Rather than brewing ground coffee the traditional way, cold-brew creates a coffee concentrate by steeping the coffee grounds in cold or room temperature water, for 12 hours and up to twice that if you like strong coffee. Starbucks steeps their cold-brew for 20 hours.

For this reason, cold-brew is pricier than a regular brew. But it’s easy to steep at home. The benefits:

 
But cold-brew isn’t a new invention. We’ve been making it for 20 years with a Coffee Toddy (photo #3). We keep the concentrate in the fridge, ready to create iced coffee with water and ice cubes. Producing hot coffee is just as delicious, and an easy way to prepare coffee for a group.

For those who prefer convenience, bottles of cold-brew coffee concentrate ready to turn into hot or iced coffee, as well as individual ready-to-drink bottles of cold-brew, are sold at better stores from coast to coast.
 

THE HISTORY OF COLD BREW COFFEE

In the late 1960s, a garden nursery owner and chemist named Todd Simpson was on a plant-gathering trip to Guatemala, when he was served a delicious cup of coffee made from concentrate. Impressed, he developed the Toddy cold-brew coffee maker in his garage (source).
 
Kyoto-Style Japanese Coffee

But wait: While doing research, we discovered Kyoto-style Japanese coffee, a cold brew that originated in the 1600s. Thus, according to Daily Coffee News, cold brew coffee originated in Japan four centuries before Todd Simpson came across it in Guatemala.

Coffee in Japan in the 1600s?

It turns out that Dutch traders needed their coffee. Back in the 1600s, there was no electricity; coffee was brewed by dripping hot water through the grounds.

Cold-dripped or hot-dripped coffee concentrate—“coffee essence”—would have been a means of transporting prepared coffee to be heated and consumed on-board. The traders brought the technique to Japan, where it became known as Dutch coffee.

Japanese artisans created elegant, tall glass brewing towers that were popularized at shops in Kyoto, Japan, the earliest record of cold-brew coffee.

Over the centuries, Kyoto-style brews have become highly artistic. Instead of submerging grounds for hours, the coffee is brewed drop by drop. A single bead of water is let down through the coffee grounds at a time, creating a process that takes just as much time as using a Toddy, and beautiful to watch.

As the Japanese were cold-brewing tea at that time, the process was in place to cold-brew coffee (source).

How extensively was the technique used beyond Japan? The record is not clear; but in days before electricity, when tending fires and boiling water was a lot of work, cold-brewing may have been a method used in coffee-drinking elsewhere.

[2] The Takeya system is less smaller than the Toddy and produces less coffee concentrate, but it easily fits on a refrigerator door.

[3] The latest version of the original Coffee Toddy, the first device in the U.S. to make cold brew coffee (photo © Toddy Cafe).

[5] The first canned coffee with an English-language label (photo © AsianFoodGrocer).

[6] Straight from the supermarket: a bottle of cold brew concentrate (photo © Seaworth Coffee).

According to an extensive article in The Guardian, there are indications that cold-brew coffee might have first been made in Peru, Guatemala or Java. But the documentation is sparse.

Some of the earliest documented coffee concentrates originated as military rations.

The Americans, the French and the Brits all simmered down a coffee concentrate for soldiers to reconstitute in the field.

 
Why did it take centuries for coffee concentrate to become widely popular, at coffee shops and the shelf-stable, ready-to-drink brewed coffee and concentrates in stores?

The breakthrough, according to The Guardian, happened in Japan in the late 1960s.

At that time, canned flavored milk, including coffee-flavored milk, was popular in Japan at that time. Businessman Ueshima Tadao thought to flip the ingredient ratio into a can of coffee with just a small amount of milk and sugar. He subsequently created a black coffee version.

Thus, the final chapter of cold-coffee history was made by Ueshima Coffee Co., Ltd.; although it took a decade for UCC Coffee With Milk to really catch on.

Shortly thereafter, in the 1970s, Italian coffee giant Illy introduced ready-to-drink black coffee in a can. The concept continued to expand until…well…check out the bottled coffees and concentrates on the shelves of the nearest market.
 
 
MORE ABOUT COFFEE

The word is a transposition from the Arabic shurb, a cool drink.

In the U.K. today, shrubs are popular fruity vinegar tonics. But they have not yet achieved a level of awareness in the U.S., even when called “drinking vinegar,” a modern term for the syrup that can be used to make cocktails and cocktails.

