The Quest for "On Plan" Coffee

So, I have not always been a coffee drinker. When I was younger I liked the aroma, but not the flavor. Then in my late teens, early twenties, I went through an obsession with espresso. I think perhaps I liked the accessories, i.e. the demitasse cups, more that the beverage. After moving to Colorado, at age 23, I was still an occasional coffee drinker. Back then my caffeine of choice was Diet Pepsi. When I did drink coffee, I always wanted plenty of cream and sugar. I continued this way until my husband, oldest daughter, and I moved to Oregon.

Then begins our Dutch Bros. stage. When we moved here we had never heard of Dutch Bros. We both agreed that Starbucks was not our thing, but a friend of ours turned us on to Dutch Bros. and we ended up pretty addicted. There have been times on and off in the 12+ years we've been in Oregon that we had Dutch Bros. daily. There have also been times that I've been totally off coffee. Somewhere, about 8 years ago I stopped drinking Diet Pepsi, and that may have been why the coffee intake raised.

My love affair with coffee was rather full blown. I started brewing coffee at home. The only problem with brewing it at home was that if I brewed a pot my husband would maybe have a cup, and I would drink the rest. (Who wants coffee that sat a day, and who wants to waste coffee?) This became a thing for a while, always with lots of soymilk and sugar, or maybe agave. Then, we decided a French Press would be better than brewed. Partly because when you brew drip coffee, it always seemed that if you brewed half a pot it wasn't strong enough. We got a couple of small French Presses, and started making our coffee that way. Still, all this time buying coffee at Dutch Bros. or other such coffee houses when we went out and could afford to.

Then, almost 4 years ago we moved to Corvallis, OR. We still drank Dutch Bros. a few times a month, and we also tried most of the coffee shops around town. We found a local coffee shop we really liked, but still tons of cream and sugar. I opened my shop and my coffee addiction really reared it's ugly head again. The shop was near Starbucks, which was and still is zero temptation for me, and Einstein Bros. Bagels. Well, the drip coffee at Einstein was good, and if I purchased it early in the day, I could have unlimited refills. This was not good for me. I got a little out of control for a while.

During all these years, and our family's attempts to get healthier, we had at some point discovered cold brew coffee. About a year and a half ago we bought a pot to cold brew coffee. If you don't already know, cold brew is much less acidic than hot brewed coffee. It also retains more of the good anti-oxidants that are in coffee. Consequently, it is naturally sweeter tasting. Still with the benefits of cold brew, my husband felt it wasn't strong enough.

Then, research led me to Turkish style coffee, and that led me deeper to using Turkish style coffee in a cold brew process. Turkish coffee is just a much finer grind of coffee. The texture of Turkish style coffee is like that of cocoa powder.  You can use any type of coffee in that grind. We like a locally roasted coffee called River Mud. To make the cold brew you mix 1 cup of ground coffee with about 1 quart of cold water, and let it sit on the counter over night for at least 24 hours. Then you strain out the grounds. We use our cold brew pot's strainer, but you could use a nut milk bag, or similar. It is really that simple.

Today, my on plan coffee is 10 oz. of cold brew, 3/4 cup of organic almond milk, and 2 teaspoons of agave. This comes in at about 55 calories. Much better than my fave Dutch Bros. drink that comes in at 440 cals for a similar size. These type of choices help me stay on plan, and not feel deprived.