I thought the hot water was necessary for extracting the flavor from the grinds even with a french press... all the iced coffee I've seen has been made as normal coffee, and then chilled.

You've never had cold-brewed coffee, Kelly? For some reason, it seems like something you'd enjoy.

With cold-press/cold-brew, you brew for super-long times (like, 12 or 24 hours). It makes a really nice iced coffee, I think.

I wouldn't think you'd need anything special. I cold-brew for my daily office coffee. The filter in the store-bought system is a fibrous disc about half an inch thick and maybe 2-3 inches in diameter. The pound of coffee and 9 (I think, I have to look it up every time) pass through the filter into the decanter after the brew time. You use coarsely ground coffee, so I would think a french press would filter the grounds just fine.

The taste is different from regular brewed coffee, even when served cold. I've heard it described as "thin" no matter what ratio of concentrate to water is used (full strength is, IMO, nasty to drink, but useful for baked goods and chili-making and ice cream making), but I would characterize it as mellow, without loss of depth. YMMV.

Yeah, cold-brewed coffee is much mellower than cooled hot-brewed coffee and very nice.

I used to use a french press for brewing hot coffee in the morning. I had a large cheapo, and then I bought a fancy Bodum one. No difference at all between the two - in fact, I might have liked the cheapo a little better. The glass was thicker so it seemed less finely made but....I broke the Bodum, so there you go.

I went to Minneapolis last summer to visit one of my friends, and I was totally struck by the cold-brew ubiquity. I'd ask for an iced coffee, and they'd say 'cold-brew?' or 'is cold-brew okay?'

It's a different taste, and you miss out on some of the things that make coffee delicious, but then again it raises some of the other things that make coffee delicious in high relief.

And yeah, I know I can do it with cheesecloth or two pots or whatever, but I feel like I'm going to be drinking it for the rest of my life, and I might as well spend the loot while I've got it to get something that'll make it easier.

Thanks for your comments, everybody. And if you want to talk more about cold-brew coffee or French presses or coffee or kitchen gear or something, I'd totally be down.