It’s been an interesting few months over here on the Red Dot. The MM family has now been in Singapore for 2.5 months, and during that time we’ve moved into our flat, caught up with some old friends, celebrated Miss G’s 2nd birthday, and distantly welcomed our little newborn nephew into our family. And I’m getting used to not having an oven! That’s right, no oven! I know, it sounds weird and strange, but not a lot of Singaporean households have an oven built into the kitchen like we do in a Western house. I’m still contemplating getting a bench-top model, but in the meantime I’m going to be making a lot of no-bake and stove-top recipes.

Just like this one. This recipe came from not having a single coffee cup in the flat and my Pinterest feed being flooded with cold brew coffee. CTO didn’t like the ones at Ikea (apparently too small), so a month and a bit later they were procured at Japan Home. Whilst we had no cups, I decided to try this recipe by Gimme Some Oven. We had glasses and a jug, so I was good to go.

The last time we lived in Singapore, CTO bought himself an Aeropress. It’s basically a little hand pushed coffee maker that is meant to give you machine quality coffee. Or something like that. I don’t know, I don’t drink the stuff. Yes, that’s right, a recipe for coffee from a woman who doesn’t drink it. Anyway, he stopped using it when Miss G was born and we didn’t bring it with us when we moved back. It’s a good little machine, handy to use (I made a few coffees with it over the years), but very suited to the solo drinker. This time around, CTO has been drinking the local ‘Ice Kopi’ at the local hawker centres. Now, if you’ve ever been to Singapore or Malaysia, you will know what this is all about. The coffee is steeped like tea in a big sock in a giant metal teapot with a long thin spout. A teacup or a metal camping cup is rinsed with fresh hot water, then a couple of big spoons condensed milk are mixed with hot kopi, topped off with water, then poured over ice cubes in a glass, plastic cup, or plastic bag. There are different variations, some are black, some are with evaporated milk, some with sugar. But ice coffee in Singapore is hot coffee poured over ice, not like the creamy milkshake style ones we get in Melbourne, or the ones in the carton at Woolies.

This recipe is simple. Ground up coffee beans, water, time. As in the clock, not the herb. You also need a water jug (a cheap one from Kmart or the $2 Shop works fine), and a small fine muslin bag or a Asian herbal soup bag. A soup bag sounds weird, right? It’s not. It’s a small cloth bag with a drawstring that you can fill with herbs and aromatics so they don’t float around in your stock but you can still get the flavour. I found mine at my local bargain shop here in Singapore, but I bet you can get them at your local Asian grocer or Daiso.

So, 2 ingredients to make, an extra 1-2 to serve – which by the way, can be whichever milk and sweetener you desire. Using a plant milk makes this vegetarian and vegan, using honey, maple syrup, date paste, or a coconut sugar or syrup makes this refined free, you get the picture. As Captain Planet says, “The power is yours!”

Cold Brewed Overnight Coffee

Time: 5 min preparation time, plus minimum 12 hours refrigeration

Yield: approximately 2 Lts

• 1 cup ground coffee beans, strength/roast of choice
• Muslin/soup bag
• 2L water jug
• Water
• Milk/sweetener of choice to serve

Pour the ground coffee into the muslin/soup bag and knot it tight. Place into the bottom of the jug.

Fill the jug up with water until full. Refrigerate for a minimum of 12 hours or overnight until water has turned black.

Serve over ice with your favourite milk and/or sweetener, dilute if necessary.

Adapted from Gimme Some Oven.

Notes: If you don’t want to use a bag, you can mix the grinds in with the water overnight. Just strain them out the next day. If you do go the bag route, you can leave it in the jug until it’s finished. When you need to empty it, just rinse it in warm water and dishwashing liquid, then hang it up to dry.

All comments on the Aeropress are my own and are not affiliated with the company.

Also, don’t own Captain Planet! 😀