I love cold-brew coffee. I’m pretty sure I was introduced to the concept through boingboing a couple years ago.
But when I tried it myself in a big jar, I don’t know what I did wrong but it didn’t really work… it tasted bitter and weak. I used the right ratio, and I used good coffee, and I left it for 12-15 hours.
You can get premade cold-brew concentrate in bottles; Whole Foods has had it for a while and Trader Joe’s came out with their version a few months ago which is really rather good. Unfortunately it’s a bit expensive, though doing it yourself with good quality coffee isn’t really much cheaper.
My point is that if you try it and you don’t like it, it might not have worked quite right. Try the one from Trader Joe’s to find out how it should taste, then experiment until you get it right.
Also, the iced coffee at some coffee shops is cold-brew. Stumptown Coffee offers it, as well as lots of indie coffee shops I’m sure. I’ve had plenty of good iced coffee that was made hot though - like Vietnamese iced coffee, which I got hooked on when I lived in Little Saigon.
