I have tried a lot of methods of cold processing, all pretty much take some
tinkering, but simple actually seems to be better with most beans.
Medium grind. Glass carafe. Cold reverse osmosis filtered water or distilled
as this process kind of cries out for "hungry" water.
Ground coffee in carafe, add water, stir gently with a spoon until well
soaked. (I use wooden spoons, your preference may vary with experience.) I
start with half a pound of coffee at or just below full city roast, but if
using a bean that is better with a darker roast that is OK too. About a
liter to 1.2 liters of water. Let it sit untouched for at least 12 hours,
and 18 is better. (I have also stirred it through the soaking process but I
do not think it improves the taste.)
Drain through paper filter that has been rinsed well first or through swiss
gold filter. Which kind of filter depends on the beans, grind, and what/who
I am going to use them for. You don't get a lot of the oils out of the beans
anyway with this process so I am not really sure the filter makes a
difference, but that is really subjective with this. Slightly compress the
grounds in the filter to drain all the extract out. (which is the reason for
medium grind instead of fine)
Then, put ANOTHER half pound of the same coffee into the carafe (rinse
first!) Add the EXTRACT to this coffee, and about a cup of water. Stir. Let
sit for at least 12 hours. Drain the same way. Put in a glass or plastic
bottle. I use pint water bottles after using the water, that way you can
force out most of the air as you use it, and since you scrap the bottle
after each batch you usually don't damage the bottle enough to cause leaks.
Refrigerate just short of freezing. I usually use up a batch before it goes
stale. Even when a little stale, it works pretty good for actual cooking,
not so good for drinks or "instant" coffee for my non-brewing but coffee
drinking wife.
The idea is to get very concentrated flavor without bitterness or
volatility. That is why cold and not hot. The flavor of the coffee is
correspondingly muted, but there is a lot of depth.
Cooking - Brownies and cookies are great with this! I have also used the
extract and whole roasted beans instead of nuts, but make sure all beans are
covered by the batter! I have used ground, but people complain about the
texture and some residual bitterness that apparently comes from the baking
process or interaction with the fat. The extract does not have this problem,
nor do whole beans.
Notes on other issues:
You can add a fair amount of fine grain cane sugar to the extract before
refrigerating and that preserves it for quite some time, however, then it
can only be used in stuff you want to also sweeten.
The longest time I recommend steeping the grounds is 30 hours and after
about 18 I think you get flavors caused by not only over steeping, but also
air interaction with the process.
Put a note on the carafe, otherwise helpful people may cause it to disappear
in the trash or garbage disposal.... and even with Sweet Maria's prices that
hurts.
For people who drink alcohol there is an alcohol leaching process that also
works quite well. You use grain alcohol (the more pure and clear the better)
and repeatedly pour it through the grounds in filter. This is way different
from flavoring beans with your favorite booze or flavoring booze with your
favorite coffee. When you complete the process you let it sit open for an
entire day or more to evaporate more than half the alcohol and your end
product, while still alcoholic, has the character of the coffee, not the
alcohol. This process also leaches different things from the beans than just
water but I have never analyised just how it is different, either
subjectively or objectively. BTW, drinking this stuff straight, particularly
before evaporation, is NOT recommended.
My wife is from RI, where even the McDonalds serve coffee flavored icecream
& shakes. They have an industry up there that processes coffee into a
sweetened syrup. She grew up on the stuff and I used to import it until I
figured out a way to do it better. The taste of this product they sell
varies from company to company (actually one company now owns the two
largest competing product lines) and to be charitable, it tastes like coffee
and isn't entirely disgusting, but making your own is a lot better.
Instead of the carafe and the filters, you can use a french press if you
like slightly "chewy" coffee extract. |