Good morning!  I wonder if anyone reading this post shares my love of all things coffee? I have a feeling many of you probably do.  Well, today I decided that I am going to tell you all about one of my new favorite summertime things!  My friend, Kristin, introduced me to the concept of a "toddy" a few summers ago.  I was staying at her house in Nebraska on one of my trips home to visit my people and she made me a delicious, creamy, scrumptious toddy every morning I was there.  Talk about spoiling me rotten!  After the first one, I was hooked. Somehow I waited until this summer to finally start making them at home myself. Let's just say the $40 investment of the toddy brew system has been well worth it!  Kristin actually just used a plastic container and some coffee filters, and I'm not even exactly sure how she did it....but I decided to go the easier route because, well... I'm just lazier than she is.  LoL!  But seriously.   For her method, please go look on Pinterest because I'm certain there will be directions on how to do it will be there.  But for the easy way out, please continue reading :) 

First, you'll need a full 12 oz. bag of coffee beans.  Place some of the beans in a grinder and grind them up coarsely. They should look more chunky than the usual finely ground coffee beans you wold buy. The reason for this is to help keep the filter from clogging. I had to grind and them dump the grounds in a big bowl 3-4 times to get all of the beans in the bag ground up because my grinder is not very big. 

The next step is to add water and coffee grounds to the brewing container as explained above.  The process is water, coffee, water, coffee, water.  Once it is all in there and all the grounds are wet, you literally let it sit on your counter for up to 24 hours.  

   

Here it is, just chillin' and brewin'

After 12-24 hours you get out the handy dandy glass decanter that comes as part of the system and you set the brewing container on top of it.  Then you just  pull out the stopper in the bottom of the container and let the coffee concentrate completely drain into the decanter.  This only takes a few minutes. 

Lastly, place the lid on the decanter and put it in the fridge where it will stay fresh for up to 2 weeks.! Whenever you are wanting to make yourself a toddy, just pull it out and use it. Now that's convenient!  There are so many things you can do with the finished coffee concentrate! You can make cappuccinos, lattes, mochas and even just regular black coffee.  The difference in cold brewed coffee as opposed to hot brewed coffee is that is lessens the acidity and bitterness of the coffee which makes for a smoother & bolder tasting finished product.... and I love it!  The coffee concentrate is very strong, so you'll want to dilute it with water, milk, cream, etc.  You can totally try different things and make it your own. My favorite concoction so far is vanilla iced coffee.  I take a mason jar and start by filling it with ice.  I then fill it half way with coffee concentrate and then 3/4 of the way with water.  I leave some room at the top to add half and half and a splash of vanilla coffee syrup.  I pop in a straw and stir it up and I have a delightfully cool drink to sip on. One thing I really like is because the coffee is already cold when you add it to the cup, the ice does not melt quickly.  It stays icy and creamy the whole time....not watered down. When Kristin made them for me, she just did coffee concentrate and the international delight coldstone sweet cream creamer over ice. No water or anything. It was SO good!  Corey enjoys black coffee using the concentrate. For that, we fill a mug half way up with concentrate and half way with water and then microwave it for a minute or two until it reaches a desired temperature. You can then add cream if you wish or just drink it black. Either way, you have a nice, smooth cup of joe!  

Mmmm... doesn't that look good?! I have found that iced toddys are such a refreshing way to drink coffee during the hot and muggy summer months! These have been a real treat for me and I've also enjoyed making them for other people just like Kristin made them for me.  If you decide to give cold brew coffee a try for yourselves, I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do!