This is a digression from my usual crypto agenda.
I have been practicing the Art of making coffee since more than 1Y, not that I am following the hipster wave (too old for that), but I started appreciating a good cup about 3Y ago and wanted to give it a try myself.
I used to flavour my rum by using various fruits and found fun to make my own drinks, especially when an ageing process was required. I know it doesn't make it any wiser, but the taste is more subtile.
Anyway, I started "cupping" coffee about 1Y ago and went directly to the cold drip thing. I don't always have the time to spend 15min to prepare hot coffee, so I found cold one being very convenient as I can have one bottle ready for a week. The other advantages are along less acidity (no stomach problem) and higher content of caffein. I like strong coffee, that's a perfect mix.
I got myself a Yama Tower when I was in Hong Kong and it has been my faithful coffee maker since then. Its design is also great to keep it in the living room: it looks like a wooden and glass chemistry tool and I like that.
The principle is easy: pick your coffee beans, grind them to a medium-coarse size, place them in the middle container and let some iced water going through, slowly, drip by drip.
This methodology is not to be confused with Cold Brew which consists in immerging coffee beans in water for about 24h. It's not my favourite process as it extracts way too much taste and oils and the result is too strong and with no subtlety.
I usually prepare about 600ml of coffee, from 100g of beans, and it takes a little less than 5 hours. My beans/water ratio is higher than what I usually read online. After testing different recipes, I found out that I like my cold drip syrupy, not too watery. I can anyway add water or milk later if my mood changes.
The good thing with cold drip is that once you have prepared your 600ml of coffee, you can keep it in the fridge for about a week. Just make sure the recipient is well closed to avoid oxidation. After a week, the subtile taste of some beans tends to disappear. That would be a shame!
Beans wise, I like the Costa Rican ones. They very often have an apple taste I found quite good for cold coffee. I always make sure to buy freshly roasted beans. It really makes the difference. I am lucky enough to have plenty of shops in Tokyo that propose green beans and that roast them on demand.
If you're a coffee lover, especially a cold drip aficionado, feel free to share your experience and recipes in the comment section!