Cold Brewed Coffee Concentrate

I have been craving good coffee for a while now, and since I don't work close to any coffee shops I end up going without. A friend mentioned this recipe for cold-brewing a coffee concentrate, so I thought I'd give it a try! The corresponding article on cold brewing coffee for iced drinks is also interesting. This way I won't need to mess with anything in the morning, just pour some concentrate out of the fridge and mix it with milk or rice milk. 

 Combine in a pitcher and stir: 

1/2 lb coarse ground coffee (I like Stumptown's "Hair Bender" blend) 

4.5 C filtered water 

 Cover with lid or plastic wrap and let it sit at room temp for 12 hours. 

Then filter the coffee and keep in the fridge. I found it tasted best when I filtered with a mesh strainer-- using a paper filter seems to get rid of too much and make the coffee taste like drip coffee (eww). 

To use: Mix the coffee concentrate 1 part coffee to 2 parts water/milk and 1 part ice; or 1 part coffee and 3 parts hot water/milk. 

 Update 5/7/2010: this stuff is really delicious. I can scoop out 1 TB of coffee concentrate and add 3 TB of rice milk and I'm all set. I also tried it with hot water and some cream and it was really good that way too. You'd better measure this stuff though since it is VERY strong and I was using way too much coffee just pouring by eye. 

 I really like this recipe/method because:

• it didn't take any special equipment (I don't have a cofffee maker or espresso maker or any of that)
• do-ahead and freezes well- next time I would freeze into individual portions using an ice tray. This will be great to have on hand when coffee-loving relatives or guests come over
• tastes as good as the real thing from the coffee shop- just make sure to use distilled water and good/fresh beans- but way cheaper