Perhaps ten years ago, we were in the Japanese pavilion at a restaurant industry trade show and first encountered “drinking vinegar.” It was an exquisite shot for an after dinner drink: sweet and tart, complex, exciting.

We treasured the bottles we picked up at the show, bringing them to dinners with connoisseur friends, where they were greatly appreciated. Then they were gone, and we moved on. We couldn’t find it for sale, and didn’t realize how easy it was to make it at home.

But drinking vinegar moved on too, as vinegar-based shrub drinks began to be revived around 2011—on a limited basis at trendy bars and restaurants in the U.S., Canada and London.

The acidity of a shrub makes it a fine digestif* or used as an alternative to bitters in cocktails.
 
 
TYPES OF SHRUBS

There two different types of shrubs, both acidulated mixed drinks:

 
 
THE MODERN SHRUB: DRINKING VINEGAR

Shrubs date to the 17th century (see the history of shrubs below). Fresh fruits were steeped in vinegar and sugar, and infused anywhere from overnight up to several days. The fruit solids were then strained out to create a sweet-and-tart concentrate that was mixed with spirits, water or sparkling water.

Beyond mixology, today’s cooks also add “drinking vinegar” to sauces and salad dressings. We’ve drizzled them on lemon sorbet and rice pudding.
 
 
MAKE YOUR OWN SHRUBS

You can buy artisan shrub syrups at specialty foods stores, but they tend to be pricey, like any top-quality drink mixer. You can find bottled shrub syrup in flavors like Apple, Ginger and Strawberry as well as compound flavors such as Apple Caraway, Blood Orange Cardamom, Blood Orange Ginger, Meyer Lemon Lavender, Smoked Spiced Pear, Watermelon Habanero (these compound flavors from Kansas City Canning Co.).

But it costs very little to make your own.

Some people use the ratio of one part fruit, one part sugar and one part vinegar for shrub syrup; but these proportions should vary according to the sweetness of the fruit. If the fruit is particularly sweet, you could cut back on the sugar and increase the fruit ratio.

Think seasonally: berries and stone fruits in the summer; apples, pears and quince in the fall; blood oranges and grapefruits in the winter; strawberries, blackberries and pineapple in the spring.

While apple cider vinegar is traditional, go beyond it to champagne vinegar, sherry vinegar and flavored vinegar (see the different types of vinegar and how to pair vinegars and foods).
 
 
TO MAKE A SHRUB, combine 1 pound chopped fruit, 2 cups sugar and 2 cups apple cider or other vinegar.

Use the instructions below. For an apple shrub, we cut back on the sugar.

RECIPE: APPLE CIDER SHRUB

Prep time is 5 minutes plus 3-5 days infusing time.

Ingredients For 3/4 Quart

[1] A strawberry shrub (photo courtesy Quinciple). [2] We’re particularly fond of pineapple shrub (photo courtesy Del Monte). [3] In the summer, use stone fruits for your shrubs (photo courtesy Frog Hollow Farms). [4] Beyond apple cider vinegar, consider vinegars flavored with fruit, herbs and spices like these from Boyajian. [5] A bottle of watermelon-habanero shrub from Kansas City Canning Co. (photo © Laura Noll Photography).

 
Preparation

1. DICE the apples into very small pieces and place in a quart-size mason jar. Add the vinegar and sugar, and the herb sprigs. If there’s room at the top of the jar, add a few more splashes of vinegar.

2. CAP the jar tightly and shake it a few times to blend in the sugar. Place the jar in the fridge for 3-5 days, shaking once or twice.

3. TASTE the shrub after three days. If you like the intensity of flavor, strain out the fruit, first pressing the fruit with the back of the spoon to get all of the juice. Then, store the shrub in an airtight container. Otherwise, let it infuse for two more days.

4. SERVE: Pour the shrub over ice and mix with sparkling water or make a cocktail. Or try it as a shot: We did, and really liked it.
 
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*A digestif is an alcoholic beverage served after a meal, in theory to aid digestion. Digestifs are usually taken straight, and include brandy, distilled spirits, eaux de vie (fruit brandy, Schnapps), fortified wine (madeira, port, sweet vermouth), grappa and liqueur. Here’s the difference between apéritif and digestif.

