It sounds gross, it looks gross but it tastes oh so good! The notion of cold-brewed coffee sounded to us, frankly, weird.

After all, heat seems intrinsic to the coffee process. Why would you possibly want to leave grounds soaking for half a day in an ugly plastic pitcher, like so much Kool-Aid? There’s only one possible reason we were willing to try the Toddy coffee system, one of a handful of cold-brew options available: It works.

Really, really well.

No heat, no plug
It’s not an immediately comfortable transition. The technology is profoundly low-tech: a plastic pitcher with a fabric filter, sitting atop a carafe that catches the finished product. No electricity needed, just gravity, a pound of ground beans and nine cups of cold water. That and 10 to 12 hours steeping time.