I was afraid my friends would think I started taking up drinking when they saw bottles of Grady’s Cold Brew coffee in my fridge. The amber bottles look like fat bottles of beer, but the only addiction it feeds is my java one.
A serendipitous series of events led me to Grady’s coffee: I was on a photo shoot where somewhere in the conversation with my hairstylist, Matt Fugate of Sally Hershberger, I found that he also works with Amy Keller Laird, the Executive Editor at Women’s Health. Amy was a colleague at my very first job at Shop Etc., and later at Allure (one of the coolest, most hilarious beauty directors IMO — I say it’s the Midwestern thing but that may be me trying to hard to be associated with her awesomeness in some way). ANYWAY. Matt told me about her husband, Gary Laird’s, coffee venture and my ears perked up. Coffee?! It could be that this 7AM shoot led me to be extra vulnerable to such details.
“So cool! I want to try it but I don’t have a coffee maker at home.”
“You don’t need one!” Matt said. He told me it’s ready-made coffee that tastes extraordinary.
“Ok, I’m tweeting Amy RIGHT now.”
And two days later, the box with samples showed up at my door. Thoughts in my head: A) My mornings are going to go by so much faster without having to wait in the coffee lines, and B) how quickly can I make a coffee frappe?
It can’t be easy to start a coffee company in New York — the city certainly brews its own batch of coffee elitists, but I’m convinced after trying Grady’s Cold Brew it’s hard to not feel like the barista came to you. Grady’s refers to “New Orleans-style,” a city popular for their cold brew. (Cold brewing, as described on their website, “is a process in which coffee is brewed by soaking grounds in cold water overnight. After steeping, the coffee is filtered to separate the grounds and silt from the liquid”). But you can drink this iced or hot. I first tried it cold with just a little milk and sugar (above) which proved to have a smooth but strong taste that woke me up right away, and decided I wanted to get a little more experimental by making a blended drink.
I took out my blender and added ice and a banana (inspired by smoothies from Blue Dog Cafe). After adjusting with some sugar, I came up with the most wonderful at-home frappe, that’s got me so happy and wired, I actually finished this post in 10 minutes. Done.
Can’t wait to entertain coffee-loving guests with the same. One bottle ($15) makes 8 glasses, and available at a list of retailers like Whole Food’s and Union Market but check their Locations page to find one near you. You can also purchase at gradyscoldbrew.com.
Update: I just made coffee frappes for 8 people and went through one whole bottle today. We can’t get enough!
x
Shy
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