As predicted, "He" researched like a maniac and found a Toddy Coffee Maker at Kitchen Complements downtown. I can't say I was even remotely surprised when he came home with it, yet I will admit I was a little excited too. The next step was to get some beans. Since we love Thump's Toddy-style Iced Coffee we thought what better place to stop in and grab some roasted goodness then at the place where I had first fallen in love with it? After perusing their fine selection of beans we decided to use the Sumatra Blue for our first try. The barista told us that the Sumatra Blue had a nice sweetness to it so I was really looking forward to giving it a whirl. We all know how I like natural sweetness, baby.
He ground the beans using the grinder he hates...I keep telling him to get a new one yet he keeps putting it off since we rarely use it. Maybe now that he's on the Toddy kick he'll break down and get one. Whoops...there I go again, off on a tangent. I guess I should back up and explain how the Toddy-style coffee maker works. First, you have a large glass jar that the coffee eventually drains into. On top of that is a large, handled, "vat" that has a spot for the filter to lay in, and a plug at the bottom. The nice part is that you load it up with coffee, put in the required amount of water, and place the vat on top of the glass jug, and throw it all in the fridge. Well, you don't really throw it. More like slide it in gently. Can't have that plug coming out at the wrong time now. Talk about ruining a pound of coffee! Yi, yi, yi. The mere thought makes me grow gray hairs.
Where were we?
Making Toddy coffee. We let our oh-so-tasty looking concoction sit overnight just chillin' and the next morning he removed the plug so that the concentrate could flow forth. And boy did it flow. Flowed, and flowed, and flowed some more. I think it took at least a half an hour for it all to drain. Maybe more. Eventually we were rewarded with our Toddy style coffee concentrate. He was the first to sample the results but chose to make a "hot Toddy" rather than an iced one. The coffee was good. Damn good. Both of us really liked the Sumatra Blue's flavor. Didn't need any sugar whatsoever. Since he had had such good luck I thought an iced Toddy was just what the doctor ordered. I mixed it appropriately and ran into the same problem I had at Thump. Raw sugar. My love/hate relationship with it continues. Sooo tasty and sooo natural and yet such a pain to mix. Especially when you're putting it into something cold. I can't say I enjoyed our iced Toddy coffee even half as much as Thump's. It just didn't have that magic like theirs did. I think the Sumatra may have been too strong of a coffee and thus needed more water and ice to get the right flavor down. Either way, I think drinking the Sumatra Blue "hot" is the way to go.
Between mixing it with hot water, making gelato out of it, and using it in various other recipes, the consensus was that we enjoyed our Toddy coffee. Naturally we were wanting to make a good iced coffee and came up with the brilliant idea to ask the barista's at Thump as to which beans they used for their Toddy's. Let me dazzle you with our belated brain power. The other day I happened to be in Thump and got 12 ozs. of Stumptown's Nicaragua Miraflor (Organic Fair Trade) after they told me that's what they had used--at least in their latest batch.
The finished concentrate is sitting in the jug as we speak. He made a hot coffee tonight and although it was slightly "weaker" than the Sumatra Blue, it was still quite delicious. I plan to whip up an iced Toddy tomorrow. This time I shall make a simple syrup first so as not to curse me beloved/hated Sugar in the Raw. Reporting back soon...
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