Cold Brew Coffee

Drinking coffee has always been a relaxing experience for me.  Few things beat a quiet early morning with a fresh cup of hot coffee.  Occasionally I may have a cup after dinner too.  After studying the pH effect of foods and beverages, I have made an attempt to decrease the amount of coffee I enjoy.  Coffee is extremely acid forming and contains caffeine.  Whether caffeine itself is beneficial or harmful I am really undecided.  What I did decide was to make coffee a beverages I have in moderation… and I’m still working on that.

I have however discovered a way to reduce the acidity level of coffee by two-thirds and caffeine by approximately one-third.  That sounds like a great improvement to me.  Cold brewed coffee: here’s how I do it.

Take a bag of your favorite coffee beans and grind them on a course setting.  I grind a whole bag at once when I buy it at the store.  Dark roasts seem to work best – but be creative.  At this point it gets really low tech.  Simply take your coffee and soak it in cold water over night while you sleep and voila it’s done.  Sounds simple doesn’t it… and probably a little weird too?

A French Press Similar to Mine

I purchased a french press, or bodum as it is sometimes called, that holds about 32 ounces.  I start by adding two-thirds cup of coffee grounds and on top of that pour two and a half cups of water.  This is roughly a 1:4 ratio.  So whatever works best for you – 1 part coffee to 4 parts water.  Then I slosh it around a bit and let it be with the grounds floating amongst the water in the press.  This sits overnight.  It really needs about 12 hours so I try to remember to prepare this at dinner time so it will be ready when I wake up the next morning.

In the morning, start some water to boil.  Press the pot plunger and the grounds to the bottom of your pot leaving something even better than coffee… coffee concentrate!  At this point the ratio is reversed… one part concentrate to four parts HOT water.  I pour about two ounces of concentrate in an empty cup followed by approximately 8 ounces of HOT water.  This produces a very smooth cup of coffee.  The taste is much less bitter since the grounds were not subjected to the steaming water… only the concentrate.  The bitter acids and oils in conventionally brewed coffee stay in the grounds which you can later throw on the compost heap.

If your coffee is too weak or too strong, adjust the ratios above to suit your taste.  I have also noticed that once I push the plunger down in the press I leave it there and try not to swish it around too much afterward.  This keeps the actual concentrate from having a silt in the mix.  If this is a problem you can always run it through a regular coffee filter and then keep the concentrate in the fridge… I just keep mine on the counter because it is usually gone within two days anyway.  This concentrate can also be used to make iced coffee by adding milk or cream over ice.

Give cold brew coffee a try for great tasting, smooth coffee with two-thirds less acid and one-third less caffeine.

The pH Effect

Reducing acid forming foods from my diet has been the most beneficial action I have ever taken regarding my overall health. Our bodies naturally regulate internal pH to between 7.30 and 7.40 with perfect alkalinity considered to be at 7.365. Acid forming foods have become an issue with the introduction of refined and processed foods such as bleached white flour and sugar. A more accurate label for refined flour and sugar would be toxins however rather than foods.

Acid forming foods deplete the body of oxygen and make a friendly environment for illness. Instead of allowing our bodies to heal from within using proper nutrition, doctors prescribe acid forming pharmaceuticals which manage our original maladies into chronic diseases. The best strategy to avoiding disease is prevention. One of the first steps toward a healthy body is a diet consisting of 80% alkaline forming foods. When examining what foods are acid forming it will become clear why we also have an obesity problem today. Most people are simply not eating the foods their bodies were designed to be eating.

The chart below lists common foods with an approximate, relative potential of acidity (-) or alkalinity (+), as present in one ounce of food. There is a lot of information across the web on this topic. I recommend that you do your own research into this and adjust your diet accordingly. Begin by eliminating one or two of the most acid forming foods or beverages from your diet. Slowly replace those with an alkaline forming food. Eat alkaline forming foods generously everyday and try to make acid forming foods a smaller part of your typical daily diet.

