Ouch! With the price of groceries (coffee included) increasing, who can afford high-end coffee and espresso drinks? Even Starbucks is closing stores willy-nilly in response to declining sales! Coffee lovers are resigning themselves to the industrial brew that we get from our office coffee machines and the stuff we make from a can at home. Gourmet coffee, at least as an everyday indulgence, seems to be a thing of the past.

Or is it?

I am going to let you in on a secret: For about $30, you can buy a coffee maker that not only makes commercial coffee taste fantastic, but also lets you make incredible iced coffee drinks for a fraction of the cost of those that you buy at retail stores. Even better, this coffee has less acid than hot brewed coffee, making it easier and safer to drink for people who suffer from acid reflux, heartburn, and other digestive problems!

This coffee maker is known as the Toddy, and for over forty years baristas and coffee lovers alike have been using this amazing system to produce smooth, flavorful coffee. I bought my Toddy system about five years ago, and couldn’t recommend it more highly.

How it works: The Toddy is an extremely simple contraption that consists of a plastic bucket with a handle on the side and space for a filter and a small hole at its bottom. After the proprietary filter and plug have been inserted, the Toddy is placed on top of the carafe. The Toddy is filled with 16 ounces of ground coffee followed by nine cups of cold (preferably filtered) water. After brewing for 12 hours, the plug is removed and a concentrate is allowed to drain into the carafe.

The coffee concentrate can be used in a variety of ways: For hot or iced coffee, simply add two parts hot or cold water to one part coffee concentrate and serve. For espresso-style drinks, follow the instructions provided by the makers of the Toddy. The makers of the Toddy have even created a free recipe book which shows you how to use the concentrate in cooking.

How it saves you money: As I mentioned earlier, the Toddy’s cold brew system eliminates a lot of the bitter notes that coffee, particularly inexpensive coffee, can have. Because of this, you can use a “lesser” brand of coffee and still get great results. Also, because the concentrate remains fresh for two weeks (when stored properly) there is no waste: You can drink every cup coffee that you brew: None of it goes down the sink.

Perfect for Iced Drinks: When preparing iced coffee drinks, there is a risk of “shocking” hot coffee and getting a sour taste. Plus, just adding ice to hot coffee can result in a lukewarm, watery beverage. Cold brew concentrate eliminates both problems.

Concentrate is Portable: If you are camping or otherwise going to be away from the coffeemaker, just pour some concentrate into a water-tight container and take it with you, adding hot or cold water as desired.

Cons: The cons are few and generally obvious: For one thing it takes twelve hours to produce the coffee concentrate, so using the Toddy requires some advance planning. The other problem is that the filter is proprietary: They aren’t readily available in retail shops (unless the shop sells the Toddy) so you will need to keep a supply on hand. The third problem is that the little stopper for Toddy tends to go missing, so, again, you will need to keep some spares. (Fortunately, however, replacement filters and stoppers are not only inexpensive, but shipping on filters and stoppers is free!) Finally, the carafe that comes with the Toddy is glass, which is fine for storage, but may not transport so easily (i.e. if you are going on a camping trip or a day at the beach).

Tags: Coffee, coffee maker, cold brew, cold brew coffee, drink, espresso, iced coffee, lattes, starbucks, toddy

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