Today is mailbag day, when I reach into my virtual mailbag to read and respond to a handful of letters and messages from my wonderful readers. I love to hear from you with your questions, feedback, thoughts, and ideas.
Hot Cold-Brew Coffee?
Dear Mary: I’ve followed you for years, and I love all the tips.
Recently, I tried your instructions for cold-brew coffee using Trader Joe’s French Roast decaf, and it was delicious! I can’t have caffeinated coffee, but this worked out perfectly, although it’s a little messy, LOL!
My question is: Now that the weather is cooling off, is there some way to make this hot, short of making the cold brew and warming it up? It seems like that would defeat the purpose of keeping it more alkaline. Suggestions? —Cheryl
Dear Cheryl: What makes cold-brew coffee so awesome is completing the extraction process with cold water instead of hot. So, if you want the benefits of cold brew—namely, low acid and smooth flavor—it needs to be cold-brewed.
You may have noticed that the result of the cold-brew process is very strong! When you pour it over ice, the melting ice counters that super strength to make perfect cold-brew iced coffee.
When you want hot cold-brew coffee, pour 1 to 2 ounces of cold brew you’ve stored in the refrigerator into a coffee mug. Fill it with boiling water. Bam! There you go: a perfect cup of, in your case, decaf coffee! See how that works? Simple! Hope that helps, and thanks for being such a loyal friend and fan. XO —M