Alkaline Forming Foods Eat Everyday! Vegetables Alfalfa Grass +29.3 Asparagus +1.3 Barley Grass +28.1 Brussels Sprouts +0.5 Cabbage Lettuce, Fresh +14.1 Cauliflower +3.1 Cayenne Pepper +18.8 Celery +13.3 Chives +8.3 Comfrey +1.5 Cucumber, Fresh +31.5 Dandelion +22.7 Dog Grass +22.6 Endive, Fresh +14.5 French Cut Green Beans +11.2 Garlic +13.2 Green Cabbage, Dec. Harvest +4.0 Green Cabbage, Mar. Harvest +2.0 Kamut Grass +27.6 Lamb’s Lettuce +4.8 Leeks (Bulbs) +7.2 Lettuce +2.2 Onion +3.0 Peas, Fresh +5.1 Peas, Ripe +0.5 Red Cabbage +6.3 Rhubarb Stalks +6.3 Savoy Cabbage +4.5 Shave Grass +21.7 Sorrel +11.5 Soy Sprouts +29.5 Spinach, Other Than Mar. +13.1 Spinach, Mar. Harvest +8.0 Sprouted Chia Seeds +28.5 Sprouted Radish Seeds +28.4 Straw Grass +21.4 Watercress +7.7 Wheat Grass +33.8 White Cabbage +3.3 Zucchini +5.7 Root Vegetables Beet +11.3 Carrot +9.5 Horseradish +6.8 Kohlrabi +5.1 Potatoes +2.0 Red Radish +16.7 Rutabaga +3.1 Summer Black Radish +39.4 Turnip +8.0 White Radish, Spring +3.1 Fruits Avocado (Protein) +15.6 Fresh Lemon +9.9 Limes +8.2 Tomato +13.6 Non-Stored Organic Grains And Legumes Buckwheat Groats +0.5 Granulated Soy (Cooked Ground Soy Beans) +12.8 Lentils +0.6 Lima Beans +12.0 Soy Flour +2.5 Soy Lecithin (Pure) +38.0 Soy Nuts (soaked Soy Beans, Then Air Dried) +26.5 Soybeans, Fresh +12.0 Spelt +0.5 Tofu +3.2 White Beans (Navy Beans) +12.1 Nuts Almonds +3.6 Brazil Nuts +0.5 Seeds Caraway Seeds +2.3 Cumin Seeds +1.1 Fennel Seeds +1.3 Flax Seeds +1.3 Pumpkin Seeds +5.6 Sesame Seeds +0.5 Sunflower Seeds +5.4 Wheat Kernel +11.4 Fats (Fresh, Cold-Pressed Oils) Borage Oil +3.2 Evening Primrose Oil +4.1 Flax Seed Oil +3.5 Marine Lipids +4.7 Olive Oil +1.0

Foods You Should Consume Moderately Fruits (In Season) Apricot -9.5 Banana, Ripe -10.1 Banana, Unripe +4.8 Black Currant -6.1 Blueberry -5.3 Cantaloupe -2.5 Cherry, Sour +3.5 Cherry, Sweet -3.6 Coconut, Fresh +0.5 Cranberry -7.0 Currant -8.2 Date -4.7 Fig Juice Powder -2.4 Gooseberry, Ripe -7.7 Grape, Ripe -7.6 Grapefruit -1.7 Italian Plum -4.9 Mandarin Orange -11.5 Mango -8.7 Orange -9.2 Papaya -9.4 Peach -9.7 Pear -9.9 Pineapple -12.6 Raspberry -5.1 Red Currant -2.4 Rose Hips -15.5 Strawberry -5.4 Tangerine -8.5 Watermelon -1.0 Yellow Plum -4.9 Non-Stored Grains Brown Rice -12.5 Wheat -10.1 Nuts Hazelnuts -2.0 Macadamia Nuts -3.2 Walnuts -8.0 Fish Fresh Water Fish -11.8 Fats Coconut Milk -1.5 Sunflower Oil -6.7

Acidic Forming Foods Limit or Avoid! Meat, Poultry, And Fish Beef -34.5 Chicken (to -22) -18.0 Eggs (to -22) Liver -3.0 Ocean Fish -20.0 Organ Meats -3.0 Oysters -5.0 Pork -38.0 Veal -35.0 Milk And Milk Products Buttermilk +1.3 Cream -3.9 Hard Cheese -18.1 Homogenized Milk -1.0 Quark -17.3 Bread, Biscuits (Stored Grains/Risen Dough) Rye Bread -2.5 White Biscuit -6.5 White Bread -10.0 Whole-Grain Bread -4.5 Whole-Meal Bread -6.5 Nuts Cashews -9.3 Peanuts -12.8 Pistachios -16.6 Fats Butter -3.9 Corn Oil -6.5 Margarine -7.5 Sweets Artificial Sweeteners -26.5 Barley Malt Syrup -9.3 Beet Sugar -15.1 Brown Rice Syrup -8.7 Chocolate -24.6 Dr. Bronner’s Barley Dried Sugar Cane Juice -18.0 Fructose -9.5 Honey -7.6 Malt Sweetener -9.8 Milk Sugar -9.4 Molasses -14.6 Turbinado Sugar -9.5 White Sugar -17.6 Condiments Ketchup -12.4 Mayonnaise -12.5 Mustard -19.2 Soy Sauce -36.2 Vinegar -39.4 Beverages Beer -26.8 Coffee -25.1 Fruit Juice Sweetened With Fruit Juice, Packaged, Natural -8.7 Liquor -38.7 Tea (Black) -27.1 White Sugar -33.6 Wine -16.4 Miscellaneous Canned Foods Microwaved Foods Processed Food

Table: pH scale of alkaline and acid forming foods
Source: “The Nutrition Factor” by Dr. Jimmy Steger, N.D., Phd.

This is a great first step in overall awareness. Research nutrition thoroughly. Take responsibility for your own better health. We have been told a lot of untruths regarding what is healthy for us. The pH effect is only one reason the USDA’s food pyramid needs to be thrown on the compost pile. I’ll be sharing more of what I have found on that soon.