Iced Coffee

Sarah says:

It's been 90+ degrees lately.  On those days, I prefer my coffee iced.  The problem I have is, iced coffee is hit or miss - sometimes it's delicious, sometimes it's undrinkable.  I have yet to find a place that consistently serves good iced coffee.  I guess McDonald's has the best track record - but that record isn't wonderful.  Plus, iced coffee is more expensive than hot coffee (I still haven't figured out why), so it's a gamble.  I hate to pay up, only to have the drink end up in the garbage.

I decided to go down the path of making it on my own.  I've tried making hot coffee, then pouring it over ice cubes to cool it off, but that just gives me watered down cold coffee.  I don't have any fancy equipment, so per google, the best method for me, was to take my coffee grounds, slowly pour cool or room temp water over it, stir once, cover with plastic wrap, and put in the refrigerator for 12-72 hours.  Apparently, cold water takes longer to brew than hot water.  So, I did this overnight.  My coffee ended up soaking for about 15 hours.  The next morning, I put a coffee filter into a small funnel, and slowly poured the coffee/water mix into it, to filter out the coffee into a cup.  This took FOREVER.  I basically had to stand there and wait for the coffee to drain out.  I have a pretty small funnel, so I could only pour a small amount in at once, and the coffee grounds kept clogging up the bottom, so I had to keep dumping them out.  I really didn't have the write tools for this project.  Eventually, I had a cup of filtered cold coffee.  I didn't add ice cubes, because it was already cold from being in the refrigerator overnight, and I didn't want to water it down.  I added a little cream, and ta-da, I had drinkable iced coffee.  It wasn't the greatest I've ever had, but it wasn't the worst either.  It could have been stronger - I basically used the same ratio of coffee to water that I always use, not sure if that was the right thing to do.  Plus, I went on the short end of the brewing time - mostly because I didn't know it would take that long and didn't plan ahead.  IF I were to do it again, I would do it for longer.  I need to soak all the caffeine I can get outta those beans!

I don't think I'd do it again though, the whole straining out process took too long, I don't have the time or patience for that.  Does anyone have any suggestions for making it go faster?  Suggestions that don't involve spending a lot of money?  I know I could buy a fancy press thing, but I'm just not going to do that.  The only reason I would do it again, and I am thinking about doing this, is to make coffee cubes.  I discovered this while doing my iced coffee recipe research.  Basically do the same thing - but pour the filtered cold coffee into ice cube trays & freeze.  Then, make hot coffee as I normally do, and pour it over a few coffee cubes.  This will also give me iced coffee, without watering it down!  Brilliant!  But I'm not looking forward to doing it.  The only positive is that it will give me several cubes, so I won't have to do it very often.  Making daily iced coffee like this isn't practical for a working Mom.  Any idea what it's like holding a coffee filled filter over a cup waiting for it to drip out while and 3 & 5 year old are screaming for breakfast.  I'll just sum it up for you: not fun.

I guess for now I'll just have to keep on taking my chances!  Any suggestions on who makes the best iced coffee?

Selecto Cafe Molido Espresso

Sarah says:

This is coffee that my Dad picked up for me when he took a mission trip to Nicaragua.  It’s stronger than my regular Folgers, but I just add a little extra cream and it’s totally delicious.  Of course that extra cream throws off my calories for the day, but it’s worth it for coffee.  

Overall rating:  Thumbs up

I’m addicted to coffee and I don’t try to hide it.  I'm not a coffee snob, I'll drink any kind.  If I had my choice, I'd drink Dunkin Donuts coffee all the time, but it's pricey, so I usually just get Folgers.  I don't really like Starbucks coffee (except for the Holiday Blend), but I love their specialty drinks!  My absolute best best cup of coffee is when Jon makes it for me.  He has more patience than me, so he really measures it all out to get the right water to coffee ratio.  I make it at 5:30 am, half asleep, so I just throw water and coffee into the machine and hope for the best!  I ALWAYS add cream, no sugar.  I'm fairly frugal most of the time, but my coffee cream is the one thing that I really treat myself to.  I only use real cream, none of that powdered crap.  It's oh so yummy. 



My typical "coffee in hand" pose

I drink coffee daily, a minimum of 2 cups (my tops has been 8 cups in one day, but those days are usually because of some stressful period in life, and I find it best not to remember them).  I used to try to give it up on the weekends, but would always end up with headaches.  I’d rather not spend my weekend feeling crappy, so now I drink it 365 days a year.  And I love it.  I also try to limit it to just in the morning, and I do pretty good most of the time.  I do find myself in a vicious circle sometimes.  I don’t sleep well when I’m stressed out, so I’ll drink coffee in the afternoon the next day to get me through, which probably causes me not to sleep well the next night, which causes me to need coffee again in the afternoon, etc.  Once I start drinking it during the day, it’s a hard habit to break.  But eventually I get there and just drink in the mornings again.

Coffee is one of the few things I’m really addicted to.  (Facebook, ice cream, and counting calories are others, but those are topics for other posts!).  I drink it to wake me up in the morning, I drink it when I’m stressed, I drink it when I'm cold, I drink it as a comfort food, I drink it as a reward, I drink it to keep me functioning normal.  I’m quiet and cranky in the morning before I get my first cup of coffee.  If something goes wrong with my morning routine and I don’t get my coffee, oh Lord, help those that get in my path.  I’m not happy without my coffee.  My whole day just gets off.  Plus, there’s that whole, coffee keeps my body regular, if you know what I mean!  I’ve already had 2 cups today, so I’m in a good mood and can make jokes like that.

Typing all of this makes me realize it’s a little sad to rely so heavily on a liquid beverage to keep my whole world functioning normally.  Maybe that’s why it’s an addiction, it doesn’t always make sense why we need something, we just do.  I suppose there are worse things that I could be addicted to.  If caffeine is my biggest problem, I’ve got it pretty good.  WebMD says 68% of people are addicted to caffeine.  Guess I'm a part of the majority.  It also says "Studies show caffeine can improve memory, decrease fatigue, and improve mental functioning".  Sounds like a good thing to me!  Ok, that is probably a clear sign of an addiction, convincing myself that I'm actually doing a good thing.  Maybe as my kids get a little older I'll work harder at giving it up, but for now I'm going to stick with my 2 cups a day.

What’s your addiction?

Typing all this about coffee, makes me want more coffee.  Should I go for three cups today?  Do I need it, probably not.  Do I want it, yes please!