Madison Farmer’s Market

We got sidetracked on the way to the farmer’s market yesterday. Beauty day, two cups of black currant tea to sustain us until Silly Yak pastries could be procured, then… BLAMMO!

Bladow!

O Toddy, My toddy

It’s iced-coffee season again and I’m stuck with extra strong coffee dumped over ice from Alterra. Bah. Last year, the New York Times published an article about the cold-brew method and its superiority to any other way to brew coffee that you intend to water down with ice cubes. This is so true.

Toddy is my favorite way to brew cold coffee. You need one pound of coffee beans (ground for drip) and 9 cups of filtered water. Let it sit 8-12 hours. Then pour the concentrated coffee over ice in a glass, filling only about 1/3 full. Then top the rest off with filtered water and stir. Then drink it, maybe with cream and sugar if you like. So what’s that… a 2:1 water to Toddy coffee concentrate ratio.

This type of brewing also produces a lower acidity coffee for people with sensitive stomachs. Not lower caffeine though. So it’ll still rev you up on a hot summer morning.