I do not know how I managed to go this long on this blog without writing about coffee. It's my favorite beverage. I cannot (easily) start the day without a couple cups of coffee. I've gone so far as to roast coffee beans in a hot air popcorn popper. I have a drip coffee maker, a French press, a Starbucks Barista expresso machine and a burr coffee grinder. I have to thank my sister for the last two items who is even more of a coffee nut than me. I also overhauled the office coffee when I started working at the Alumnae Association. It had consisted of large cans of ground Folgers or Maxwell House which I cannot stand. I brought in some of my home roasted coffee and a grinder to introduce the staff to fresh ground coffee. I then educated them about organic and fair trade coffee. We now order coffee from Dean's Beans and a have a large Bodum grinder to ground the beans for each pot of coffee. Everyone in the office are now coffee snobs.

Getting back to the title of this article, cold brewed coffee. I cannot stand room temperature coffee. I drink coffee black, but it has to be hot. I like iced coffee, but has to be sweetened. Cold brewed coffee is a method of brewing a concentrated form of coffee that you add to hot water or milk. Seattle's Best used the method for it's cold coffee drinks. Also, the coffee is low in acid and convenient to make. It is ideal for coffee martini's, which I have yet to try. Brew your once a week and keep a pitcher in the refrigerator. easy to make. No special equipment is necessary, but there are companies that will sell you some if you want.

Toddy Coffee is a company built around cold brewed coffee. They sell a $35 pitcher and filter system, as well as, already brewed coffee and ground coffee. There is another company called Filtron, which sells consumer and commercial models. Deans Bean's uses the commercial model to make a concentrate used by Berkshire Brewing Company for their coffee porter beer. However, like I said, no special equipment is necessary. You probably already have the equipment needed to cold brew. I have not tried it yet, because it takes a pound of coffee, but as the weather warms up, I might try it out since it sounds like a better method for cold coffee drinks. Check out INeedCoffee.com for some cheap cold coffee brewing methods.