If nothing else, I am a man of time and convenience. Rarely will you wait on me if we are meeting for lunch. Unless there are circumstances outside of my control, I will be at the airport before your plane arrives to make sure you are not waiting on me at the baggage claim with  suitcases your carry-on luggage (stupid baggage fees). Stacey would say that I am leashed far too closely to my watch. At any given moment of the day, unless I’m sleeping obviously, I am pretty much aware of what time it is or what time it is not. For instance, I know that it takes me 23 minutes to wake up, take a shower, get dressed and get out of the door if don’t need to shave that particular morning (three-ish more if I do have to shave). A bit psycho? Maybe. But I hate being late.

I also hate having to take time to eat breakfast (the most important meal of the day?) or make coffee in the morning. This is a problem though, because I’m not one that can skip breakfast. Anyone who works with me will vouch too, that I cannot go without caffeine. It took me quite a while to get a sustenance routine down in the wee small hours.

Iced Coffee

Then, last summer, Imbibe Magazine ran an article on iced coffee. For most of the year Houston is a hot, humid, muggy place to live (sounds pleasing, huh?). The thought of waking up, grinding beans, steeping a couple of cups of piping hot coffee, and stepping out into a steam bath on a cozy August morning, sounds about as fun as going through said month without electricity (…or the month after—thanks again, Ike). Iced coffee was a revelation.

There are two “camps” when it comes to iced coffee, the cold-brewed method (my personal preference) and the Japanese method. For Houstonians, Catalina Coffee on Washington Ave., does fantastic iced coffee in the Japanese tradition. Dumbed down, the method involves pouring near-boiling water over coffee grounds resting in a coffee filter  that then drips over ice into the container below (a contraption like this is reliably convenient). The hot coffee melts the ice as it cools into a pleasingly tasty beverage.

Whether or not the cold-brew method or the Japanese method is superior, it all boils down to personal preference. The big advantage in my opinion to the cold-brew method is that the final product is less bitter and less acidic than it’s hot-brewed counterpart. This comes as welcomed news to those who don’t love heartburn first thing in the morning.

In the article, they gave exact ratios of coffee concentrate to water. This was a terrific starting point for me, but after several mornings of using their measurements (roughly 4:1 water to coffee), I decided that I didn’t much care for coffee-flavored water and needed something stronger. Then in passing, I talked to David over at Tipsy Texan, who also happens to be the Katz Coffee representative in Austin. He agreed with me saying that he prefers his in equal parts (1 coffee concentrate : 1 water). That pretty much equaled “Iced Coffee Nirvana” for me.

Going back to my near-crazy obsession with getting out of the door as quickly as possible in the mornings, the following method proves to take less time than a trip to Starbuck’s on the way to the office—not to mention, it is world’s tastier.

Cold Brewed Katz Coffee

Tools & Ingredients:

Coffee Grinder (I use a Krups Burr Grinder)
12 cup French Press
Half Pound Coarsely-Ground Coffee (I use varying blends that I pick up at the Market or the coffee shop)
Purified Water

It doesn’t get much easier than this. Saturday evening, just before I head to bed, I usually grind the beans, throw them into the French Press, and fill it to the top with water. Apply the plunger and press it down until all of the grounds are submerged. The next day (after 12-24 hours of infusion), I pour the coffee concentrate into a carafe that holds roughly twice the amount of liquid as the coffee concentrate. I then fill the carafe with water (it ends up being roughly 1 : 1), leaving a little room at the top for simple syrup . Sweeten it to your taste. Sealed in the carafe, the pre-mixed coffee will keep for a week or longer. I’ve never really gone more than a week simply because it runs out so quickly.

Catalina Coffee Beans-El Salvador

If only though, I could leave it at that. I will be the first to admit that I’ve poked a decent amount of fun at those folks in the grocery store that buy flavored coffee. I always thought, “What’s the point?” Then, a few nights ago I was digging in the pantry when I ran across my enormous stash of Tahitian vanilla beans, gleefully residing in a canister of sugar. I have to say, my mind immediately thought about adding those puppies to the cold soak in this week’s coffee. Results? It was really, really nice. I still haven’t reckoned with myself about adding flavors to coffee, but this seems like a respectable approach.

In other experiments, I also added cocoa nibs (an obvious choice), and a few pinches of dried lavender buds to a couple of batches (gasp). Those were mighty tasty cups as well. I’ve now become the mad scientist of cold coffee brewerage. Stacey talked me off the ledge with my ideas about Roquefort coffee and cumin scented coffee. Alas, some ideas should never see the light of day.

Lastly, how bout a non-alcoholic coffee cocktail? David over at Tipsy Texan riffed on a drink that Bobby Heugel came up with, calling the variation on a theme:

The Cappucello (my own proportions)

3 oz. Iced Coffee Concentrate
1 oz. Freshly Squeezed Lemon Juice
1 oz. Simple Syrup*

Combine ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake hard and strain into an ice filled glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

*If there was a desire to make the Cappucello more of an adult beverage, substitute a half ounce of the simple syrup for a half ounce of Paula’s Texas Lemon Liqueur, or another limoncello of your preference.