Cafe Du Monde Cold Brew

Coffee is the main obsession of my life, but my two sub obsessions are chicory coffee and cold brew in general. I have been cold brewing Grady’s cold brew chicory coffee for some time now, but I recently broke and bought myself a can of Cafe Du Monde chicory coffee.

Thanks to Amazon Prime, I ordered my coffee Sunday night and I am now drinking a 20 hour steeped cold brew this lovely Tuesday afternoon. Good thing it had free next day delivery, because I have been craving this so badly that I don’t think I could have lasted much longer. In case you missed my blog post where I first mention Cafe Du Monde, drinking this particular brand of coffee was the first time I realized that coffee could actually taste good. You never forget the first time you actually like coffee after forcing down the nasty stuff so you don’t fall asleep on your feet.

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As soon as I pulled it out of the mail, I decided to use it in my nifty new Aeropress, which will definitely be a blog post when I finally half way figure it out. Not that it’s hard, I’m just me.

The next thing I did was cold brew it. I heard that Cafe Du Monde makes amazing cold brew if done right and it’s often used for Vietnamese iced coffee, hot and iced versions.

I did a couple blog posts on cold brew and I finally found my personal favorite coffee to water ratio is 1:6, which is one part coffee grounds to six parts water. For this recipe, I used 3/4c. coffee to 5c. water. I realize that 1:6 would technically be 4 1/2c. water, but I always add that 1/2c. of extra water because the coffee absorbs some and I end up with 4 1/2 cups of cold brew, which is enough for three 12oz. servings, my personal favorite drink size. Of course you can always make more or less depending on your taste and cold brew consumption levels.

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I explain the cold brew method in my Cold Brew blog post, but this time, I took advantage of my cold brew pitcher from Pampered Chef. I love that it has a filter where you can just pour the grounds in, pour the water over them, and pull the insert out when your brew time is up. I always like to press down gently on the grounds and squeeze the last of the coffee out of them before discarding or composting them.

Waiting to try it was the hardest part! I was so excited to pour myself a glass. When you drink chicory coffee, there is often a chocolate flavor and I feel that drinking this cold brewed really brings that out. So many cold brew pitcher packs and personal cold brew attempts have turned out less than I had hoped for but this was amazing the first time! It was well worth the 20 hour wait.

One of the nicest things about this coffee is that it is ground slightly coarser. While my first time having it was on a regular coffee maker, it’s also great for other methods such as chemex, french press, and cold brew, and probably a lot of other methods that I haven’t gotten around to trying yet. So however you make your coffee, rest assured that this is going to taste great! Half the fun has been brewing this coffee different ways and seeing which flavors each method brings out.

So if you like your cold brew bold yet smooth, go order some of this amazing coffee and give it a try!

Cafe Du Monde Cold Brew Recipe

• cold brew pitcher (or regular pitcher and nut milk bag, cheese cloth, or other fine mesh strainer)
• 3/4c. Cafe Du Monde coffee grounds
• 5c. water

NOTE: We are using a 1:6 ratio here, 1 part coffee to 6 parts water, but I add an extra 1/2c. water since the grounds soak it up. The final brew will yield 4 1/2c. coffee. If you were doing 1c. coffee grounds to 6c. water to get 6c. of cold brew, you would want to throw in an extra 1/2c. water (6 1/2c. total) to get an even 6c. cold brew yield. Also, feel free to add more or less coffee to your liking. Experiment until you find your perfect brew ratio.

Cold Brew Pitcher method:

Pour the coffee grounds into the strainer and gently pour the water over the grounds. Make sure all the grounds are submerged in water before placing it in the fridge to brew 12-24 hours. 18-20 hours is my personal preference. When the brewing time is up, gently lift the strainer up out of the pitcher and press down on the wet grounds to get some of the water out and into the brew. Discard or compost your grounds and enjoy your delicious cold brew with your favorite syrups and creamers.

Regular pitcher method:

If using a regular pitcher and strainer, pour the coffee grounds and water into the pitcher and give the slurry a good mix before placing the pitcher in the fridge. Brew for 12-24 hours. When you’re ready to strain the grounds out, place your strainer of choice (cheesecloth, a nut milk bag, or a fine mesh metal strainer are all great options.) over a pitcher of equal size and slowly pour in the coffee/water mix from the other pitcher. Wring the last of the water out of the grounds before discarding or composting them and enjoy your cold brew with your favorite coffee add ins.