Straight up over ice is how you should sip it, say these producers spearheading the cold brew trend in SA.

COVE COFFEE

Jonty Medcalf and Kelly Kretzman ensure freshness by making their brew to order. They use a blend of direct-trade, organic beans from Ethiopia and Peru and filter their brew twice. “The ratio of coffee grounds to water, grind size and steeping time all play a part in the perfect cold brew,” says Jonty. covecoffee.co.za

POTION COFFEE

Niel Bekker and his team chose their beans (a South American blend from Truth Coffee Roasters) for their chocolatey, nutty flavours. “Cold brew maximises the beans’ terroir and depth of fl avour,” says Niel. “You can’t taste the rolling hills of Kenya or Colombia in your garden-variety iced coffee, especially if it looks like a milkshake!” potioncoffee.com

SWART COFFEE

Brew master Ernest Andrews uses only organic, fair-trade, single-origin African beans. Once it’s steeped, he aerates the brew with nitrogen and carbon dioxide gas, which gives it a slight sparkle. The flavour profile? “Think milk stout with a sparkling peach and berry finish,” says Ernest. swartcoffee.com

THE BIG DRIPPER

When the mercury rises in the Mother City, Rosetta Roastery uses a traditional Kyoto ice dripper to make small batches of cold brew.

COLD BREW AND TONIC

The tanginess of tonic is the perfect match for the slight acidity of cold-brew coffee. You read it here first. Fill a tumbler with ice. Add 100 ml tonic water and carefully pour over 50 ml cold-brew coffee to create a dramatic ombre effect. Bartenders favour anything from fresh basil and lemon slices to Maraschino cherries as garnishes.

HOOKED ON CAFFEINE? DISCOVER A RANGE OF RECIPES STARRING COFFEE HERE

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Low-carb chocolate brownies

150 g extra virgin coconut oil

100 g xylitol

100 g 70% dark chocolate, melted

50 g 70 % dark chocolate, chopped into small pieces

2 ripe bananas, mashed

4 large free-range eggs

2 t vanilla extract

150 g ground almonds

2 t baking powder

25 g cocoa

200 g hazelnuts, chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a 22 cm square baking tin with greaseproof paper.
2. Beat the oil and xylitol until creamy. Beat in all the remaining ingredients and pour into the tin.
3. Bake for 20 minutes until still a little wobbly in the middle. As the brownies cool, the chocolate will set.
4. Cool them in the tin before slicing.

There’s nothing better than a gooey-centred brownie, especially when you haven’t had something sweet for a month, trust me! I think I went into some sort of euphoric state!

My latest experiment is a “bullet” coffee, which keeps the hunger pangs at bay for hours. My husband whisked one up for me this morning. I was a bit skeptical about whisking 2 T butter into a cup of freshly brewed coffee, but we shook it up in a Consol jar and it turned all frothy and tasted really delicious. Apparently the Tibetans and Ethiopians have been drinking this style of coffee for ages for energy. You can use a blender if you like, but the jar works just as well. I honestly wasn’t hungry until about five hours later and felt I had so much energy. Try it, but make sure you use a good-quality grass-fed unsalted butter. Tomorrow morning I will try adding 1 T coconut oil in addition to the butter.

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