Old Coffee

September 27, 2004 6:12 PM

What can you do with cold coffee? I have one of those French press things, and always end up with a cup or two left over in the morning. I hate to throw it away. Think clever, culinary...
posted by gottabefunky to food & drink (21 comments total)

Put it in a pitcher in the fridge for an ongoing supply of iced coffee.

Sorry, that's not very clever, is it?

I can't think of many recipes that need much in the way of coffee that would make it worth saving the extras on a daily basis. You could make a coffee granita with it, I guess
posted by briank at 6:17 PM on September 27, 2004

pour it over ice cream, or stick it in the fridge for iced coffee, or pour it into icecube trays, or make a sauce/frosting for angelfood or poundcake...
posted by amberglow at 6:19 PM on September 27, 2004

Coffee enemas?
posted by gramcracker at 6:22 PM on September 27, 2004

I can't imagine wanting to ingest coffee -- even in some kind of recipe -- that has been exposed to open air for very long. Coffee starts to taste pretty nasty after about 15 minutes of exposure to air.

I suggest, with all possible sincereity, that you just throw out the old coffee.

Or maybe, paint with it.
posted by majick at 6:27 PM on September 27, 2004

you can do a nice mottled effect on the walls, or dye gray hair with it : >
posted by amberglow at 6:28 PM on September 27, 2004

Not exciting but: You can just make less; a french press, unlike a drip, is strictly linear in its coffee-water ratio, so you can just use 1/2 the water and 1/2 the coffee or whatever partial batch percent suits you.
posted by boaz at 6:29 PM on September 27, 2004

put it in an air-tight bottle and microwave it later.

All the coffee snobs can go to hell.
posted by Space Coyote at 6:35 PM on September 27, 2004

Making ice cubes is always good - then you can put them in your ice coffee when you want that and hey presto, no dilution. (Though it's true: it's not really much good anymore if it's been sitting around.)
posted by CunningLinguist at 6:36 PM on September 27, 2004

We stick it in the fridge once we're sure we won't be having any more and use it in shakes later in the day. Cup of coffee, cup of milk or milk substitute, a few ice cubes, and a splash of vanilla. Damned tasty. Honestly though I just save it and drink it the next day.
posted by jessamyn at 6:37 PM on September 27, 2004

Coffee cake, of course!
posted by Smart Dalek at 6:39 PM on September 27, 2004

During the hotter part of the summer I made coffee at night and cooled it in the fridge for the morning. If you cool it down really fast it tastes better. I put it in tupperware with as little air as possible, then dunked it in ice water, then moved it to the fridge.
posted by j.edwards at 6:39 PM on September 27, 2004

I use leftover coffee in banana bread (Mollie Katzen's Moosewood Cookbook recipe).
posted by Melinika at 6:40 PM on September 27, 2004

A tablespoon or two of cold coffee as part of the liquid in brown gravy is *delicious*.
posted by headspace at 6:52 PM on September 27, 2004

It's interesting that you mention pressed coffee, because if there was ever a coffee that you MUST throw out after 10 minutes, this is it.

Coffee is made by water extracting oils, flavors, aromas, etc. from the ground coffee bean. The ideal press is steeped for 4 minutes, depending upon your grind, pressed, and immediately served for consumption. The leftover coffee should then be immediately put into an air-tight container to preserve freshness, but most important, so not to over-extract the coffee.

If you leave the coffee in the press for longer than the ideal time (4 minutes), you've created an extraordinarily bitter and over-extracted coffee which loses the sweetness and aroma of the true cup.

I have two suggestions. One, make less coffee. Two, if you'd like to save a cup for later, immediately transport the extra coffee into an airtight container to save for later. If you buy the right container, you can either make iced coffee or quite possibly have an extra cup (which would still be hot) a couple of hours later.
posted by BlueTrain at 6:59 PM on September 27, 2004

BTW, the reason I semi-oppose the idea of using pressed coffee for iced coffee is because of the oils and coffee residue left in your cup, which is caused by the filterless press.

Iced coffee should be smooth, clean, and (IMHO) waterlike. Pressed coffee can be slightly syrupy because of the additional oils, which end up falling to the bottom and causing a funky mess. Filtered coffee (through paper) is much less likely to exhibit these tendencies.
posted by BlueTrain at 7:24 PM on September 27, 2004

"A tablespoon or two of cold coffee as part of the liquid in brown gravy is *delicious*."

My dad always called this 'redeye' gravy. But only if it was made with bacon and sausage grease. No other grease will do.
posted by geekhorde at 7:56 PM on September 27, 2004

When you're making brownies, chocolate cake, chocolate frosting, etc. a dash or two of coffee in the batter makes 'em taste even richer.
posted by scody at 10:29 PM on September 27, 2004

Old southern mountain favorite: red-eye gravy served with ham or biscuits for breakfast.
posted by zaelic at 1:31 AM on September 28, 2004

Previous BlueTrain coffee wisdom.
posted by anathema at 4:11 AM on September 28, 2004

Cold coffee is wonderful for getting African Violets to bloom.
posted by allpaws at 6:26 AM on September 28, 2004

Just drink it. It's not that nasty, 'specially with cream and sugar.
posted by mimi at 7:10 AM on September 28, 2004