When it comes to coffee, my line has always been "I had a cup of coffee once, it was in 1976." Truly that was the only time I had coffee and it was because I had taken one of my mother's strong muscle relaxers.

However, that changed almost a year ago. I saw Pioneer Women cold brewing coffee to make a a gallon of concentrate for ice coffee. I thought it was time to grow up so I tried it and have been on a 24 oz tumbler full of iced coffee daily routine.

DISCLAIMER: Of course mine is ultra-sweet and a hard coffee drinking friend told me that this isn't REAL coffee.

WEEKLY: To the gallon of concentrate I add one cup of Stevia, half a bottle of sugar-free amaretto coffee syrup, and refrigerate the concoction.

DAILY: Mid-morning I pour the coffee into a 24 ounce tumbler half full of ice then add about 1/4 cup of almond flavored creamer to the tumbler full of coffee.

Two months ago when in Sarasota (closest Trader Joe's) I bought 2 bottles of TJ Cold Brew Coffee to try since it wasn't as time consuming as Pioneer Women's process.

The cold brew from my own ground beans is a tad better but I am buying into the TJ concentrate for convenience and have since bought 4 more bottles.

My evaluation of cold brew doesn't carry much weight since I am very far away from a coffee connoisseur,

Here is a link that might be useful: Coffee Syrup

Since it doesn't take any special equipment to make it, just try it and find out if you like it. I tried it but wasn't really impressed. I found it to be more trouble than just brewing a pot.

DH tried it and was similarly underwhelmed.

For a few years, Starbucks used to make this (coffee toddy) for use in their iced coffee drinks. I never liked the results and always had them pull shots for mine. I think they no longer do it; maybe others complained about the taste, too.

Like Arley and Colleen, I tried it once because it supposedly makes a less acidic brew and I'm supposed to be on a low acid diet. I was underwhelmed, not really that tasty, and I like a dark roast taste. I stick with low acid beans now. Oddly, coffee doesn't really bother me but tea does, and I love tea so go figure. I am now a coffee drinker after years of doing just tea. I just use an instant hot water pot and a cone filter.

The Toddy system is just that: you take a container which has a filter and a drain hole in the bottom, add 12 oz of coffee and a certain amount of cold water, allow it to 'brew' for 24 hours then drain the concentrate into the carafe.

I do use this on occasion, although my standard daily coffee is a generous amount of Community dark roast brewed in an automatic drip machine (Cuisinart) into a thermal carafe.

Advantages of the Toddy cold brew system: the coffee is extremely smooth. If you find regular coffee is too rough on your stomach, it might be worth a try. However, do note that while a lot of the acids are left out of the concentrate, just about all of the caffeine is there. So you might have four or five cups of this smooth coffee and wonder why you're still awake at 3 a.m.

If you're an intermittent coffee drinker, you can take the concentrate and freeze it in ice cube trays, storing the cubes in a plastic bag. When you want a coffee, just throw a cube or two into a mug of boiling water. That's useful also if you want to have access to an occasional cup of specialty coffee (decaf, flavored) but don't really want to make a whole pot.

You don't get the 'burnt' aroma of strong coffee. Some people like that, others don't.

If you like iced coffee, this is a no brainer: take the concentrate and add ice water and/or sugar.

You can make your own 'Kahlua' by adding sugar and vodka to the concentrate.

All in all, I'm glad I have the Toddy system although I don't use it every day.

Here is a link that might be useful: toddy coffee

Thank you for all the input which I will pass along to DH. My DS loves coffee but it kills his stomach. He loves the caffeine : )

I've also tried the cold brew coffee, both my girls like the super sweet iced coffee concoctions. I don't like my coffee iced and didn't care for the cold brew stuff after it was heated up.

Cathy, I drink my coffee hot always and black usually, but occasionally I splurge on a "mocha". My old boss used to call it a "hot milkshake".

Annie

Yeah, this low acid thing for me is really weird. It's like some acids bother me and some don't. I scrupulously avoided tomatoes, acidic fruits, caffeine, chocolate, etc. due to avoiding both caffeine and acid to help my bladder condition. Then after a while I realized that there was no need to avoid some of those things since the moderate amount I ate did not cause me a problem. Caffeine doesn't seem to bother me either, which is totally counterintuitive! And coffee doesn't bother my bladder which also seems counterintuitive based on how it affects some people's stomaches. But tea, which is supposedly so "healthy" with the anti-oxidants, and a beverage I love to death, that bothers me! Go figure! So now I have to drink coffee for my hot beverage, which I don't much care for. Also oddly, Coke doesn't bother me either. But diet soda of any kind, awful reaction! Of course diet soda is an awful chemical brew anyway, but I did like an occasional diet Coke or diet ginger ale, or diet 7-Up as a mixer. No more!

I'm like Annie, I don't like cold coffee. I don't know why either. I like the IDEA of cold coffee in the summer, but I have tried to acquire a taste for it and I just can't. I think it is because I just don't care for sweet drinks and black cold coffee is even less appealing to me than hot coffee. I felt the same way about tea, I only liked it hot, even though I could stomach the idea of cold tea better than cold coffee, again, for reasons that baffled me. But anyway, I can totally see using cold brewed coffee as a base for cold coffee beverages in the summer. It also might be good for folks who don't like a strong coffee taste. I am an espresso fan so for me, it just didn't work.

Here's another method that is supposed to reduce acid and bitterness. I'm not much of a coffee drinker, but found the method interesting enough to put in my "Book of Odd Knowledge". -Grainlady

WHOLE BEAN COFFEE

Place 2 T. whole coffee beans per 6-ounces boiling water in a Thermos. Lay on side for 1-hour. Coffee is lighter in color and no bitterness.

I love cold brewed iced coffee - first tasted it at caribou coffee several years ago and it is still my favorite iced coffee. Last summer I purchased a hario for making iced coffee at home - it works fairly well, produces a non bitter, smooth cup of iced coffee. I agree with other posters it only costs time and a little money in coffee to try cold brewing yourself, so I would definitely try it.
This summer I have been more into drinking iced lattes. A few months ago I was able to purchase a pricey cappuccino machine at about 1/7th the normal price. So I just fill my cup with ice and pour two shots of espresso over it. Then DH had bought a shake mixer similar to this at the goodwill. I had banished it to a closet and off my counters until I realized it does a really good job of frothing milk. So I pour the frothed milk over the iced espresso and it makes a pretty good iced latte in the morning.

Here is a link that might be useful: hario