Out of The Brew - 1
So a few days ago, I was going through an old journal which by the way had witnessed loads of coffee experiments. Most of them were complete failures but the few that made the cut were too good and are my favourites till date. So in this new section, I'll share some of the variations that came to me out of the brew (Get it?!!). So for the first part, I'll share some variations that can be implemented on one of the most basic coffee makers (and my go-to machine), the French press.
Now since French
press works on the most basic principle of coffee brewing i.e. filtration,
there is nothing much left to tweak but there are some delicious recipes that
you can try using the French press concoction. Out of all the types of brew
that are possible to make using a French press, cold brew is the most simple
ways to enjoy a delicious cup of coffee. Why is it so simple? Well, unlike a
regular French press brew method, cold brew requires a fixed brew ratio (1:5 to
1:10) and nothing else. There's no need to keep an eye on water temperature and
you certainly don't need to agitate or swirl the grinds. Just add ground
coffee, room temperature water and refrigerate it for anything between 18-24
hours. Yeah, it's quite long but as the heavily overused saying goes, ' Patience
is bitter, but the fruits are sweet'. Slightly bitter/acidic in this case, but never
mind. So before my blog analytics take a hit due to my bad jokes, let's start
with amazing recipes that you can brew using a French press.
1.
Cold Brew Tonic
Now, this is not something that I would recommend to all readers, but it’s
definitely worth a shot. Especially if you have spent days procrastinating and
now have to stay up to get that assignment submitted on time. One serving
of this over-caffeinated drink and you can happily kiss your sleep goodbye.
Making this is tonic is really really simple, just mix half a can of Redbull
with approx. 150 ml of cold brew
concoction. For the cold brew concentrate, get a medium coarse grind with a
brew ratio of 1:8 and refrigerate it for approximately 18 hours. If you feel
the brew to be too strong for you, add extra ice cubes to tone down the
acidity. For normal readers, try mixing fruit juices like lychee or cranberry.
It’s not exactly the same but is quite refreshing for summer noon.
2. Banana Infused Coffee
I found this
particular recipe on a video by Seattle Coffee Gear and felt like it was worth
sharing. To get some fruity notes, add a half banana (mashed) to your regular
medium coarse coffee and make the cold brew as usual. To get the most out of
it, use coffee beans that have fruity or chocolate notes. I would recommend
Blue Tokai’s Karadykan Estate for this brew as it has caramel, toffee and
grapefruit notes that go well with the subtle sweet notes infused by bananas. I
know that mashed bananas and coffee may sound really gross to some and they
might even say that you have gone bananas (just call r/punpatrol now), but if
you enjoy sweet notes, you should definitely try this out.
3. Cranberry Coffee
Another interesting
method to infuse fruity flavours in your coffee is by adding some berries in
water and boil it. Filter out the berries and use the water to brew your
regular French press coffee. Due to the boiling, some really subtle notes are
infused in the water which then lowers the bitterness slightly and gives a
sweeter aftertaste. Although it should be noted that these notes are really
subtle and might not be easily observable. So it’s more of a hit and trial to
get it right.
So that was the first
edition of our new series ‘Out of the Brew’! What are your opinions and mainly
what machine should we use for the next part? Do let us know in the comment
section below! And if you have any recipes that you would like to share, send
them on our social media handles and we will feature the best ones on the next
edition.
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