Posts Tagged ‘coffee’

And only one thing will make it better: delicious, homemade, cold-brewed iced coffee!

Homemade Iced Coffee

Add a little splash of half-and-half (or soy milk if that’s your thing), and you’ve got yourself a seriously yummy caffeine jolt. It’s just what the doctor ordered in the middle of the afternoon.

I love coffee.  I probably developed my coffee habit when I was an undergrad.  We would often spend the evenings studying at the local IHOP® with a bottomless pot of coffee, memorizing organic reaction mechanisms in a caffeine-fueled frenzy.  (TIP: If you study while caffeinated, it helps to take exams while caffeinated too).  Naturally, my taste in coffee has progressed with my income.  In college, I was doing well to afford the bottomless pot of IHOP® coffee, but now that I’m an adult with a steady income, I’ve become something of a coffee snob: as in, Starbucks only works for me if I’m out of other options.  I now buy whole beans, grind them fresh at home, and make my own coffee. This includes making iced coffee for myself when the weather turns warmer.

French Press of Iced Coffee

Personally, I like nothing better than starting a warm day on my upper veranda with my laptop and a nice round of iced coffee.  I’ve had the best success making cold-brewed coffee in a French press.  I know some people like to make the coffee hot and then let it cool, but I think it tastes incredibly bitter!  If you like bitter, then chilling hot-brewed coffee is for you. I prefer my iced coffees to be smooth – so smooth you don’t need to add sugar.  They make specialized coffee toddy brewers, but they are totally unnecessary if you own a French press.  Plus, a French press is way more versatile. I don’t even own a regular drip coffee machine.  I brew regular coffee in a French press, too, when I’m not making espresso with my espresso machine.

INGREDIENTS: (makes 2 servings)

*  1 cup fresh, coarsely ground coffee

*  2 cups water

*  French Press

DIRECTIONS:

Place the ground coffee into the French press and add 2 cups filtered cold water.  Stir the grounds well and let stand for 5 minutes.  Stir the grounds again, place the lid on the French Press (but don’t press it down!) and leave in the refrigerator for 12 hours or overnight.

In the morning, press the coffee and serve in a tall glass with ice.  You can add milk and sugar if you prefer, though sweetening a cold beverage with some simple syrup means no annoying undissolved sugar lumps.  Enjoy!