When you think of French Presses you think of hot. fresh ground coffee first thing in the morning. But during the Summer, other than storing it away in the cupboard, what do you do on those days when you could fry eggs on the sidewalk (or poach them here in Ottawa on Tundra)?
Surprisingly French Presses are quite versatile. Here are a couple of ways to use them on those hot dog days of August.
Cold Pressed Coffee
- 1 – 8 cup French Press
- 12 – cups worth of fresh ground coffee (about 12 tbsp in my case)
- Enough cold, cold water to fill the pot
- Put the coffee in the bottom of the pot
- Fill with cold water
- Put the press lid back on
- Leave on the back of the counter for 12 – 18 hours depending on how strong you want the coffee
- Press the coffee and store in the refrigerator (I use pint sealer jars as they are just the right size to add sugar and ice cubes to and walk away)
Note: it makes no difference if you leave the coffee to ‘steep’ on the back of the counter or put the whole rig in the fridge!
Pressed Ice Tea
- 1 – 8 cup French Press
- 6 – Tea Bags
- Enough hot, hot water to fill the press
- Add the tea bags to the press
- Fill with hot water
- Put the press lid back on
- Leave to steep for about a half hour (should be black as night in the press)
- Press the plunger to push the bags to the very bottom of the press
- Pour into your iced tea jug
- Add sugar and / or lemon
- Add cold water to fill your iced tea jug (unless you like really strong iced tea)
- Refrigerate until chilled
There, your French Press can have a second life during the Summer and the results are marvelous. Here in the house we tend to run out of tea bags on a regular basis as the iced tea has a habit of disappearing as soon as it has chilled.
Enjoy!