Vacuum Chamber Cold Brew
Recently, I have been enjoying cold brewed coffee in the evening. Sometimes I incorporate it into a dessert, other times I have been drinking it straight up. The biggest problem I have had with cold brewed coffee is how long it can take to make. Sometimes I have the craving, but don't have any fresh cold brew to drink. Who can wait twelve hours when they have a craving? So I got to thinking, how can I keep the cold brew method, but speed up the process. I did consider hot brewing and chiling the coffee, but for some reason that did not fill the craving.
In the past, I've read about quick infusions using pressure in an ISI whip (see more on Cooking Issues: http://www.cookingissues.com/2010/08/11/infusion-profusion-game-changing-fast-%E2%80%98n-cheap-technique/). This seemed like it would work pretty well, but I didn't want to use a N2O charge every time I felt like having cold brew without thinking ahead. So, I thought, why not use a chamber vacuum sealer? After all, even if the water is chilled, it will still boil as the pressure is reduced. Plus, once the pressure equalizes again the liquid will get forced into the coffee resulting in cold brew infusion.
In excitement I ran to the sealer and tested it out using 40 grams of coffee and 175 grams of water. Success, the infusion worked. At a two part water, one part coffee concentrate the brew tasted pretty good. It did not taste exactly like a 12 hour cold brew, but it was close. In the mean time, I am hoping that more experimentation will help me perfect the technique.
That said, I'm not sure if anyone else has access to a chamber vacuum sealer, but if you do give it a go. If not, it might be worth experimenting with a N20 infusion with a cream whipper. James Hoffman did with some success
http://www.jimseven.com/2010/08/20/pressurised-cold-brewing/
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