It's Toddy season people! It's warming up and I only want cold brewed coffee from here on out! Toddy is a trademarked cold brewing system but is synonymous with any sort of cold brewed coffee. No longer do we just throw ice cubes in our otherwise warm coffee! Grodie! Who wants watered down coffee!? Cold brewing refers to steeping your grinds in room temp or cold water for an extended period of time. This process of slowly extracting flavor from the beans produces a different chemical profile than conventional brewing methods. The result seems a bit sweeter due to lower acidity and much more concentrated. This brew will definitely kick you into high gear! Last year around the holidays I was gifted this amazing Toddy maker by Corina Guillory of The Coffee Sock Co. I'm so excited to finally use it!
I've known Corina for many moons, she being a long time customer of the market I used to run. Her company makes reusable, organic cotton coffee filters, tea bags and cold pressed coffee kits...genius! She hand sews all of the bags!
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| Toddy Filter |
HERE is a list of her products. Corina is incredibly sweet and crafty and I am so proud of her! You can purchase her products or find out where to buy them HERE.
So...now we know what Toddy is but how do we brew it!? It's easy folks. The Coffee Sock Co. Cold Brewer comes with simple instructions to help you out.
Here's what you do:
1. Grind your beans COARSE. Muy importante. Like so:
2. Keep your Coffee Sock folded over your jar and fill with the grinds. Corina suggests 2 cups of grinds per 7 cups of liquid. So fill that bad boy with roughly 2 cups grinds.
3. Pour water over grinds to make them bloom. Simply wet (not soak) them for about a minute. You will see the grinds rise and break apart a bit...like a muffin rising.
4. Add 7 cups of cold water to your grinds. You will see the water seeping out like so:
5. Tie up your Sock. I wrapped the string around LOOSELY and then placed the ring around it. You don't want to wrap the Sock too tightly.
6. Place in fridge for roughly 12 hours.
7. Pull out sock and enjoy!
These Socks are reusable. Just rinse out, dry and use over and over again!
I have been making cold brew for a little while now and I have been using 8 Cups of water to 2/3 cup of coffee grinds. This recipe calling for 2 cups of grinds seems like a lot to me. I have been using a finer grind also. Wondering if I could just use the recipe I have been making but use my Coffee Sock that arrived today?
ReplyDeleteHi Marie! I'm so glad you have a coffee sock! I love mine :)
ReplyDeleteI think you can add as many grinds as your heart desires. I like more because 1. my husband and i like our coffee black and strong! and 2. our coffee jar is pretty big. If you're using a smaller jar, you don't need as much.
I do, however, think the grinds should be coarser (larger) than finer (smaller). I worked as a barista for years and know that the coarser grind is used for steeping, ie: french press or chemex brewing. The finer grind is used for more potent extractions, ie: espresso.
I think if you steep your iced coffee for 12 hours with a fine grind, your resulting brew will be super strong...perhaps even flat by the time you drink it.
With that sad, experiment and report back!
Thank you for your comment!
Have fun!
xo
So after a bit of experimenting I found out the following information. For a quart jar I use 1/3 cup grinds (Maxwell House). For 128 oz water I use 1 1/3 grinds. I let my coffee brew for a minimum of 24 hours. Looking forward to a friend bringing me some coffee from either Seattle or Portland early next month. Informed her I want the good stuff. BTW: I made the switch from International Delights creamer to Vanilla Almond Milk. It took me three days to adjust to the change. I know enjoy trying coffee as opposed to creamer....plus less calories.
ReplyDeleteAwesome Marie! Make that switch! I actually left the vegan world. It was a bit of an experiment. However, I do still eat a lot of vegan dishes - ALWAYS bake vegan and will never go back to cow's milk. I found that I love the taste of Almond milk now...just can't go back ;)
ReplyDeleteYes! Get that good coffee from your friend! You could probably find something a wee tastier than Maxwell House at your grocery store as well. Even the Starbuck's brand, although a bit pricier, will result in a tastier batch.
Another trick of the coffee trade is to grind your coffee fresh. I picked up a $9 grinder at my local big box grocery store. I leave the beans whole until I'm ready to make a batch of Toddy. The closer to production you grind your beans, the fresher the coffee will taste. Just a little coffee snobbery for you ;)
I'm so happy you found a recipe that works for you!
Thank you for sharing!
UPDATE: Friend came back from Seattle. She went to the 1st Starbucks Store and brought me back Pike Peak Special Reserve. She told me it is a dark roast....looking forward to trying it!!!!
ReplyDeleteThat is truly a great friend!!! Yum! Enjoy! xo
DeleteHave you ever made a second brew with the coffee sock (using the same grounds)? I usually do two brews with my other toddy system and hope to do the same with the sock. Starting my first brew today.
ReplyDeleteI would be interested to hear how it turns out.
ReplyDeleteI just got this ladies! Life got in the way and I haven't been blogging! How did it turn out Tracey? I normally toss the grounds after one use. However...when I used to cold brew big batches at the coffee shop...we steeped for 24 hours...so I'm sure using them again was a success...? Let us know!
ReplyDelete