When I first got my cold brew pot, I really struggled with the (lack of) instructions and really wasn’t carried away with the first couple of pots I made. Then a colleague of mine (who is in the process of setting up his own coffee shop) gave me some top tips and hot damn! I can’t get enough of the stuff now. Here’s what I do:
Fill the basket loosely just to the top of the mesh part. Don’t pack it in, otherwise it will take forever to fill with water.
Pour cold water over through the coffee. This will take a while and is best done alongside another task. I use a sundae spoon (a teaspoon with a long handle) to stir the wet coffee grounds and encourage the water to pass through a little more quickly. If I don’t do this, when I empty the filter I find the middle of the coffee is still dry.
Once the pot is full, stick it in your fridge door and leave it there for at least 24 hours. I usually go for 36 because I’ll make it one evening and use it in the morning two days later. After this time, remove the filter and leave it somewhere to dry out a bit. Add half a pipette of the fantastic vanilla flavouring that I’m going to mail to you, and 3 teaspoons of powdered sweetener (it is the easiest to dissolve in cold coffee). These can be adjusted to taste. For reference, when I drink hot coffee I take it with milk and no sugar, so if you like your coffee sweeter, maybe a bit more sweetener is the way forward for you.
Serve the coffee with milk. Approximately 2 parts coffee to 1 part milk does it for me. It basically tastes like a coffee milkshake when done right. It’s deceptively strong. I take 300ml (plus milk) to work with me most days, and if I drink it all at once it gives me the jitters!