July 9, 2020

by drplasticpicker

I brought my cold brew coffee concentrate to the office yesterday. I reused a sauce jar and made sure it did not have any pungent smells in it, but the lid was not the tightest fit. So I carefully put it in my lunchbag but had to make sure to carry it the right way so it would not spill. It made it to clinic and I put my repurposed glass jar in the office fridge. We have a new office fridge. The old fridge had been there since the clinic’s opening over 20 years ago.

The major motivation for making cold brew coffee concentrate is to make hot coffee at the office. It is #plasticfreejuly. This is when the internet and my instagram community, try to reduce our plastic use. I had heard of this challenge over the last few years, but I was not an active partcipant. But this year I have been on FIRE, not Financially Independent Retire Early FIRE but an environmental climate crisis global warmining kind of FIRE. I’ve made home made vegan black bean burgers, home-made french fries, and now cold brew coffee concentrate. Finally finally after a decade of addiction to instant coffee packets that I bought by the hundreds – I am done with them.

The caffeine content of cold brew coffee concentrate is likely similar to instant brewed coffee, but I was a bit too buzzed yesterday. I will need to play around with the ratios. Below is a pretty infograph about caffeine content so that I can refer back to it. Mr. Plastic Picker has been drinking decaffeinated coffee which is good as there is much less caffeine. Look at those energy drinks! I have never consumed those but they are not good for you! Beware my teen patients.

To make my Cold Brew Coffee I used an old Crimson French Press that I’ve had since college. It’s kind of silly because all I did was watch a hipster millenial guy measure out some coffee grounds, pour cold water it it from a fancy cup and mix with a wooden spoon. I am not endorsing any specific videos, so you can google “How To Make Cold Brew Coffee” and there are plenty of choices. Here is what I did.

How Dr. PP Made Cold Brew Coffee

1. Went to Crimson University and saved up enough “extra dining bucks” to buy a Crimson French Press at the end of Sophomore Year.
2. Store Crimson French Press for 20 years and lugged it around from East Coast to West Coast moves.
3. Became Dr. Plastic Picker who abhors single-use plastic and joins #plasticfreejuly
4. Take out French Press and clean it.
5. Put in 1 cup of cheap Folgers ground coffee, and put in 2 cups of cold water.
6. Mix with fancy wooden spoon because that is what the hipster guy did.
7. Place French Press with lid (but don’t do the French Press yet!). Leave on the kitchen counter for 12-24 hours.
8. Take pictures and use it for several posts, because Dr. Plastic Picker is now super hip and more hip than the hipsters. https://drplasticpicker.com/cold-brew-coffee-did-you-finish-your-living-trust-will/
9. I forgot about it and it was 24 hours! Press down the French Press.
10. Decant the liquid into a cool reusable glass jar, but make sure there is no kimchi smell in it!
11. Store it in the fridge.
12. Put some more water in the grounds that are left and do it again! Because why not!!! I want to save money and plastic.
13. Bring the original mix to clinic and left it in the fridge.
14. Made a cup for Nurse L by using 2oz of cold brew coffee concentrate, mix with 4oz of water and microwave for 90 seconds. Stir it for him.
15. He drank one cup, and I drank one cup yesterday and we were both happy and buzzed. We saved $2 bucks each but more importantly saved a single use plastic cup at the most and at the least a little piece of single-use packet that was so addictive and wasteful.

So that is it! That is the Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate hack that #plasticfreejuly motivated me to find. And this is my new favorite mug at work. I’m not sure whose mug it actually belongs to, but I wash it well after I use it. But it’s the perfect size because I actually don’t drink that much coffee. As you can see lots of cream and sugar. And indeed the best time for coffee is NOW, but especially after morning clinic so that I can drive home fully awake. I get tired sometimes and have been really sleep sometimes on the drive home which is dangerous. But now I have Cold Brew Concentrate!

Next ideas for #plasticfreejuly is Mr. Plastic Picker’s addiction to kettle corn and a real salt and pepper grinder, so we stop buying those fancy Kirkland Brand/Costco ones that area actually single-use. Maybe pizza dough this weekend!