I may mock a lot of hipster trends, but I’m a believer in cold press coffee. I’ve been playing around with different ways of doing it, and while I’ll keep tinkering, I highly recommend that you try it at home. Considering that a delicious “crafted press” at Caribou will set you back $3.50, it’s worth it to try a little home brew. Biggest thing to remember – it takes a bit of planning. If you’re running short on time, hit the drive through.

This is what I do.

1. Grind the beans. You could always go with the bagged stuff, but I think it’s better with a fresh grind. An eye opener for cold press is that it takes A LOT of coffee to get the concentrate. Rather than perfectly measure it all out, I just grind a batch on the largest amount for my grinder on a course setting. It’s almost 4 ounces, and since the french press ratio I originally tried was roughly 4.5, I just reduced the amount of water by half a cup.

2. Dump the beans in the french press, add 3 cups of water, and give it a good stir. It’s like a think coffee slurry at this point. Cover it and walk away. Ideal brew is anywhere between 12-24 hours; I lean more into the 18-24 hour mark.

3. Press the coffee, pour through an additional filter (this can take a little while, but unless you like a little grit in your joe, it’s worth the time) and then you have the coffee concentrate.

4. Fill your glass with ice, fill it about halfway with concentrate, and cut it with milk, water, half and half (only if you have a metabolism like my brother) or  if it’s your birthday, sweetened condensed milk. I generally add a tiny bit of simple syrup to my cold press – and start your day with a smile.

Inspired by….
Blue Bottle Coffee – this is where I started reading about it. It’s pretty hard core, but I appreciate the passion. I don’t have a fultron, and since it was a 6 week wait on Amazon, I decided to move on.
Chow – a food community basic. Pretty simple recipe, and scaled for a french press. Time to pull mine out of the closet.
The Kitchn – this is one of my regular food blogs, so I looked at this one too. It’s a single serving ratio, so if you’re gun shy, start here.
And because I know a lot of people like The Pioneer Woman, you can read an abbreviated version on the Food Network. It’s great for large scale ratios. You can always check out her full description on her official website, “come to mama” and all, but you can find that on your own. It’s a bit much for me.

Do you have a favorite way to start your day? Let me know in the comments below!