If you check my posts from the beginning of this month, they have all been posts related to challenges. Somehow, I am liking that my juices are flowing and I am doing some new recipes, even though the process is literally making me feel rusty at times. The summer has hit us hard and cooking is the last thing on mind. The humidity has been sapping. I really can’t wait to hit back home at the beginning of the next month, provided that the climate there is friendly. It is supposed to be monsoons, but unfortunately the rains haven’t been that heavy. Considering that we had a situation at hand last year, nobody would want the rains to come with full flow this time. But the summers have been harsh and it is worrisome that water shortages are foreseen. Sometimes I wonder who to blame – nature or humans, who is making nature act tough…
I am wondering, from where to where I have gone! This month, I am yet again doing the Recipe Swap, which is hosted by Mir. In this challenge, we are given a blog to work on, which is always a thrilling experience. You can read my previous Recipe Swap posts here. This month, I was assigned Sasmita’s “First Timer Cook“. Just like her name suggests, her blog is studded with easy to cook recipes for every time. I had a tough time trying to finalize what to cook from her blog. After jumping from one recipe to another, my eyes fell on her cold brew coffee flavored with cardamom.
Cold brew? That was something totally new to me. My friend bought me a percolator from back home and since then I make coffee in it and always have stock of roast coffee in my house. When I am out, I prefer to order iced Americano, which is basically hot black coffee served in ice cubes. Cold brew is basically where you soak the roast coffee beans in normal water, in the refrigerator for a few hours till it bleeds in all its flavors. There is no boiling in this process, and therefore this coffee has a different flavor when compared to “cooked” coffee. Doesn’t it sound super simple? And intriguing too…
I used my already coarsely ground coffee bean and a crushed cardamom for this recipe. I used my French press for the first time to allow the coffee to seep. Please don’t ask me how long I have had that press with me. 😀 I left the mixture in the fridge for close to 18 hours. You can keep it for a minimum of 12 hours and upto 24 hours – that is what I read. Then all you do is to strain the mixture, add more water to make it lighter, sweeten it to your taste and done! I drank half of it on its own and used the remaining to make the breakfast smoothie – it made it so refreshing!
You can store the leftover concoction in the fridge and use it within a week. I must make more and stock these up frequently now for my cold coffee fixes! It is not necessary that you need to have this black. You can top it up with some milk, coffee creamer or even condensed milk (yum!) to get going with it! Off to this simple recipe… And oh yes, a big thank you to Sasmita for introducing this to me! 🙂
Cold Brew Coffee
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp heaped roast coffee
- 2 cardamom crushed (optional)
- 1 cup water
Instructions
- Add the ingredients into a French press or a glass jar. If using a press, then push down the lever to the end so that the coffee powder would collect at the end.
- Store in the fridge for 12 hours.
- Strain the mixture through a mesh into another bottle.
- To serve, pour half into a tall glass. Add ice cubes, sweetener to taste and more water/ milk/ creamer to fill up.
Don’t forget to check out the other recipes from this month’s Food Blogger Recipe Swap!
- Potatoes Pies with Mango Chutney
- Eggless Cashew & Pistacchio Cookies
- Apple Pomegranate & Pear Salad
- Coriander Thokku
- Classic Lemon Curd
- Indo-Chinese Carrot Soup
- Chocolate Tea
- Fruit Custard
I love coffee but never tried it cold. It sounds perfect to have in the summer. Adding cardamon is a good idea to give it some flavour.
Thank you so much Mina…
Although I am not a big coffee drinker, I do like the sound of this coffee, very refreshing.
Thank you so much Nayna…
Mm.. interesting.. it shud be refreshing for this summer heat !
Thanks a lot Chitra…
Cold Brew Coffee has become quite the rage here and it is available now at most gourmet coffee shops, however I am yet to try it as I am generally not a fan of iced coffee although even coffee afficionados are swearing by the better taste of cold brew.
Thank you so much Mir…
I have never tried with coffee this way, must try it soon, the cold brew coffee.
Thank you so much Jayashree…
Ahaaa somehow you finalized to make this refreshing one ;P . I am sure you have thoroughly enjoyed this 🙂 Love the shots too !
Thank you so much Sasmita…
I am a coffe lover and always had coffee with milk and which is hot.Never tried this. Now that I have a french press, I should try this. Looks so very inviting
You become more of a cold coffee fan when you end up in hot countries like UAE, when you want to drink coffee but can’t bear to have it hot… hehe… Thank you so much Veenaji…
I regularly have iced tea, but not coffee. Now, I need to try this one, something new for me. Looks so good !
Now I am a coffee lover but I like my filter coffee like any other south Indian. Cold coffees are ok but I prefer my strong filter.
But you are tempting me. I think I am going to soak my filter coffee in the fridge n try making this delicious drink. Then may buy the French press. 😀