Iced Coffee and Tea: (Not) Taking the Heat

[elleng]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/20/dining/cold-brewing-coffee-and-tea-the-curious-cook.html?hp

[GoCubsGo]

1. Very interesting! Thank you for posting that!

I usually just brew extra coffee at breakfast and refrigerate it for late. Or, I use instant if I don't drink any for breakfast. Starbuck's instant coffee is quite good. When I make ice tea, I just brew it extra strong and pour it over lots of ice. Works just fine that way.

[cbayer]

2. I used to buy Cool Brew in New Orleans. It is a concentrated cold brew coffee that

is really delicious. You can mix it with water, but I always liked to just have it with cold mild.

Can't find it on the west coats though.

:hi:

[kestrel91316]

3. I make my summer iced tea by the quart in canning jars.

2 black teabags. Or green, or chai, or herb, or whatever you like. Regular sized tea bags.

1 quart canning jar.

Boiling water. Pour water over bags in jar, but only fill the jar halfway. Steep however long you want, then squeeze out and remove bags.

Fill jar the rest of the way with ice cubes, stirring as they melt. They will cool the tea off and dilute it to just the right strength.

Pour over more ice into tall glass and do whatever you like with it - lemon, sugar, milk, etc.

If you get those white plastic caps for canning jars you can just cap the jar and keep the rest of the tea in the fridge. I go through a quart or more a day just by myself in the summer when it's really hot.

[cbayer]

4. I make it by the gallon in an old pickle jar from the local bar.

I usually put regular bags in and let it brew in the sun for a day, but I recently found these cold brew tea bags that work really well if you are in a hurry.

And I finally discovered that it goes bad much faster if I add the sugar to the whole thing rather than just a glass at a time.

:hi:

[kestrel91316]

5. It goes bad because it's sun-brewed and not made with BOILED water,

I bet. I quit making sun tea after a few batches that developed that water mold taste. Never happens with my brewed tea, sugar or not.

[cbayer]

6. That could be it, because the change happened when I started using the cold brew tea.

:doh:

[Warpy]

7. That's what soured me on sun tea, too

and now I just brew it super strong and keep it in a clean glass jar in the fridge and top it off with ice water to make it drinkable.