Cold-brewed maple iced coffee

A smoother way to enjoy a favourite summertime drink!

Like many people, when the weather heats up, my tastes turn towards cold beverages to keep me hydrated and moderately caffeinated. I’ve tried iced coffee, which is typically made from hot-brewed coffee that’s chilled (and diluted) by pouring over ice, but found it bitter and in need of a lot of sugar to make it palatable. Discovering that cold-brewed coffee has a much smoother, richer flavour (and less acidity, so less harmful to tooth enamel) led to an iced coffee epiphany for me: just a little maple syrup and I’m good to go. I make a big batch of cold brewed coffee at the beginning of the week and I’m set to sip for days and days.

Ingredients

• 1 part coffee beans to 8 parts cold water (I used 1/2 cup whole coffee beans and 4 cups water)
• Ice cubes, maple syrup and milk or cream, for serving

Method

• Coarsely grind coffee beans. I recommend using a burr grinder (I used my grandmother’s old meat grinder!) to ensure you have larger pieces rather than a finer grind. Alternatively, put the beans in a sturdy zippered sandwich bag and crush them with a rolling pin.
• Put the ground beans in the bottom of a large mason jar or other vessel that can hold the appropriate amount of water to accommodate the 1:8 ratio and pour cold water over the ground beans, filling right to the top of the jar.
• Cover tightly with a lid or plastic wrap and an elastic band and let brew on the counter for 12 hours or in the fridge for 24 hours.
• Strain the cold-brewed coffee through 4 layers of cheesecloth (or any clean cloth) into a clean jar.
• Serve the cold-brewed coffee over ice, adding milk or cream and maple syrup (or agave, or honey – any kind of liquid sweetener will dissolve better than granular ones in the cold beverage).

Yield depends upon how much cold-brewed coffee you choose to make.