How to Save $150 a Month — and Feed Your Coffee Addiction
Everything tastes better when someone else makes it for you…until now.
You know about pour-overs. You know about Keurigs and Nespressos. But — do you know how to make your own legendary cold brew from the comfort of your own home?
Let me tell you, my friends. This will change your life — it sounds dramatic and petty, but I’m not kidding.
Quarantine calls for small comforts, like a really, really good cup of coffee.
Raise your hand if you drink more than one cup of coffee per day.
Raise your hand if you drink more than one cup of coffee per hour.
Are you a teacher? You might be, if you raised your hand twice.
For me, the Starbucks addiction started early.
In High School, if you were cool, you had a cup of coffee with you in first period — and you might even have one with you after lunch, to prove you were able to go off campus.
I’ll never forget the day my friend had a T-9 fail (remember those keyboards on cell phones?!) and asked me to get him “dark smart” instead of “dark roast”.
Did I want to be broke? Apparently. I just couldn’t get enough of the store-made stuff. I tried drinking it black like my Dad, and honestly I didn’t like it — which really meant I didn’t like coffee, but hey! I wanted to be cool!
During quarantine, I’m sure most of us would kill for a cuppa that someone else made for us — while I am all for supporting local businesses, sometimes you have to take matters into your own hands, and your hands out of your wallet.
Doesn’t everything taste better when someone else makes it for you?
In this case — no!
As a girl who spent way too much money on store bought coffee and acted like she was rich (spoiler alert: she wasn’t), I’m spilling the magic, the tea — or in this case, the beans.
Even if you usually make your own coffee, you might want to switch it up, because the recipe I’m about to share packs more caffeine per cup — which half of you will love, and, post-coffee drinking, the other half will be up for two days cursing this post.
If you’re the latter, don’t worry, I’ve got a solution for that, too.
It’s all extremely easy, and you just need three ingredients:
- Coarse-ground coffee (so that it doesn’t seep through the filter)
- A coffee filter, or filtration system (keep scrolling, don’t worry)
- A container you can put water in (like a mason jar or a pitcher) — you can even use your beloved French press.
More caffeine, more fun!
You can grind the beans in a food processor (I even did mine in a blender, the blender is fine, and the beans are coarse, don’t worry) — in a pinch!
Or, you can order some already ground from Amazon for the price you’d pay for an entire cup at a coffee shop.
While you’re at it, you can also order a pitcher like I did that will make this incredibly easy, or you can use a container you have at home with a coffee filter — I’ve even seen it done with a large mason jar. The pitcher pays for itself within a few uses, so I didn’t even mind that part.
You need to:
- Put about 10–15 tablespoons of coffee (or whatever will fit) into a coffee filter, or your filter pitcher. You don’t really want to pack it, because you want the water to flow through.
- Gather and tie off the coffee filter with a band or some string so you now have a coffee pod to put in your container. If you have the pitcher, screw the filter piece into the lid.
- Fill the container or pitcher 3/4 of the way with cool water.
- Pop the pod/pitcher filter gently into the water so that it is floating.
- Shake/stir gently and leave it in your fridge for 12–36 hours depending on how strong you’d like your cold brew!
The idea is that it brews longer, it’s stronger, and I can actually taste the “notes” in the coffee — a term which I thought meant absolutely nothing until now, because this removes a lot of that bitter “yuck” you can get with hot-brewed coffee.
When it’s time to take it out:
If you’re using the pitcher, give it a good shake to saturate the grounds (it’s good to do this a few times during the 12–36 hours it’s brewing, too), untwist the filter and replace the lid, and you have cold brew ready to go!
If you are using a jar or your own container, take the coffee pod out, check for any pieces you might need to strain out if you used regular instead of coarse ground coffee, and voila!
You can store it in the fridge for up to a week, but mine has never made it that long because, as you can tell, I am an addict.
How to make cold brew in a French press:
- You’ll need the same ingredients as mentioned above.
- Place the coffee grinds into your French press.
- Add room temperature or cool water.
- Put the press plunger on top of the grinds and water (but do not actually press down yet!) and put it in your refrigerator for the same 12–36 hours mentioned above.
- Gently swirl it around a couple of times during this “brewing” process if possible.
- When you’re ready to take it out, press the plunger down over the grounds so they are pushed to the bottom of the container.
- French press cold brew is yours!
Warning!
It does have more caffeine due to the way it is brewed, but it’s also less acidic. That’s great news in case you have a sensitive stomach.
Just add water.
No, seriously, add water. I make mine with about 1 part coffee, 1 part water/ice, or maybe a little less depending on how strong I want it.
Make it how you want it:
Add ice, milk, creamer, stevia, monk fruit, sugar, cinnamon — you name it!
Make it your own, make it delicious, and make it for way less than a store-bought coffee addiction!
And… finally, you have something that tastes just as good — if not better — than when someone else makes it for you.
Raise your hand if you read this while sipping on some coffee, or had to go grab some before finishing this article.
What’s your favorite way to make coffee?
Do you think you’ll try some homemade cold brew?
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Full disclosure: -Links may be affiliate but are not sponsored. If I am suggesting them, I have personally purchased these products and love them! -I am not a doctor or health professional, so any claims are my own opinion based on informed research.
