudash is the way to go.

Why not just improvise the Toddy system and filter into the carafe without the 12 hour brewing process, a la Hario? Make the grind finer like the Hario, and keep the toddy unplugged so it strains into the carafe for 4 or so hours.

Nothing about the Hario suggests to me there's anything high tech going on, and anything it could achieve seems perfectly replicable via makeshift. The Hario's parts probably doesn't exceed $20.

by **JohnB.** on Thu Jul 14, 2011 8:12 am

bigbad wrote:I've never tried the Hario, so I can't speak from experience.

That said, there seems to be plenty of documentation that suggests the Toddy/Filtron/Press are capable to drawing out the beans' varietal flavors.

That hasn't been my experience. I suggest you try it & see for yourself.

by **JohnB.** on Thu Jul 14, 2011 8:19 am

bigbad wrote:Why not just improvise the Toddy system and filter into the carafe without the 12 hour brewing process, a la Hario? Make the grind finer like the Hario, and keep the toddy unplugged so it strains into the carafe for 4 or so hours.

Nothing about the Hario suggests to me there's anything high tech going on, and anything it could achieve seems perfectly replicable via makeshift. The Hario's parts probably doesn't exceed $20.

Since you can buy the base 1000ml Mitzudash for $21 why bother??

by **Psyd** on Sun Jul 17, 2011 9:27 pm

JohnB. wrote:Since you can buy the base 1000ml Mitzudash for $21 why bother??

A friend of mine has gone a bit DIY with the concept:
Two cottage cheese containers, one with perforations (done with a grade-school compass; the pointy bit, not the pencil side) and the other with a cottage-cheese-container-base sized hole in the lid.

She chose this pattern for the holes, I may have made different choices.

She nests them and fills them with coffee and water and sticks them in the fridge overnight, or up to 24 hrs, with the lid without a hole in it on them. She then un-nests them, carefully keeping the one with holes directly over the one without holes, slides the lid with the base sized hole cut in it between then, and stacks them thusly:

Until the top one is drained. Reverse the lids, and the concentrate is sealed into it's own plastic tub!

by **aecletec** on Mon Jul 18, 2011 8:56 pm

I found something that I hadn't been expecting with the cold brewing method (recently gave it another go due to this thread) and on what I felt was a very bright coffee conventionally brewed... the cold brew brought out more of the earthy and cocoa flavours that seemed to have otherwise been masked...


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