†Carbonated water was first created in 1767 by British chemist Joseph Priestley, but was not manufactured commercially until J. J. Schweppe did so in 1783.
 
 
THE HISTORY OF THE SHRUB

Originally, shrubs were developed as another way to preserve seasonal fruits for consumption throughout the year.

The English shrub evolved from the medicinal cordials of the 15th century. As a mixture of fruit and alcohol, the shrub is related to the punch; however, punch is typically served immediately after mixing, while shrub syrup was stored as a mixer for later use.

Shrub drinks were sold in English public houses in the 17th and 18th centuries; for the holiday season, shrub was mixed with raisins, honey, lemon, sherry and rum. The syrup was a common ingredient in punch. However, the drink fell out of fashion by the late 1800s.

The Colonial American shrub derived from the English version. The vinegar was used as an alternative to citrus juices in the preservation of fruits.

Shrubs remained popular for a longer period of time in the U.S.: through the 19th century. According to Wikipedia, shrubs fell out of popularity with the advent of home refrigeration (ice boxes), which enabled a wealth of other cold drinks.

Vinegar-based shrub drinks appeared again in 2011-2012. Help to continue the trend: Make some shrub syrup(s) and invite friends over for shrubs.

Beyond the green salads and fruit salads, we began playing with summer-specific tartness, the French word for open-face sandwiches.

Tartine is the French word for an open-faced sandwich with a rich spread or fancy topping; the word actually refers to a slice of bread. Tartine is the French diminutive of the Old French and Middle English tarte, derived from the Late Latin torta, a type of bread. Here’s more about tartines.

Tartines have faded from fashion in the U.S. After World War II, hearty open face roast beef or turkey sandwich with gravy were popular fare, eaten with a knife and fork. Ladies’ lunch rooms served more delicate versions, with smoked salmon and sliced cucumber or a lighter version of beef or turkey.

But with much better bread available to us, it’s time to revisit the tartine. The ingredients can be seasonal: topped with melted cheese in cooler months, and with arugula, mesclun or sprouts in warmer ones.

In fact, the vegetable bounty of summer calls out for tartines. The combinations are vast:
 
PICK A BREAD

Begin with choosing a bread that gives character to your tartine. You can serve it toasted or untoasted. Consider:

 
PICK A SPREAD

Anything spreadable goes on top of the bread. You can season any of the dairy products to taste.

 
PICK A TOPPING

 
PICK A GARNISH

[1] Tartine of ricotta, radishes and chives (photo courtesy King Arthur Flour). [2] Hummus and fat sliced asparagus, topped with pine nuts (photo © Hannah Kaminsky| Bittersweet Blog). [3] Heirloom tomato tartine (photo courtesy Quinciple. [4] Goat cheese, gravlax and figs (photo courtesy Vermont Creamery).

Spa water—water seasoned with fruits and herbs—is the perfect complement to a summer tartine. Use at least a trio of these aromatics for flavor and fragrance.

Here’s a recipe from Sunset Growers, which used its mini cucumbers:
 
RECIPE: CUCUMBER, LEMON & MINT SPA WATER

Ingredients For 8 Cups (2 Quarts, 1/2 Gallon)

 
Preparation

1. ADD the ingredients to a large pitcher and fill with water. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight.

2. SERVE over ice in large glasses or wine goblets, with a slice of cucumber and lemon in each serving.

Of course, it’s easy to head to the freezer, store or scoop shop to celebrate. But we thought you might like something special.

Like a wineshake, a wine milkshake. Wine + ice cream = wineshake.

Does it sound unusual? Well: The first printed reference to a milkshake dates to 1885, and referred to an alcoholic drink, a “sturdy, healthful eggnog type of drink, with eggs, whiskey, etc., served as a tonic as well as a treat.”

By 1900, the whiskey and eggs were gone, and the term “milkshake” referred to “wholesome drinks made with chocolate, strawberry, or vanilla syrups.”

Yet, the milkshake still contained no ice cream until 1922. Here’s more history of the milkshake.
 
 
THE DAWN OF THE WINESHAKE

The folks at California-based Winc winery have whipped up delicious ice cream and wine milkshake recipes, combining their wines with Van Leeuwen ice cream. But you can use what you have on hand or other substitutes.

Winc has an online store where you can purchase the wines and send gift cards. We want them just to display the names and label designs: a work of art in wine bottles, so to speak. The wines are well-priced, so this is art we can afford!
 
