Iced Coffee? No Sweat

一直以來都是冰咖啡擁護者的我

無論是在炎熱的夏天或是酷寒的冬天...冰咖啡都是我的唯一選擇

不過大部分市面上販售的冰咖啡都有一個看似無法避免的缺陷

為了讓現煮的滾燙expresso shot變成一杯冰涼爽口的iced mocha

加入大量冰塊是多數店家選擇的方式

這樣的作法除了讓咖啡的味道被完全沖淡之外...享用完杯中咖啡後還留下半杯冰塊也是常見的現象

為了避免這樣的問題...我通常會在點咖啡時特地跟店家強調make it light ice...

這樣的額外要求通常會造成兩種後果...

首先是barista在真正製作那杯屬於我的咖啡時...常常會忘記或是忽略了杯上的"LI"記號

不然就是貼心的barista為了怕辜負我的期望...放入杯中的冰塊少到可被倒入杯中的expresso瞬間融化

結果我拿到手中的咖啡與其說是冰咖啡...還不如說是涼咖啡甚至是溫咖啡還比較貼切些



這樣的問題在自己嘗試煮咖啡時也很難避免

如果將煮好的咖啡放入冰箱試圖讓它成為不用加入冰塊就可飲用的冰咖啡

常會發現咖啡的味道明顯隨著溫度降低而略帶澀味或酸味...讓我寧可還是回到加冰塊的老方法

如此看來...曾經在少數店家點過的cold-brewed iced coffee就成了最no-brainer的選擇

不過有提供此種選擇的店家實在少之又少...連鎖咖啡店中似乎只有Seattle's Best Coffee

如果說要自己製作...cold-brewed這種聽起來有那麼點fancy味道的名詞...

似乎也不是為我這種懶人所設計的...肯定需要非常複雜的手續和昂貴的沖泡工具...我這麼告訴自己



今天在The New York Times看到這篇文章之後

我發現原來事情竟然還真的比我這個平凡人所想的簡單

製作cold-brewed iced coffee的工具不僅沒有想像中的昂貴...甚至可用"平價"來形容

(Toddy Cold Brew Coffee System...Seattle's Best Coffee使用的機器也是相同品牌的商用機型)

而沖泡方式也超乎想像的容易和省時...只要在睡前把材料放入咖啡壺中放置隔夜

隔天睡醒後只要五分鐘的時間就可以完成一杯口味完全不打折扣且濃度可隨喜好自由調整的冰咖啡



跟我一樣是"冰咖啡控"的朋友...我想你應該和初看到這篇"Iced Coffee? No Sweat"的我一樣

正忙著做web-surfing...試圖找到優惠價位的Toddy Cold Brew Coffee System下單吧...



為了在八月回到台灣時能夠讓因為酷熱天氣而不想出門的我仍然能享受到爽口的冰咖啡

老爸老媽...甚至是跟我同樣懶惰成性的老姊...你們有福了



我一定會扛幾部Toddy Cold Brew Coffee System回家的...







Iced Coffee? No Sweat



By CINDY PRICE

Published : June 27, 2007 / The New York Times



Before I go telling everybody that the secret to great iced coffee is already in the kitchen, my friend Keller wants me to confess: I didn’t know from iced coffee until he showed me the light.



It’s important to cop to this now, because not a summer goes by that he does not painstakingly remind me, a rabid iced-coffee drinker, that he’s the one who introduced me to the wonders of cold-brewed iced coffee. The funny thing is, when the subject came up we were holed up in a summer rental with three friends off the coast of Puerto Rico, on a tiny island not exactly swimming in upmarket coffee houses.



Our first morning there I brewed a blend from the local grocery in the coffeepot, laced it with a little half-and-half and sugar, then let it cool. Classy, I thought, carrying the pitcher to the table. “I’ll just take it hot,” he mumbled, while I blinked in disbelief.



Clearly, this boy didn’t know any better. A drink has a time and place. Surely he didn’t subscribe to drinking hot coffee in summer?



“No, I only drink iced coffee if it’s cold-brewed,” he said.



For five days we watched him sullenly sip his hot coffee on a broiling Caribbean island in the dead of summer. We chided him for his pretensions, ridiculed him, tried valiantly to break him, but he patiently waited us out. Once we tried it we would understand, he explained. Like friends disputing a baseball stat in a bar with no access to Google, we had no way to settle the argument.



Two weeks later, back in Brooklyn, I saw a sign: “Cold-Brewed Iced Coffee Served Here.” Fine, then. I threw down two bucks and took a sip. Though it pains me to admit, the difference was considerable. Without the bitterness produced by hot water, the cold-brewed coffee had hints of chocolate, even caramel. I dropped my sugar packet — no need for it. The best brews hardly need cream. It really is the kind of thing a gentleman might spend five days in hot-coffee solitary confinement for.



Most days I’m too lazy to hunt down the elusive cold-brewed cup. But recently I discovered an interesting little fact. Cold-brewed coffee is actually dirt simple to make at home. Online, you’ll find a wealth of forums arguing for this bean or that, bottled water over tap, the 24-hour versus the 12-hour soak. You can even buy the Toddy cold-brew coffee system for about $30.



But you can also bang it out with a Mason jar and a sieve. You just add water to coffee, stir, cover it and leave it out on the counter overnight. A quick two-step filtering the next day (strain the grounds through a sieve, and use a coffee filter to pick up silt), a dilution of the brew one-to-one with water, and you’re done. Except for the time it sits on the kitchen counter, the whole process takes about five minutes.



I was curious to see how it would taste without all the trappings. The answer is, Fantastic. My friend Carter, something of a cold-brewing savant, turned me onto another homegrown trick: freeze some of the concentrate into cubes. Matched with regular ice cubes, they melt into the same ratio as the final blend.



Very fancy. Can’t wait to tell Keller.