Tried a 'cold brew' with hot water in my French press and it was a disaster

I was in a rush this morning and decided to try making a quick cold brew by just using hot water from the tap in my French press with coarse grounds, letting it sit for 12 hours like the recipe said. The result was a bitter, weirdly sour mess that tasted like old pennies. I learned that the temperature really matters, and you can't cheat the process. Has anyone else messed up a brew method this badly and managed to fix it?

2 comments

2 Comments

adam_young3120d ago

That "old pennies" taste you got is a huge clue. Hot tap water can have a lot of dissolved metals from your pipes, especially if it's been sitting overnight. You basically made a metal-infused brew. Cold water from the fridge filter would have been way better, even if you were in a rush. I've had that taste before from using hot tap water for soup and it ruined the whole pot.

the_wesley20d ago

Adam's totally right about the metal. Hot water pulls all that junk from your pipes straight into your coffee. The real killer is the time, though. Letting grounds sit in any kind of warm water for 12 hours is basically asking for every bad flavor to come out. It over-extracts like crazy. Cold water extracts slower and smoother, which is the whole point of the method. You can't speed up cold brew with heat, you just make a new, worse kind of coffee. Next time, just throw the press in the fridge with cold water the night before, even if it feels wrong.