Toddy

Several years ago a co-worker mentioned a shop in Louisiana that served coffee made from “cold-brew” and how great it was. I remember thinking how odd that seemed since I’ve always read the optimal temp for extracting coffee’s flavor was 200-205 degrees. Years later after hearing many stories, and amazon dropping the price on the Toddy Cold Brewer to $28 delivered, I decided it was time to try it.

As you can see there isn’t much to the system, it’s a big plastic bucket with a filter and stopper at the bottom. A glass decanter is included to drain the brew into after brewing. The Instructions have you add coffee (12 ounces) and water (6 cups) in a particular order to avoid clogging the filter. The brew, which has the consistency of jello, steeps for 12 hours. After the allotted time you unplug the stopper and let it drain the concentrate into the glass carafe.

I used trader joes $5 “joes dark” blend since this was an experiment and it’s dirt cheap. I ground it quite coarse like I would for a French press. The result after ten minutes of draining barely filled half way. This concentrate can be used for up to two weeks.

Despite following the instructions to the letter, my coffee got plugged draining out. I followed the instructions to loosen the grounds with a butter knife, but I couldn’t get all the liquid out no matter what I did.

The concentrate the Toddy brewer produces is to be used 1 part concentrate, 3 parts water/milk. I tried an americano and my own “frap” iced drink with it. The iced drink was better than using a double shot of espresso – much smoother. The americano drink was very similar to the taste of one made with espresso but a bit more of a french press flavor to it. It’s very good but quite different than regular brewed coffee or an espresso-based Americano.

I kinda wonder if you put a piece of cheesecloth in a tupperware container, added coffee and water and then after 12 hours just wrapped up the cheesecloth and grounds if that would work just as well. Or what if you brewed it in a pitcher and then just poured it through a large filtered pourover? So, while I think the result was great I wonder if there are other ways to brew it more easily. I’ll try it again soon, next time with a quality coffee