Can You Spare a Dime, New York Times?

photo of an iced coffee

The Times has a loving post up about the Toddy Brewing System for iced coffee. It’s essentially a redux of the how to cold-brew iced coffee story they ran in 2007, with the addition of using the Toddy instead of your own filters. But what neither story noted is that making coffee this way is almost three times as expensive. Here’s the math, based on the current piece.

The Times recipe calls for 16 ounces of coffee, which yield 48 ounces of concentrate. The writer recommends using concentrate and coffee at a 1:1 ratio, so you’ve got 96 ounces of iced coffee, or 12 8-ounce cups.

If you were making regular coffee, those same 16 ounces, or 32 tablespoons, would give you 32 cups of coffee, using the general 1 tablespoon of coffee per cup. That’s nearly three times as many. Even if you are a profligate spendthrift and use 2 tablespoons per cup, you’d still get 16 cups, 25% more.

I’m not saying don’t cold brew your coffee if you want to. It’s a (mostly, kinda) free country! But it’s irresponsible not to note the big leap in cost here. It really fascinates me to see how much the Times dining—dining! not eating—section, in the same paper where I read about the economy on a daily basis, rarely notes prices or costs in any kind of real-world way. They just started giving nutrition info on recipes, I think they should start giving estimated costs.

I admit to being slightly paranoid that I did the math wrong here but I think it’s right.

Warning! Crack-cocaine will be consumed!

“Warning: chocolate and coffee will be consumed!”

The final line in Spring Gillard’s post for The Politics of Food:  A Bite Size Course, offered over a stretch of Saturdays.

Um… is this because chocolate and coffee are political, or does Ms. Gillard normally have attendees with health conditions?  Or perhaps this course draws a smattering of politically-charged toddlers.  And you know what coffee and chocolate does to a 2 year old…

Wake Up, Bacon!

From Fidel Gastro (you better watch out for Slashfood, comrade)—Maple Bacon Morning coffee.

If you read the reviews, of which there are 250, you will see that Rush Limbaugh touts this coffee which should tell you all you need to know right there.

Oh, here’s another review, perhaps this post will go on all day:

I was a little worried about this one. The name scared me. But I really liked the taste. The flavor was mild. It tastes like maple bacon COFFEE, not like you are eating maple flavored bacon. So, if you are looking for an interesting new coffee flavor to try, go for this one. If you are looking for greasy, maple slathered slices of bacon, try the grocery store.

You know what Andy would say.

—Snacktime

I’m going to need a job description for “Coffee Curator.”

In Ristretto, Oliver Strand, the curator of the Times Topics coffee page, explores the world of coffee gadgets, coffee beans and why it’s never been easier to get a perfect shot of espresso.

(The intro to May 26’s Ristretto)

1.  His title is coffee curator!?!

2.  There’s an entire Times Topics coffee page!

3.  This is ridiculous.  I wonder if Mr. Strand agrees with my thought that NYC coffee is the pits.

Cafe Grumpy’s $12 Cup of Coffee

Link: Cafe Grumpy’s $12 Cup of Coffee

From the New York Post:

“There are flavors you would expect in a really nice glass of wine — it’s a cacophony of nuances,” said Steve Holt, vice president of Ninety Plus Coffee, the company distributing the beans. ”You detect flavors of apricot, pineapple, bergamot, kiwi and lime. The deeper tones are levels of chocolate, and the finish is super clean.”

Oy.  And in my neighborhood.  Positively ridiculous.