I can’t believe it’s already the last week of August. Next weekend is Labor Day, traditionally marking the end of summer here in the States. Naturally temperatures will begin to cool as the days grow shorter, and Sarah and I will return to making coffee for the office in our French press instead of our Toddy. But this summer has been terrific for us experimenting with cold brewing (and since it takes a pound of coffee per brewing we’ve been able to go through a lot of coffee and try many different varieties over ice.) It was particularly interesting after Sarah returned from the Roasters’ Retreat with a few pounds of geisha that we brewed hot and cold. I found the smoothness universal but that some of the floral notes and delicate flavors were far more pronounced in the French press than with the Toddy, whereas brewing earthier coffees on the Toddy brings out big bouquets and pronounced fruitiness.
All of this is really just a way to have an excuse to post a link to this story from the Washington Post about iced coffees and why they tend to work best with a little milk or sugar even if you typically don’t like either in your cup. It’s a nicely written article and once again gives us a chance to relive last summer’s great debate about murky coffee and its blogger battle.
To all our friends in the Northern Hemisphere I say, enjoy your summer while it lasts!
