[John Casler]

Recently I tried "Cold Brewing" my coffee.

I have one of those plastic filters and don't wish to have a coffee machine on my counter evaporating coffee and burning electricity for hours.

Since I generally only drink a single cup, I placed the grounds in the filter, placed it in a large coffee cup, and added cold water.

Next morning, I took out the filter, microwaved for 60sec, and had a very smooth and rich cup o'joe.

I got the idea, from the way I do my Green Tea.  I simply place the bag(s) in a cold cup of water for tea the next morning.

Tastes fine, seems a little "greener" since it is less electricity, and it certaily tastes fresh instead of "washed out" especicially for that second cup.

I also experimented yesterday, with a "double" use of the grounds, (meaning I made a second cup from the same grounds) and just let the cup set for 1 hour, and the same results, compared to a second cup from a percolator, that has been setting for hours

In any event, I can't see doing any other way right now.  Seems like a good alternative if you only drink a cup or two each day.

Probably would work even better if you were into "iced coffees" which I am NOT

[bummrush]

Makes it less acidic and smoother.

[pedrillo]

I am into health and learned to make coffee like this a while back. It especailly is healthy for you if you use energized water.

[KKM]

There are different reactions when introducing heat to any food. Sometimes it dissipates some of the volatile flavors that could be preserved with a cold process. Other times, heat improves the flavor, such as carmalization or the technical term Malliard reaction. This is very dependent on the type of food.

[Dan Driscoll]

Recently I tried "Cold Brewing" my coffee.

I have one of those plastic filters and don't wish to have a coffee machine on my counter evaporating coffee and burning electricity for hours.

Since I generally only drink a single cup, I placed the grounds in the filter, placed it in a large coffee cup, and added cold water.

Next morning, I took out the filter, microwaved for 60sec, and had a very smooth and rich cup o'joe.

If the point is to reduce your electrical usage, I doubt making coffee this way has any significant effect. Just turn off or unplug the coffee maker off once it has finished brewing and I suspect the energy usage will be the same as for running the microwave using your method.

[DaveC113]

The Brewing Market chain here in Boulder, CO uses this method for iced coffee.  It comes out as a concentrate that they dilute 1:1 or so... it is very good, but they charge a lot for it because it uses a lot of coffee beans per cup compared to regular brewing.

I prefer to use a stovetop espresso maker, a stainless steel Bialetti model.

[KS]

Toddy Products commercialized cold brew coffee 44 years ago.

I don't like it.  Some of the flavor is missing...or at least different...and not to my liking.