Coffee, tea and non-specialist drink preparation guides.
To make cold brew concentrate, combine 4 parts cold water with 1 part coarsely ground coffee by weight. Stir until every ground is wet, cover, and steep in the refrigerator for 12–16 hours. Strain through a fine filter, then dilute the concentrate with equal parts water or milk to start. Refrigerate it in a sealed container.
To make chai tea, simmer water with crushed cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, peppercorns and fresh ginger, then add black tea and milk. Strain the drink into cups and sweeten to taste. Keep the mixture below a hard boil after adding milk, and stop if it smells sour, looks curdled or has been left at room temperature for more than two hours.
To make iced coffee, brew coffee slightly stronger than usual, let it cool briefly, then pour it over a full glass of ice. Add milk or sweetener to taste. For a 12-ounce drink, start with 6 ounces of strong coffee and 1 cup of ice; adjust the coffee amount if the result tastes watery or bitter.
To brew kombucha, dissolve sugar in freshly brewed black tea, cool it completely, and add strong unflavored starter kombucha and a SCOBY. Cover the jar with tightly woven cloth and ferment it at room temperature for about 7 to 14 days. Taste from day 7, refrigerate when pleasantly tart, and discard the batch if fuzzy mold appears.
To make tea, heat fresh water, place one tea bag or about 1 teaspoon of loose tea in a cup, pour in the water, and steep according to the tea type. Use boiling water for black and herbal tea; cooler water suits green tea. Remove or strain the tea when the flavor is developed, then serve.
To make sun tea, place 6 to 8 tea bags in a clean, covered 1-gallon glass jar filled with cool water. Set it in direct sunlight for about 3 to 4 hours, then remove the bags, refrigerate the tea promptly, and serve over ice. Stop if the jar cracks, leaks, or the tea develops an unusual odor or appearance.
Yes. Distilled water is safe to drink when it is produced and labeled as drinking water. Because distillation removes many minerals, it can taste flatter than tap or mineral water, but a balanced diet normally supplies the minerals your body needs. Do not drink distilled water labeled for automotive, laboratory, battery, or appliance use.
To make dandelion root tea, place dried dandelion root in a teapot or infuser, pour over hot water, steep for about 15 minutes, and strain. For flower tea, add clean dandelion flowers to one cup of hot water and steep for 5 to 10 minutes before straining. Use only correctly identified, food-grade dandelions.
To make coffee without a coffee maker, heat about 5 ounces of water per cup until steaming or just boiling. Remove it from the heat, stir in 1 tablespoon of ground coffee per cup, and steep for about 4 minutes. Pour slowly into a cup through a fine-mesh strainer, clean cloth, or paper filter. Stop if the pot, strainer, or handle is unsafe to use while hot.
Coffee can make you sleepy when caffeine tolerance, fast caffeine metabolism, poor sleep, dehydration, or a drop in energy after a sugary drink outweigh caffeine’s temporary alerting effect. Caffeine blocks the sleep-promoting chemical adenosine for a while; when its effect fades, accumulated sleep pressure can feel stronger. Track timing and symptoms instead of drinking progressively larger servings.