Cold brew coffee

[John F]

Trader Joe's offers two kinds of cold brew coffee concentrate, regular and French roast. I keep a quart bottle on hand for the rare times I want coffee, either hot or iced, and dilute it with about twice as much water, less if I want it stronger. Here's TJ's sales pitch for the regular variety, grossly overwritten:


Cold Brew Cool

The Cold Brew process has cemented its status as pinnacle percolator of coffee bar culture. What separates the wheat from the chaff—or the coffee cherry from the bean, as it were? As its name puts forth, Cold Brew Coffee is never heated. As a result, the oils and acids that are commonly released with heat don’t pass through to the brew.

To quantify it, a cup of Cold Brew Coffee contains about 50% less acid than a hot-brewed cup. No longer masked by the compounds that give coffee its bitter bite, the lush, fruity flavors of the beans become strikingly more perceptible—and to many, that much more enjoyable.

Trader Joe’s Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate lives up to the aforementioned Cold Brew reputation with aplomb. It marries what coffee geeks covet—technique, quality, taste—with what Trader Joe’s geeks cherish—value.

Working with craft coffee roasters in the Bay Area, we start with a half-pound of medium roasted, 100% Arabica beans from the world’s finest coffee-growing regions. The beans are coarsely ground and specially cold-filtered to create naturally sweet, ready-to-pour Trader Joe’s Cold Brewed Coffee Concentrate. Keep in mind, that’s a process that would take anywhere between 12-to-24 hours to do on your own. That’s a long time to wait for the joyful brew that we bring straight to your cup.

At $7.99 for each bottle of our 32 ounce Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate—equivalent to about 96 ounces of coffee beverages when reconstituted with water, milk, etc.—we make that cup wicked affordable. To break it down, each serving of Trader Joe’s Cold Brew Coffee is about 66¢. If you were to pick up a bottle or cup at any other retailer, you’d expect to pay at least two to three times that amount.

If you like your coffee strong and steamy, mix Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate with a bit of hot water for a smooth cup. Or pour it over some ice for a cold cold brew.

http://www.traderjoes.com/digin/post/hey-joe

[lennygoran]

To break it down, each serving of Trader Joe’s Cold Brew Coffee is about 66¢. If you were to pick up a bottle or cup at any other retailer, you’d expect to pay at least two to three times that amount.

Thanks for the info. Interesting to read the price breakdown-Sue and I have 9 cups of coffee per day when we're home so that would be $5.94 per day-doesn't sound worth it for us. Regards, Len

[John F]

4.5 cups of coffee a day for each of you? My first reaction was that it couldn't be good for your health, but I checked that out and apparently the opposite is true for many people though not everybody. Again and again, medical common knowledge that the doctors tell you gets turned upside down by later research. Maybe I need to drink more of the stuff myself. I don't like the acidic, bitter flavor of what I get in restaurants and others' homes, but no such problem with TJ's cold brew concentrate which I like much better. If I drank as much java as you do, cost might be a factor, but it isn't for me. If you believe the TJ's blurb, it's even a bargain.

Does coffee offer health benefits?
Answers from Donald Hensrud, M.D.

Coffee has been around for a long time and blamed for many ills — from stunting your growth to causing heart disease — but newer research shows that it may actually have health benefits.

Recent studies have generally found no connection between coffee and an increased risk of heart disease or cancer. In fact, some studies have found an association between coffee consumption and decreased overall mortality and possibly cardiovascular mortality, although this may not be true in younger people who drink large amounts of coffee.

Why the apparent reversal in the thinking about coffee? Earlier studies didn't always take into account that known high-risk behaviors, such as smoking and physical inactivity, tended to be more common among heavy coffee drinkers.

Studies have shown that coffee may have health benefits, including protecting against Parkinson's disease, type 2 diabetes and liver disease, including liver cancer. Coffee also appears to improve cognitive function and decrease the risk of depression.

However, the research appears to bear out some risks. High consumption of unfiltered coffee (boiled or espresso) has been associated with mild elevations in cholesterol levels. In addition, some studies found that two or more cups of coffee a day can increase the risk of heart disease in people with a specific — and fairly common — genetic mutation that slows the breakdown of caffeine in the body. So, how quickly you metabolize coffee may affect your health risk.

Although coffee may have fewer risks compared with benefits, keep in mind that other beverages, such as milk and some fruit juices, contain nutrients that coffee doesn't. Also, adding cream and sugar to your coffee adds fat and calories — up to hundreds of calories in some cases.

http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifes ... q-20058339

[jserraglio]

I prefer cold brew. Easier and much cheaper to cold brew my own in a standard French-press pot with a coarsely ground beans of my choice. I make it super strong and then dilute it to taste.

[John F]

About how long does the process take? TJ's says 12 to 24 hours, depending. For me, it's not only that TJ's cold brew concentrate tastes better, but it's ready instantly with no extra effort whenever I want some.

Seems like it's popular; often when I go to my local TJ's there's none on the shelf, and sometimes none in stock either.

[jserraglio]

12 hours is plenty, actually even less will work. But I like to leave it for 24 to get full strength. The longer the stronger. After brewing at room temp, I decant and refrigerate the concentrate. I use only about 4 oz concentrate per cup + water so one standard French press pot yields almost a week's supply for me. I was surprised how easy this was (I make coffee once, maybe twice a week instead of once or twice a day) and how easy it was to filter out coarse grounds and knock the residue out of the pot for cleanup. I also like all the choices I have in that I can choose any variety of whole bean or even buy it already coarsely ground for French-press hot brewing and then use it for cold brewing. Sometimes I will buy concentrate on sale but I like my own better.

often when I go to my local TJ's there's none on the shelf, and sometimes none in stock either.

TJ's "juice" is available cheap online (I have seen it on Amazon).

[lennygoran]

4.5 cups of coffee a day for each of you?

It's 5 for me and 4 for Sue. BTW the strong burnt quality of Starbucks coffee is coffee I can't drink no matter how much milk I add to it-also I can't drink coffee with sugar. Regards, Len

[jserraglio]

You might need double that dose once you absorb the news reports tonite that Mike ("Lock Her Up") Flynn has now offered to testify to Congress in exchange for immunity from prosecution.

[John F]

No question who got the best of that bargain.

[jbuck919]

The nearest Trader Joe's is in Colonie, a suburb of Albany. However, there is one in South Burlington VT, where my brother-in-law teaches. Maybe I'll ask my sister to bring some (with reimbursement of course) when she next visits. We tend to see eye-to-eye on our morning coffee.