What is cold brewed coffee and why drink it?

A bit of coffee history first...According to a coffee history legend, an Arabian shepherd named Kaldi found his goats dancing joyously around a dark green leafed shrub with bright red cherries in the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula.  Kaldi soon determined that it was the bright red cherries on the shrub that were causing the peculiar euphoria and after trying the cherries himself, he learned of their powerful effect.  The stimulating effect was then exploited by monks at a local monastery to stay awake during extended hours of prayer and distributed to other monasteries around the world.  Coffee was born.

Despite the appeal of such a legend, recent botanical evidence suggests a different coffee bean origin. This evidence indicates that the history of the coffee bean began on the plateaus of central Ethiopia and somehow must have been brought to Yemen where it was cultivated since the 6th century. 

So what IS cold brewed coffee?

Freshly grounded coffee added to room temperature water and allowed to seep 24-48 hours then the grounds are strained, double strained. The concentrated liquid will keep in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

 

Cold brewing takes time. However, it dissolves through the grounds only certain elements of the coffee. Surprisingly enough, about 90% of the flavor elements and the normal caffeine content come through this way, while only about 15% of the oils and acids will. It WILL change the taste of your coffee, but not the way you might think. It will strongly concentrate those most volatile flavor elements that most people like, making "super-flavor" coffee. The flavor elements you like about a given coffee will probably be up to twice as strong, yet the overall brew will have far less bite and acidity.

 

Is this a good thing? For people who like the acid and bite, which is part of the attraction of strong coffee, they may not like cold brewing. Other people take one sip and say "Oh my God, that is fantastic."

 

So why cold brewed?
The more you think about cold brew's weirdness, the less weird it seems. After all, coffee has been around since before 1000 A.D., depending on whose version of history you believe, yet it was initially thought to have been eaten as a berry, not brewed.

Who decided on the drip method anyway? Prior to the early 1700s, when the Europeans developed a rudimentary coffee filter known as a biggins, coffee grounds were usually left in the brew. It wasn't until 1908 that a German housewife named Melitta Bentz devised a paper filter for drip.

Even the precise espresso process -- now a backbone of coffee consumption -- wasn't engineered until 1901.

So why should the world be governed by the laws of Mr. Coffee?

Here are a few reasons besides my own personal taste preferences;

Coffee drinkers that find coffee too acidic. According to Toddy their cold brew system produces "67% less acid than coffee made by conventional hot brew methods." This is a big plus to coffee drinkers with acid reflux.

It tastes so much smoother

You never have that “ been on the burner too long smell or taste

Besides I think it products some of the best coffee that I have ever tasted!

Here is a link to independent lab results:

 

http://www.toddycafe.com/customerservice/ICB_Toddy.pdf