Cold CoffeeJust recently, while inSan Francisco, I was leafing through the local newspaper over breakfast, and my attention was drawn to an article in which the very first sentence stated that the best iced coffee in the world is made not just anywhere, but in the city of New Orleans, Louisiana. There was no time to delve into it, and I brought the newspaper with me to Moscow to calmly figure out why "in New Orleans". The article turned out to be really interesting. The author explained: the whole thing is that in New Orleans coffee is traditionally brewed in a completely different way. First, medium-ground coffee is poured with cold water in a certain proportion, after which it is infused for 12 hours or more. Then the liquid is filtered and put in the refrigerator. This is the so-called coffee concentrate. When you want to drink a refreshing cold coffee (and in New Orleans you want to drink it all the time because of the terrible heat and irresistible craving for nightlife), this very concentrate is diluted with water, or better yet, milk - and before you is the most delicate, the softest, the most velvety cold coffee in the world. Such a coffee concentrate, the author assures, is always in the refrigerator of any New Orleans housewife, and all the inhabitants of the birthplace of jazz drink it from morning to night in all its numerous bars and coffee shops, because it is an integral part of its culture. And the rest of the population of the planet has no idea what they are missing. Of course, this intrigued me greatly. And for two reasons at once. Firstly, for many years I have been terribly interested and attracted by everything that concerns New Orleans - a city I have never been to. But I will definitely visit, because what I have read about it and seen in movies (for example, in the indescribably beautiful "Interview with the Vampire") proves that 2014 it is the strangest, most original and most un-American of American cities. A city where people, despite their total businesslike manner, are in no hurry and, despite their universal piety, believe in witchcraft. And despite the notorious American Puritanism, they value personal freedom most of all in its most wonderful (with an emphasis on the "ы") and even unbridled manifestations. At least, that is the impression I got. Not to mention that this is a city where there is such a thing as Creole cuisine! I was even seriously planning to go there, but Hurricane Katrina hit and ruined my plans. However, since the historic center of the city was not damaged, everything is still ahead.
The second reason is that I have developedquite a complicated relationship with coffee. I can't drink any coffee. I don't even consider instant coffee, since I never drink it and don't recommend it to anyone. But even in natural coffee, I often find some unpleasant additional flavors bothering me - it's either too bitter or too sour. But coffee concentrate doesn't have this. When heated, acids and bitter-tasting fats are released from coffee, and when hot coffee is cooled in the refrigerator, the bitterness only intensifies. But this is exactly how we prepare cold coffee: first we brew it, and then cool it. With coffee concentrate, everything is different: cold water releases a pure coffee flavor without additional acidity and bitterness - there is not even a special need to add sugar. Since it has 70% less acidity than regular coffee, people suffering from, for example, gastritis can safely drink it. And who doesn't suffer from it these days? Well, I tried it and now I can report. It's easy to make, and the result is wonderful. Everything was as promised. I diluted half a glass of the resulting concentrate with half a glass of milk, added a couple of ice cubes and got a beautiful drink with a really rich taste and velvety consistency. However, the proportions in which to dilute it are a matter of taste. The main thing is to know that cold brewing does not remove any caffeine and the coffee turns out to be no weaker than regular coffee. So you need to dilute the concentrate depending on how strong you like your coffee. In addition, I wasn't lazy, I surfed the Internet and found out that there are several theories about the origin of this method. One says that this is an ancient Peruvian or Guatemalan method, another says that it came from the Indonesian island of Java. The third one claims that it originated in the southern United States, where it still thrives. And in America in 1964, a man named Todd Simpson invented a special device for making concentrate. Although you can easily get by with a glass jar or a saucepan made of a material that does not react with coffee. Perhaps I conducted my experiment at the wrong time - winter is coming soon. But I am very pleased with the work I did: I will meet the summer fully armed. After all, what else is the beauty of it - you can make a large supply of concentrate and keep it in the refrigerator (up to 10 days). And when guests arrive on a wonderful summer evening, you can, without straining yourself at all, put a large glass of the best cold coffee in the world in front of each of them. New Orleans Coffee Concentrate (Serves 2)1/3 cup medium ground coffee1 ½ cups cold waterPlace the coffee in a clean glass jar and cover with cold water. Stir and let sit overnight (at least 12 hours). Strain the liquid into another jar through a fine sieve, preferably lined with cheesecloth. Refrigerate the concentrate. Before serving, dilute the concentrate at a ratio of one-half cup of concentrate to one-half cup of cold water or milk. If necessary, add a little granulated sugar.
