Day: August 23, 2023

Cold Brew Redux

lpaulriddle

I made some cold brew at dinnertime today, with the same recipe I’ve been using for most of the summer, and decided to measure the quantity of water used so that I can double the recipe more easily and accurately. Here’s the latest recipe. Note that a “scoop” refers to the scoop that comes with the AeroPress.

  1. Set AeroPress up in inverted orientation and add 1 heaping scoop of drip-grind coffee
  2. Add 200 to 220 grams room-temperature water (enough to fill AeroPress to about 1cm of the top)
  3. Stir vigorously for 1 minute
  4. Flip and press into a glass tumbler (30 seconds)
  5. Add 2-3 ice cubes and a few drops of stevia to taste
  6. Stir and serve

Doubled recipe:

  1. Set AeroPress up in inverted orientation and add 2 heaping scoops of drip-grind coffee
  2. Fill AeroPress with room-temperature water to 1cm from top and note how much was added by weight
  3. Stir vigorously for 1 minute
  4. Flip and press into a tall glass, small pitcher, or carafe
  5. Top up to a total of 400-440 grams of water
  6. Add several drops of stevia to taste
  7. Stir, pour into tumblers, add ice, and serve

I’m still using Wellsley Farms Breakfast Blend pre-ground coffee to make this, but I’m almost out of it. Once it’s gone, I’ll try it with some Maxwell House Original Roast that we have in the cabinet.

Morning Notes

lpaulriddle

After alluding to it yesterday, I brewed a cup of pourover coffee this morning using this recipe, with the same beans and a slightly finer grind. I went back and forth over whether to try it coarser or finer, eventually settling on finer just because of how my earlier pourover cups have tasted. I used a setting of 18 on the JX grind chart, which is two rotations minus 6 clicks (54 total clicks). I think this was the right call. The cup had a little bit more fruitiness than the cup I brewed with the AeroPress, with more body to balance out the fruity acidity than my previous pourover cups. Now I’m wondering how fine I can go before it starts to taste bitter.

The weather was quite pleasant this morning, and the past several days have been dry, so I hit the trails and commuted to work through PVSP on my mountain bike. It was my third bike ride in 4 days. On the HoCo side of the river, I rode Belmont Trail to Morning Choice to Lewis and Clark to Garrett’s Pass, which is a route I take frequently. It was a great ride, except something stung me on my arm at one point. I am wondering if maybe I ran over an underground hornet’s nest, and one of them got me. If that’s the case, I’m glad I was moving fast (and I’m not allergic)!! We’re still in heavy summer growth season, but with a few exceptions, the trails I rode were not overgrown. Upper Soapstone Trail, which is on my route home, may be another story, so I’ll see how that is doing later this afternoon.