Making Mud (Experiences Cold brewing)

Mmmmmm... coffee.

Two people who have been both friend and mentor to me, have sung the virtues of cold brew coffee. It seems obvious, knowing my liking of both cold coffee and strong coffee that I would explore this world. However, for four years there was an unseen mental wall that kept me from experiencing this joy. (don't ask what it was... I honestly don't know)

Now that I have shelled out the $30 and gotten mai own cold brew kit... "Awesome!" is the only word for it.

Always needing to putter and mod, I've done several tests (if you will, studies) and have a couple of findings.

1. Chicory (Sold as Coffee Partner at whole paycheck (in an orange box in the coffee section)) adds a wonderful punch (of taste but not caffeine) that really does make the coffee go further. IMO Chicory gets you up to brewing around the same amount of coffee albeit in concentrated form, as you do as normal drip coffee. This comes with the benefit that you don't throw any coffee away. I've used ratios in the neighborhood of 3 - 4 : 1 : .25 - .5 (water : coffee : chicory) with great success.

2. Whole bean .* versus pre-ground .* && Arabia vs. Robusto && Light vs. Dark Roast
Frankly, IMO the type of bean and roast matter less than the grind. Now I don't have the most discriminating pallet and drink mai coffee with cream/soy/sugar/ice, however, I am very discriminating on the process of making coffee. It is a HUGE pain in the * if your filter gets clogged. I am not as anal as the manufacturer which states to layer the grounds and water. Mai findings... if you use a nice course blend and you have to agitate or stir the grounds a little bit, you are totally fine. If you are using a fine grind and you accidentally bump the brewer... the filter is clogged (and it sucks)

Mai current favorite mix
4 cups water

1 generous cup (prolly 1.2 cups) course ground Pleasant Morning Buzz (cheap pre bagged fair trade whole paycheck beans)

3.25 oz (.5 package) Coffee Partner Natural Ground Chicory.

(Heh I think that I'm going to mix up a batch right now to make sure that I'm not lying to you)