Cold Brew Mint Julep

cold brew mint julep

As a Louisvillian, it is a little disappointing to type "mint julep" in a text message and not be greeted with a cute little mint julep emoji in the autocorrect line. Sure, we have bourbon 🥃 and horse racing 🐎...but if you combine the two on the first Saturday of May, you getGarden & Gun's Southern Emojis Say It Best – Garden & Gun. Thanks Garden and Gun for the mint julep emoji.

In all honestly, the statistics would probably show that at least 75% of the mint juleps consumed in Kentucky happen to be sold on Derby Day. There are better ways to enjoy your bourbon (old fashioned, boulevardier, on the rocks, neat...to name a few), but on Derby Day at least one mint julep is compulsory.

In fact, with the start of Derby week, we start thinking about mint juleps early in the week...like before 10am on Monday. But you can't start drinking mint juleps then, so we developed a Cold Brew Mint Julep to satisfy the craving. We shared a sample of this recipe with our fine neighbors over at Trouble Bar and collectively decided it was a delightfully refreshing drink to sip any time of the day.

Cold Brew Mint Julep

Ingredients

  • 4 ounces Cold Brew concentrate (really, you should follow this recipe)
  • 2 ounces of cold water
  • 1/2 ounce mint simple syrup (recipe below)
  • 1 barspoon honey
  • 3 sprigs of fresh mint
  • crushed ice (we like the tea towel technique)

Method

  • Mint Simple Syrup
    • Combine 4 ounces of hot water, 4 ounces of white sugar, and 1.5 ounces ( approximately 6 sprigs of mint).
    • Stir to dissolve sugar and let steep for 8 minute.
    • Strain into a clean jar and refrigerate.
  • In a separate glass, combine cold brew, cold water, mint simple syrup, and honey and stir to combine.
  • In the drinking glass, place 2 sprigs of fresh mint in the glass and gently muddle.
  • Fill glass to the top with crushed ice.
  • Top with the cold brew/water/simple syrup mixture
  • Garnish with remaining sprig of mint.

Variation

For an even more refreshing and sparkling drink, you can add some carbonation using a soda siphon.

  • Add 2 sprigs of mint to the siphon and gently muddle.
  • Add cold brew, cold water, mint simple syrup, and honey to the siphon.
  • Charge siphon, and carefully release the majority of the gas.
  • Fill drinking glass to the top with crushed ice.
  • Top with the mixture from the siphon.
  • Garnish with remaining sprig of mint.

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Fancy Instant Coffee Is Even Better Than You Think

instant coffee camping

Like many people, my thirties have been a journey of embracing things I rejected in my youth: living in the suburbs, driving a van, wearing cargo shorts. The motivations on this journey are a mixed bag. I grudgingly settled on a Honda Odyssey because my life would be impossible without a car that seats my entire family. Conversely, I discovered that I genuinely love Buffalo wings, which I previously rejected as “lame.” My twenty-year-old self cared if a food was in vogue but my thirty year old self could not care less, and I am better off for it.

There is one special case that is different from the others, and it is undoubtedly my most important mid-thirties discovery: instant coffee. My re-discovery of instant coffee is unique for me because I’m not settling for it and I’m also not reconsidering it as my tastes have changed. My tastes for amazing coffee have remained consistent, but instant coffee has become something entirely new. The instant coffee I’ve recently fallen in love with is not like the Folger’s crystals I’ve rejected my entire life, it is a new breed of instant coffee that is legitimately good.  It’s made with better coffee and goes through a process that preserves more flavor. This is instant coffee that I drink on a daily basis even when I have top-shelf whole bean available in my house. 

Here’s what I love about it:

  1. Flavor. Honestly just very delicious coffee, full stop. New-wave instant coffee does not taste identical to a brewed version of the same bean, and I am totally fine with that. Espresso doesn’t taste like brewed coffee either, even when diluted to the same concentration. To me, instant is a brew method just like any other and it puts its own “spin” on any coffee that goes through the process.  I find that the instantizing imparts a characteristic flavor of chocolate and unrefined sugar.  I find the flavor delightful and don’t think that it obscures the uniqueness of the coffee itself.
  2. Convenience. Hard to overstate this. When I have this instant on hand I drink like 8 cups of it per day because nothing is stopping me from making a cup. I like my coffee relatively cool (~140 degrees) so I make mine with hot tap water and it take about 10 seconds. It is also awesome for special circumstances; obviously camping but also silently making coffee when kids are napping.
  3. Brewing Possibilities. I believe this is an under-appreciated element. Messing up a pourover or espresso is so easy, but it is virtually impossible to mess up a cup of instant. The ease of dialing in the concentration of this coffee is great but it can also be used to make iced lattes or integrated into a smoothie. So, quite the opposite of a step-down from “real coffee,” I see this instant coffee as a new brew method that opens up possibilities for how coffee can be used. 

I am fully sold on this. I’ve been drinking Good Folks’ Instant since the test batches and have never grown tired of it. I love sharing some with an uninitiated friend and seeing the realization on their face when they first taste it.  I see a whole world where instant coffee is de-stigmatized and good coffee becomes accessible in new places. Every hotel, every office can have great coffee now.  I think there can and will be entire coffee shops with no brewing equipment—just hot water and instant coffee and all of the possibility in the world.

Try it for yourself

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Coffee Soda At Home (Recipe)

I love coffee. Coffee and I have been through a lot together. Coffee is always there, meeting my need for a warm, tasty beverage. Is there anything coffee can’t do?

Well...Yes. Because as much as I love coffee, sometimes I’m in the mood for sweet, crisp, refreshing soda. Soda has been there for me long before I knew coffee.  Soda has been at every childhood (and adulthood) birthday party. Soda has been there for every ill-judged late-night McDonalds visit. Soda is the shoulder-devil to coffee’s shoulder-angel.

What if I could combine coffee and soda into a morally neutral shoulder-being? Would I become unstoppable? Possibly.  

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What is a Coffee Cupping?

What is a Coffee Cupping?

If you ever walk by our roastery and hear obnoxious loud sounds of people sipping and slurping, we’re probably in the middle of a coffee cupping session. We cup coffees several times every week to achieve a handful of goals. But before I tell you why we cup, I should at least give you a loose definition of cupping and highlight the process.

So here goes: In the purest form, cupping is the method we use to

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How To Make The Best Cold Brew Coffee

How To Make The Best Cold Brew Coffee
We used to lovingly talk about "Cold Brew Season" as the warmer months of the year. You know, the time when a cool drink over ice sounds refreshingly delicious. Gone are those days. Cold brew is now an all-year drink for most folks...

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