toddy for the party

When the weather starts to heat up, my coffee needs to cool down.  Over the years I have fine tuned, and dare I say, perfected my iced coffee method.  The secret is in using a cold brewing method or toddy coffee.  I don't care how you try to sell it to me, you simply can not chill a hot cup of coffee to get great tasting iced coffee and don't even try to give me that 'just make ice cubes out of coffee' bullshit.

The toddy method is so simple.  I use the Filtron and you can find it here.   It comes with everything you need to get started.   
                                 
You fill up the bottom container with 1 pound coarsely ground coffee and a filter pad.  You can use any kind of beans.  In fact, I usually use a less expensive brand roasted any which way.   Definitely save the best stuff  for the French press.  The beauty of this brewing method is that it results in a cup that is super low in acidity and very mild.  I have even used Chock Full O Nuts or Dunkin Donuts brand and ended up with a winner.  You plug up the bottom of the container with the included stopper.  I would like to mention that by some miracle we have not lost this tiny stopper in almost 5 years!  Although, now that I have just typed that sentence I think I can hear the stopper getting up, packing a bag, and leaving town never to be seen or heard from again.
Fill the top compartment with cold water. It has a teeny tiny whole in the bottom and as you leave it on the counter overnight it slowly drip drips into the grounds and hangs out there brewing the coffee concentrate.
When you get up in the morning and stumble down to the kitchen, remove the stopper and set the container full of coffee and water over a carafe and let all the goodness drain out.  What you now have is a delicious concentrate of delicious coffee.  You can do whatever you want with this concentrate.  It keeps in the fridge for about 6 weeks.  You can add water to it and make a cup of hot or iced coffee. You can add lots of milk and a little water to it and make kind of an iced latte, which is what I do every morning and some afternoons once the temp hits about 70 degrees.  Seriously, you should try this.  

the grounds in the bottom container

I realize this is not a pretty picture

draining the concentrate 

my drink