On a scorching summer day aboard Lyra, the last thing that I want to drink is a cup of hot coffee. Unfortunately, coffee is my life blood, and not having a cup in the morning…. well, let’s not go there.
Enter cold brew coffee. While I had tried it plenty of times at friends’ houses, I always thought that the preparation was too fussy, so I never bothered with it myself. That’s now changed since I’ve discovered the Primula cold brew coffee maker, and my summer is looking much cooler.
The Primula features a tall, thin, borosilicate glass carafe, a large stainless steel mesh coffee filter, a lid and a “flavor mixer” that is basically an attached stirrer. The carafe is tall, about 12 inches, and sized to fit in a typical refrigerator door, so it will likely need to sit as low as possible in your boat’s icebox or fridge.
Making the brew is simple. I followed the directions and loaded the filter up with 16 tablespoons of coffee grounds and inserted it into the carafe. They recommend a typical drip grind, but all I had was a fine espresso grind. You slowly pour cool water over the grounds and enough to cover (about 40 ounces or so), then you put on the lid (which screws on and seems to seal well), and let it sit in the fridge overnight or up to 24 hours. With the finer grind that I used, overnight is all it needed.
The result? A coffee concentrate that is perfect for iced coffee. Since cold-brew coffee is concentrated, you don’t need much of it for your morning pick-me-up. A serving of about 4 ounces or so mixed with some milk (and ice if you have it, or water if you don’t use milk) was perfect. The concentrate lasts about two weeks in the fridge (or not, if you drink it like I do!). A bonus — cold-brew coffee is much less acidic than “normal” coffee and is naturally sweeter, so I I found that no sugar was needed. $34.99; primulaproducts.com
