Make Your Own Cold Brew Coffee…

Iced coffee. Toddy. Cold brew.

Whatever you want to call it, it’s simply amazing. I’m talking about coffee that brews in cold water {rather than coffee made with hot water that is later iced down… blech!} Toddy is the perfect afternoon pick me up. You just pour some over ice, add a little sweetened condensed milk, stir, and sip. All of a sudden you are wide awake at 3pm and the late afternoon lull has nothing on you.

Iced toddies have been popular for a few years now, but you don’t have to pay $2.00 in a coffee shop for a hipster to serve one to you. Oh no. You can make it at home, so easily, and have a jug in your fridge at all times.

This is all you do…

Grab a large Tupperware bowl with a lid. Like the biggest one you can find. The size you would use to take a salad to a party or that you would store leftover pasta in or something. {This is not an exact science people. If you con’t have Tupperware that big, just choose a baking bowl and cover it with plastic wrap when it’s in the fridge.}

Fill your container with filtered water. Whatever water you  usually drink around your home. 

Dump half a 12 oz. bag of ground coffee into the water. I’m talking about the normal size coffee bags you can buy at the store. I usually use a medium to dark roast, because toddy is supposed to be dark and rich, but you can use whatever type of bean you want.

Cover the container with a lid and put in the fridge, where you will let it sit for at least 12 hours, although I think a 24-48 hour brewing period is best. You don’t even need to stir it. Just cover and plop in fridge. Go away. Come back the next day.

The trickiest part of this whole endeavor is filtering your coffee when it’s fully brewed. It will take about ten minutes of your life and I can’t promise you won’t spill a little. Again, this isn’t a science. Be creative with the tools you have in your kitchen. There are probably a million ways to strain your coffee, but this is the method I use. I fold a paper towel so it’s double-thick. {I’ve found that a paper towel works much better than a coffee filter by the way. Coffee filters not porous enough.} I place the paper towel over a large four cup measuring cup with a pour spout. I slowly pour the coffee water on top of the paper towel and wait until it pools in the center and begins dripping through the towel into the cup. Once the cup is mostly full, I discard the paper towel, pour the filtered coffee into a pitcher or bottle, and then repeat the process again with a fresh paper towel. Cheesecloth also works as a filter if you want to get fancy. I usually find that filling the cup twice and switching the paper towel once in the middle of the process works best. {*I have also learned since taking these photos that setting the measuring cup on a plate or baking pan catches any spillage during the filtering process.} Once the coffee has been transferred to a bottle or pitcher, I place it in the fridge. It’s not the prettiest method, but when it’s done you have about eight cups of perfectly filtered iced coffee sitting in your fridge waiting to be consumed throughout the week, and the whole process takes about 15 minutes, not counting the 24 hours of brewing time.

Try it! And seriously, add some sweetened condensed milk when you drink it. You won’t be mad about it.