When I first arrived in Maine where I lived for a few years, one of the cultural oddities that caught my immediate attention was the affection Mainers have for coffee. Not that the rest of the country isn't just as fanatic about scoring a caffeine boost during the day, but this was different. Mainers are nuts about Dunkin' Donuts coffee. I swear there's a Dunkin' Donuts on every corner. The line at the drive-through window every morning was huge, and everyone showed up at their workplace toting a large cup of hot Dunkin' Donuts coffee.
In the summer the pattern shifted ever so slightly. The line at the drive-through window was just as long, but -- starting in May -- the beverage of choice was iced coffee. I mean huge containers of brain-freeze cold coffee enriched with lots of cream and sugar. For a girl used to one small steaming cup of joe in the morning, this hardly seemed civilized. Don't get me wrong. I adore iced coffee in the summer, but it's strictly reserved for an afternoon pick-me-up or as dessert after lunch, never first thing in the morning.
So now I'm living in California and the nearest Dunkin' Donuts to me is in Iowa. I could toss my hat in the ring and apply to be a new franchisee in Arizona which is a little closer, or I could look for a pound of DD coffee in the nearest Safeway. Mainers will call it heresy, but I prefer to start from scratch with a better quality coffee.
Recently, I perfected a way to have my sweet summer coffee and eliminate the caffeine that can ruin a perfectly good night's sleep. Cold pressed coffee is much lower in acid than hot-brewed coffee, so it tastes smoother. I purchased a cold press coffee maker, experimented with a few trial runs and I think I've got this just right.
The first step is to buy a pound of good quality, coarse-ground decaf coffee (it has to be coarse), fill the coffee maker with cold water and stir the grounds into the water. It will look very sludgy. Don't despair; the best is yet to come.
Cover the mixture and refrigerate over night. The next day, using the plunger, gently press the grounds to the bottom of the container, then strain the brew through a paper coffee filter into a pitcher. Tuck the coffee filter into a wire strainer. You'll be surprised how much fine residue is removed from the blend by this extra step.
The clarified coffee is ready to use. Cover the pitcher with plastic wrap and keep the unused portion refrigerated for up to 5 days. Pour the coffee over ice cubes in a tall glass. I sweeten the coffee with simple syrup that I make ahead of time and keep in the refrigerator (it lasts for weeks), plus some half-n-half. Pure nectar on a hot summer afternoon.
My Bodum coffee press holds 6 cups of water and I use 1 1/3 cups of coffee which makes a medium-strong blend. If you are using a different sized container, this is a 4.5 to 1 ratio of water to coffee.
In the summer the pattern shifted ever so slightly. The line at the drive-through window was just as long, but -- starting in May -- the beverage of choice was iced coffee. I mean huge containers of brain-freeze cold coffee enriched with lots of cream and sugar. For a girl used to one small steaming cup of joe in the morning, this hardly seemed civilized. Don't get me wrong. I adore iced coffee in the summer, but it's strictly reserved for an afternoon pick-me-up or as dessert after lunch, never first thing in the morning.
So now I'm living in California and the nearest Dunkin' Donuts to me is in Iowa. I could toss my hat in the ring and apply to be a new franchisee in Arizona which is a little closer, or I could look for a pound of DD coffee in the nearest Safeway. Mainers will call it heresy, but I prefer to start from scratch with a better quality coffee.
Recently, I perfected a way to have my sweet summer coffee and eliminate the caffeine that can ruin a perfectly good night's sleep. Cold pressed coffee is much lower in acid than hot-brewed coffee, so it tastes smoother. I purchased a cold press coffee maker, experimented with a few trial runs and I think I've got this just right.
The first step is to buy a pound of good quality, coarse-ground decaf coffee (it has to be coarse), fill the coffee maker with cold water and stir the grounds into the water. It will look very sludgy. Don't despair; the best is yet to come.
Cover the mixture and refrigerate over night. The next day, using the plunger, gently press the grounds to the bottom of the container, then strain the brew through a paper coffee filter into a pitcher. Tuck the coffee filter into a wire strainer. You'll be surprised how much fine residue is removed from the blend by this extra step.
The clarified coffee is ready to use. Cover the pitcher with plastic wrap and keep the unused portion refrigerated for up to 5 days. Pour the coffee over ice cubes in a tall glass. I sweeten the coffee with simple syrup that I make ahead of time and keep in the refrigerator (it lasts for weeks), plus some half-n-half. Pure nectar on a hot summer afternoon.
My Bodum coffee press holds 6 cups of water and I use 1 1/3 cups of coffee which makes a medium-strong blend. If you are using a different sized container, this is a 4.5 to 1 ratio of water to coffee.
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