Cold Brew Coffee on the Cheap

I first learned of cold brew coffee in the novels written by Cory Doctorow, coffee is actually featured in many of his books! "Homeland" features a scene at Burning Man where the protagonist brews it in a cooler and shares it as a part of the sharing economy there. If you haven't read any of his books, do so, themes of anarchy, technological revolution and anti-censorship will likely appeal to many of the people on Steemit. They are available for free from the author online!

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Cold brew coffee is quite often associated with beautiful steampunk looking glasswork towers and corresponding sky high prices. For example, the Yama Kyoto-style cold drip coffee maker costs 242.93 USD (free shipping though!) at Amazon and makes 6-8 cups of coffee...a day!

However, you don't need that to make cold brew coffee.

All you do need is regular coffee grounds (just like in the lead in picture at the top of the post!), the kind used in drip coffee makers, a jar with a lid (2 is better), water and patience.
Following the method and recipe in an article by Merlin Jobst at JamieOliver.com I made my own!

Fill the jar to 1/8th with coffee grounds.
Fill the rest 7/8ths with water.
Mix thoroughly.
The top will look like this:

And the sides like this:

I love macro photography!

Now the exciting part! Put the lid on and stuff it in the refrigerator.
Wait a DAY!
This is probably why people don't make their own cold brew coffee very much, when you want coffee you want it right then. Using cold temperatures yeilds a much less bitter flavour as those bitter compounds are leached out at higher temperatures.

Now it's time to get out the second jar!

I had this noodle strainer thing that fit perfectly into the top of my jars!

BAM! Fits right there!

First strain the coffee grounds through the strainer to get rid of the big chunks.

There will still be lots of fine coffee ground dust swimming around in there so, unless you like the feeling of gritty sand stuck to your teeth, grab a regular paper filter stuff that into the strainer and slowly pour it back into the first jar.

Coffee filter doesn't fit so well but if we were concerned with image we'd have one of those fancy tower drip things. This is a jar.

Lost a bit of volume:

But we are done!
The coffee is a concentrate and should be watered down when you serve it, either with 1:1 coffee:water or 1:1 coffee:milk(my recommendation +a splash of maple syrup) or however you like to drink your coffee. You can drink it straight but you'll likely have trouble sleeping later that day.

The finished product!

+Milk!

Extreme lack of latte art, but a nice cresent shape from the dining room's lights!

Lastly, as there is nothing but coffee and water in the jar, it'll keep for days as long as you keep it cool.
Just make sure to start the next batch when you only have a day's worth of coffee left in the jar!