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Yesterday, I had a fan set up three feet from me so that I could enjoy my morning coffee.

The day before, I stuck a freshly brewed pot of coffee in the fridge for an hour before pouring it over ice that still immediately melted.

Then my friend Charlotte — who always seems to have her finger on the pulse of everything — sent me this New York Times article about cold-brewed coffe.

It was here that I learned where I had gone wrong: "Without the bitterness produced by hot water, the cold-brewed coffee had hints of chocolate, even caramel." No wonder I had felt compelled to dump four cups' worth of my precious coffee supply after my unsuccessful attempt to cool it down. The hot water was ruining everything!

So last night, following the advice in the article, I mixed coffee grinds and water in a tall glass and covered it in aluminum foil, leaving it to sit on the counter overnight.

When I removed the foil this morning, the smells emanating from the glass were so strong and...delicious...almost like burying my nose in a bag of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. I ran the mix through a coffee filter and then poured the brew over ice, ignoring the article's advice about diluting the final product with more water. Ha! I laugh in the face of dilution.

It totally worked, people. It totally worked. And it's so easy.

If you'd like to simplify things even further, you can also pick up one of these:

[$30.51, Amazon]

The Toddy Cold Brew System requires no electricity (as it's, um, cold-brewing), and is made up of a brewing container, a glass decanter with lid, two reusable filters, and a rubber stopper.

Related: The Sweet and the Low: My Morning Coffee