3-to-1 ratio of water to extremely coarse ground coffee in a water bottle in the fridge overnight tonight. I’ll see if I bolloxed it up tomorrow.

I do find that the Toddy method leaves a distinctive flavor in the coffee. It’s not my cup of … er… coffee.

I usually make a big pitcher of it, and then, 12-24 hrs later, I pour it through a coffee liner lined mesh strainer into a bowl. Rinse the pitcher out, and add back the strained coffee, and voila.

I’d love to get a french press, but for now, my cheapo rubbermaid plastic pitcher works just dandy.

After two or three days I do notice a difference in taste. Why not just make a new batch every night? It doesn’t take that long.

bitter isn’t ALL coffee is. Granted, it’s part of it, but good joe should have much more to offer. I’m in love with the more subtle flavors i get out of even cheap coffee grounds with my french press, and my old-fashioned percolator does wonders with a larger batch for entertaining company. I’ve never regretted either purchase for a second.

i’d never thought about cold-brewing coffee, but i’m excited by the notion. i’m looking forward to giving it a whirl!

So, I don’t know about that two week business. All those aromatics are, by definition, volatile. Calling food chemists — that can’t be right, can it?

Well, as you’re asking for chemical pedantry; no, aromatic compounds are not necessarily volatile.

If oxidation is the main mechanism for loss of flavour (as suggested above), then flavour should last longer in solution than in solid grounds. Easy to test- compare stored coffee with fresh coffee from stored grounds.

I recently found some coffee beans that had been stored in a glass jar since the mid 1970s- the coffee they produced was pretty flavourless (rather ‘cardboardy’), but seemed to have similar caffeine content to fresh coffee.

More importantly: After that long, even refrigerated coffee might have the beginnings of a mold colony, I would think, especially since it was cold brewed.

Coffee contains phenols, guaiacol and creosol, which makes it antiseptic. A cup of coffee won’t mold unless you add milk or pollute it in some way.

Seriously, a variant of this is the best way to make iced tea:
Take a glass pot, some not-hot water, add some robust tea, and leave it in the sun while you’re at work or even better, off to Parlee Beach for the afternoon.

My ratios:
3l water
12 tea bags of King Cole
125 ml sugar (that’s less than 1tbsp per cup),
the juice of one lemon.

I have a sneaking suspicion as I drink it that it’s going to have one hell of a strong caffeine content, though. Delicious treat now, then manic action, then a headache and remorse, woo! It’ll be sort of like being a borderline alcoholic all over again =P

I’m using bottled water (no chlorine, flouride, etc.) and storing the extract in a clean wine bottle with one of those rubber stoppers with accompanying pump to extract air from the bottle. For how frequent and how much I enjoy coffee, the extra effort for quality and purity is worth it!

as for the two weeks part…i’ll be damned if i ever had it last more than 2 days!

It keeps for about two weeks, yes.

And no, hot coffee poured over icecubes is a terrible way to make iced coffee. What that makes is warm coffee-water.

That might also explain why it’s necessary to use extracted and rinsed coffee grounds when using them as a mycological substrate (I’m fond of oyster mushrooms grown on discarded coffee grounds. Food from trash.)

The Japanese often call it “Dutch Coffee” rather than “mizudashi coffee.”

*水出しコーヒー mizudashi kohi（literally “Water Drip”)

Refer to Japanese photoset:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rhythmdrive/sets/72157620251159759/

The recipe I have calls for starting with cold water, btw. I’ve experimented with the proportion of coffee to water. I like very strong coffee, but not everyone does.

Regular coffee poured over ice is nasty. I only get iced coffee out at places — like Austin’s wonderful Ruta Maya coffeehouse — that use the cold brew method.

I don’t drink much coffee, but brewing a little takes as much prep and clean-up as a full pot. I’ve therefore gotten in the habit of brewing a full pot of coffee (using Starbuck’s beans in a much more mundane Mr. Coffee), drinking two cups, and pouring the rest into Mason jars. I stow them in the fridge, and, at random intervals over the next week or two, I’ll microwave myself a cup.

Even two weeks later, it still tastes fresh to me.

-rob in portland