Cold Process....Hmmmm

[stratford]

Javaphile, I see where you are coming from now... :

I bought a Toddy maker from the US, and made a carafe of cold process concentrate last night. I tried it this morning, and it is serious coffee! It is smooth, extremely sweet and without even a hint of bitterness.

It doesnt give you a buzz the way espresso coffee does; it is more a coffee for relaxing with...but I was taken by the intense coffee flavour and aroma. Basically, the coffee tastes as it smells!

The only down side is that you use quite a bit of ground coffee to make a carafe, but the coffee is excellent...

Cheers....

[Javaphile]

Re: Cold Process....Hmmmm

Javaphile, I see where you are coming from now... :

I bought a Toddy maker from the US, and made a carafe of cold process concentrate last night. I tried it this morning, and it is serious coffee! It is smooth, extremely sweet and without even a hint of bitterness.

Yup! Its wonderfully smooth stuff!

It doesnt give you a buzz the way espresso coffee does; it is more a coffee for relaxing with...but I was taken by the intense coffee flavour and aroma. Basically, the coffee tastes as it smells!

The only down side is that you use quite a bit of ground coffee to make a carafe, but the coffee is excellent...

Realize that youd have to drink almost 3 cups of the CP (6oz cups mixed 1:6) to use the same amount of coffee beans as you would for one double shot of espresso. From one pound of beans I get 64ozs of CP concentrate. Thats 64 6oz cups of coffee as compared to the roughly 23 double espressos youd get from the same amount of beans.

CP is still to this day the only coffee Ive found that tastes like the roasted beans smell. A wonderful selling point for it.

If you havent yet tried it try making a drink using milk (I only use Whole milk, anything else is just water with some white dye tossed in ) instead of water with just a touch of sugar. Uuuummmm.....nummy! A Java milkshake!

I tend to be a member of the club that believes that lighter roasted beans yield a better tasting espresso. CP however is one case where Ive found that a darker roast works quite nicely. Blends as well as SOs work very nicely for making CP.

Ill be roasting up 3kg of beans here later tonight for a batch of CP. It will most likely be a blend of some Nicaraguan and Tanzanian with maybe a touch of some Yirggy thrown in. I rarely make the same SO/Blend twice. As with my espressos I like to play the field and am always bringing in new SOs and trying new blend combinations.

Anyhoot, welcome to the wonderful world of CP!

Java "CP, the other coffee!" phile

[Javaphile]

Re: Cold Process....Hmmmm

As an added note make sure to let your coffee rest long enough to fully develop its flavors. I let mine rest a minimum of 2 days and preferably 4 or 5 depending on the coffee.

As a side note I ended up having just barely enough of the Angelina Estate left to do up a batch of CP with it as an SO. It should prove an interesting batch to taste as this was the first time I had roasted this particular bean so dark (20 seconds into the 2nd crack roll) for use as an SO for CP with the Gothot.

It certainly smells good sitting up there! I love how the 2nd floor smells after a long roasting session! Uuuummm.......nummy smells!

Java "Drinking in the aroma" phile

[stratford]

Re: Cold Process....Hmmmm

So far I have tried some Costa Rican, and PNG as SOs...both are great as CP coffee.


Definately an interesting experience....

[Mdub]

Re: Cold Process....Hmmmm

This sounds like an interesting option. Stratford, did you purchase from e-bay or direct from Toddy Coffee, the last time I checked the shipping was more than the brewer.

Would you be willing to divulge how much the setup cost you in total, including any taxes you had to pay.

Mdub

[Javaphile]

Re: Cold Process....Hmmmm

GDay Mdub,

The commercial Toddy units are really nothing special. All they are is a container to hold the beans while soaking with a reusable filter and a matching glass decanter that the Toddy sits on top of for ease of draining.

You can easily make your own CP press entirely from readily available local materials, or order some replacement filters from the commercial unit and base your design around them. The last time I bought some replacement filters they came 2 to a pack and cost $2US. Properly cared for each filter will do many tens of batches.

For a completely home made unit shop around at your local stores and coffee/resturant supply houses and see what the largest paper coffee filters are that you can buy.

Next pick up a plastic pitcher and a rubber stopper like you used in Chemistry class to seal beakers etc with or something equivilent. You dont want/need a very large one, a 75mm-1cm diameter one works fine.

Then pick up a plastic mesh bag (the smaller the mesh the better) that is large enough to fit inside the pitcher touching it on all sides with enough left to drape over the sides on the top of the pitcher.

Make a hole in the side of the pitcher as close to the bottom as you can that is sized so that the rubber stopper will seal it completely but extend into the pitcher the smallest amount possible.

Put the stopper in, put the mesh bag in the pitcher with the top of it extending over the sides of the pitcher and secure it in place with a rubberband. Then put the paper coffee filter inside of the mesh bag in the pitcher, carefully pushing it down and into the bottom corners. Carefully pour the coarse ground coffee into the filter and then pour half of the water over the grounds making sure you have soaked them all. DO NOT STIR THE GROUNDS. The paper filter needs to be large enough that once you have done this you need to be able to tie the coffee filter closed (a piece of string, a twistee-tie or whatever will do the job and not impart any flavor to the coffee) leaving an 8cm gap between the grounds and the now tied closed top of the coffee filter. Wait 15 minutes and then pour the remaining half of the water over the coffee filter. Let sit at room temp for 12-24 hours then pull the rubber stopper out and drain the CP into another container.

You can use the plastic mesh bag to pull the grounds away from the drain hole and also to lift the grounds up for better draining and disposal.

Be sure to clean all the parts right after youre done so nothing grows on them, paying special attention to the plastic mesh bag.

There are of course many variations on this design. Some do with-out the plastic mesh bag. Some people use a pitcher or cooler with a spigot in place of the rubber stopper. Others leave the top of the coffee filter untied. If you go that route make sure that the coffee filter extends a minimum of 10cm above the top of the grounds after youve added all the water as the grounds will float and end up much higher in the pitcher than they started out as they soak.

The design can be scaled to what-ever size fits your needs using 2.9l of water for every .5kg of beans.

Just be sure that what-ever design you use that you allow for the expansion/floating of the beans as they soak.

Java "Inventions R Us" phile

[nunu]

Re: Cold Process....Hmmmm

I just use a 3L container. Layer water, grounds, water, etc. I let it brew for 24-36 hours, and pour it through a fine sieve to get rid of the bigger grinds. I grind coarser than plunger, because my filters just suck, what idiot designed a filter thats "stitched" at the bottom? You put some liquid in it, and it falls apart. I really gotta get me some filter cloth.

If I want some more volume, I just re-brew using slightly less water the second time around.

[stratford]

Re: Cold Process....Hmmmm

Mdub,

I bought the unit as a buy now on ebay for US$24.99, and the postage worked out to US$24....so with the exchange rate, about $58.

Bit expensive for a carafe with a couple of filters and a plastic jug with no bottom...but I was a bit lazy at the time, and couldnt be bothered making one :-[

Well worth playing around with...it will never replace Miss Silvias output, but it is a serious coffee...

Cheers,

Chris