Iced Coffee

I must admit that one of the rings I like least about summer is the fact that it is too hot to drink my regular coffee, hot and strong and very very black. So I began to experiment with ways to make iced coffee.

First I tried to make coffee ice cubes which could be blended into a cold frappethingy. The problems are that 1) the ice never blended smooth 2) I had to add sugar and milk and chocolate syrup and yogurt and ice-cream to my should-only-be-black-coffee and 3) I had to clean the blender.

Then I tried brewing coffee normally the night before and letting it sit out to cool off and adding milk and ice. The problem with that was that the coffee was SUPER watered down and Blech and was also kinda bitter. Grrrrrr

So I went on a hunt for the perfect iced coffee recipe. Pioneer Woman had a delicious looking recipe for a cold brew coffee base. But it required 1lb of coffee grounds and two huge containers and cheesecloth to line a strainer with and ALL I WANT IS SOME COFFEE GRRR!!!!!!!

So then I went to the googles and the googles sent me to Small Notebook who recommended the following recipe. Take 1/4 cup of grounds and place in the bottom of a French press. Add 1 cup of water. Soak the grounds for 10-12 hours. Then add another cup of water. Stir and strain. Pour the coffee syrup into a container to use for later.

Then I add equal parts milk and coffee syrup over ice. The result is a cold rich creamy strong coffee flavor without the bitterness and refrigerating both the milk and coffee keeps the ice from melting a lot when it is all stirred together.

I love this recipe because of the easy ratio of 1:8 cups coffee to water. Having a French press was a bonus but the website gives modifications of using a glass bowl and a fine mesh strainer or pouring it through three or four paper coffee filters. Really easy way to make summer mornings enjoyable again. In fact, I think I may go get another one...