I never used to be a coffee drinker and then I opened my cloth diapering store and then girls downstairs offered it up in every way imaginable. And before I knew it I not only had a two cup a day problem, but I only drank good fancy coffee. They created a monster! And then I moved to the Midwest and I’m convinced that they do not know what good coffee is. No, Starbucks does not count! It may largely be the person making it, but whoever is teaching the coffee making course around here is dropping the ball. There are times when I just want to push my way behind the counter and do it myself. But I was kindly gifted and espresso machine for Christmas and it’s saved me a lot of headache and money, though I still feel the need to order my beans from out of state. It just makes me happy. No if only I could get Kalidi flavored syrup too, then I’d be in heaven.
Now that summer has hit with a vengeance it’s hot and miserable making, so ice coffee is a far more appealing idea, but even knowing the tricks of making it with minimize ice meltage you still melt some cubes. And then I was introduced to the Pioneer Woman’s iced coffee recipe. I tell ya she’s a genius! I only did a partial batch, but it was every bit as satisfying as I imagine a full batch will be. Of course I will be making it sooner than if I had done the uber batch.
1 1/2 cups of coffee grounds, this was the last of my cache
8 cups of water, this was the capacity of my pitcher
Highly scientific, huh? Look at the sludge:
I used my Pampered Chef mixing pitcher and it worked great because while it was chilling in the fridge I could pump it a few times when I opened the fridge for something else and mix up the lovely coffee. The turkey kept asking for juice and taking it out. He’d be sorely disappointed and I’d eat him with how crazy he’d be with a little caffeine. I’m sure the pitcher will always have a coffee taste to it, so I’m making it my coffee pitcher and the boys will rue the day they broke my other two. No juice for you!
I let it set overnight it came to about 17 hours, but who’s counting? I used a flour sack towel and put it in a strainer over a bowl and drained out the grounds. I made sure to twist the towel and squeeze out every last bit of that precious coffee.
And now the grounds are ready for the compost heap.
Don’t you just want to dive in to the little reflective pool of caffeinated goodness?
Pioneer Woman mentions using sweetened condensed milk and this is where she had me. I LOVE sweetened condensed milk. I’m quite sure than when someone says something is better than sex then they must be talking about sweetened condensed milk. It’s thick milky sugary goodness in a can. So I made sure to add not one, but two heaping spoonfuls on top of my coffee. After all, this is my treat to me. Then we fill the cup up with milk. I like whole milk and one of these days my rear is going to regret it, but oh well.
I love these reusable cold cups. Not as much as the double walled ones we have, but I need replacement straws since my child decided to chew the straws to bits. We use the for smoothies almost everyday and now for ice coffee.
We had a crazy week full of appointments and running around and this was just the pick me up I needed. Even had enough energy for an extra round of air karate fighting with the little boy.
Cheers,