 
RECIPE #1: COOKIES & CREAM WINESHAKE

Ingredients Per Shake

 
Preparation

1. BLEND the ice cream, wine, and big drizzle of chocolate syrup until you reach the desired consistency of your shake. We mixed ours in the blender, but you can use an immersion blender, cocktail shaker or whatever you have at hand.

2. POUR the shake into a glass. Top with more chocolate syrup and add the Oreos. Drizzle the top with more chocolate syrup and top with whipped cream as desired.

[1] Shake it shake it baby: Wineshakes from Winc Winery (all photos © Winc Winery).

Ingredients Per Shake

 
Preparation

2. BLEND the ice cream and wine until you reach your desired consistency.

2. POUR into a glass, drizzle with chocolate syrup and top with chocolate chips, then the cherries.

[3] Au-Delà Sparkling Dolcetto*, a dry sparkling red wine. Au-delà means “beyond” in French (photos courtesy Winc).

Ingredients Per Shake

 
Preparation

1. BLEND the ice cream, wine, and a handful of strawberries to taste, until you reach the desired berry flavor and shake consistency.

2. POUR into a glass. Top with whipped cream and garnish with more strawberries.
 
RECIPE #4: VANILLA SPARKLING SHAKE

Ingredients Per Shake

 
Preparation

1. BLEND the ice cream, wine, a big handful berries to taste, until you reach desired berry flavor and shake consistency.

2. POUR into glass. Top with whipped cream, and garnish with more mixed berries.

 
FLOAT, MALTED MILK, MILKSHAKE: THE DIFFERENCE

 
MORE FOOD HOLIDAYS

National Vanilla Milkshake Day is June 20th; National Chocolate Milkshake Day is September 12th.

See all the food holidays.
 
ALSO SEE FROSÉ: ROSÉ & SORBET
 
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*Dolcetto is a red wine grape from the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy. It is now planted in Australia and the U.S. as well. Other sparkling red wines include Brachetto d’Acqui, Lambrusco and Sparkling Shiraz, among others.

†Malted milk is a powdered gruel made from a mixture of malted barley, wheat flour, and evaporated whole milk. It was originally developed by a pharmacist, James Horlick, as a nutritional supplement for infants. Soon enough, parents discovered how tasty it was…and the rest is history.

We thank PeanutButterLovers.com, the consumer website of the Southern Peanut Growers for this recipe. It makes a dozen creamy pops, with hardly any effort.
 
 
CREAMY PEANUT BUTTER-BANANA POPS

Ingredients For 12 Pops

 
Preparation

1. PLACE all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. Pour into ice pop molds or substitutes. Freeze until firm. How easy is that?

2. TO REMOVE: Run the mold under warm water as needed to release the pops.
 
Find more peanut butter recipes—from appetizers and soups through mains and desserts—at PeanutButterLovers.com.

 
NO ICE POP MOLDS? TRY THESE SUBSTITUTES:

If you don’t want to invest in ice pop molds, how about Zip-A-Pop disposable plastic sleeves (third photo at right). We love them!

Otherwise, take a look around. Most likely, you have one or more of these:

 
If you don’t have ice pop sticks, here’s another great recycling opportunity:

 
If you’re not a peanut butter or banana lover, here’s a recipe from Pom Wonderful that trades the PB for pomegranate juice.
 
Prep time is 20 minutes, plus 4 hours freezing.

[2] Overripe bananas are an invitation to make banana pops (photo © Baking Library).

[3] Zip Pop bags (photo © ZipPops).

[5] Pomegranate seeds are called arils (photo © Good Eggs).

Ingredients For 4 Servings

 
Preparation

1. SCORE 1 fresh pomegranate and place in a bowl of water. Break open the pomegranate under water to free the arils (the seed sacs).

The arils will sink to the bottom of the bowl and the membrane will float to the top.

2. STRAIN and place the arils in a clean bowl. Refrigerate or freeze any extra arils for another use.

3. PREPARE the simple syrup (recipe).

4. PLACE all ingredients except the arils in a food processor; process until smooth. Then stir in the arils and divide the mixture evenly among the molds/cups.

5. FREEZE slightly; then insert an ice pop stick or plastic spoon into the center of each cup to be used as a stick. Freeze until solid.