Perfect Iced Coffee

I grew up in an itty bitty small town in Colorado.  I always knew I was destined for the "big city".  After all, out of the whopping 32 (?) people that were in my graduating class, 12 of us (the Dirty Dozen) started kindergarten together.  With barely a wave goodbye later, I went to college in the Seattle area and fell in love with it.  One thing Seattle is known for, aside from rain, is coffee.  I became addicted instantly, especially to iced coffee drinks.  On my first trip back home, depression set in when I saw there was not a coffee stand in sight.  I just sat on a hay bale and watched the tumble weeds blow....sigh.  Just kidding.  Well, kinda :)
Eventually, marriage and kids takes over and you find other things to do with your money than spend $5.00 a day on a coffee drink.  $5.00 a day....$35.00 a week....$151-ish a month....$1820 a year.  Yeah, it adds up.  So, I tried doing the "responsible" thing and make them at home.  I would take hot coffee and pour it over ice.  Bleck, it was just a watered down mess.  I would take leftover coffee and put it in the fridge, but it always turned bitter and acidic.  So, imagine the happy dance I jigged when I saw Mommy's Kitchen put a technique on her site that cold brewed coffee into a coffee concentrate that is way less acidic and bitter than just sticking coffee in the fridge.  YES!  I tried it and immediately fell in LOVE!  Do yourself a favor and start a batch of this tonight and tomorrow you too can sip on a scrumptious, just the way you like it, stickin' it to the man Iced Coffee!


Perfect Iced Coffee

• 1-Cup ground coffee - fresh ground is great but not necessary
• 32 ounces cold water
• small pinch of baking soda
• Favorite Milk Substitute
• Cream or Half and Half, optional
• Choice of sweetener, optional
• Choice of protein powder, optional

Equipment:

• 1 Glass container with lid to hold at least 32 ounces. You can use a canning jar, or like me, a washed large applesauce jar.
• 1 smaller glass jar with lid to store coffee concentrate in fridge. I used a washed out spaghetti sauce jar.
• French Press

        OR

• Strainer
• Coffee filters - largest you can find. Not the cone shape, but the bucket/basket shape. I changed filters after straining half of the mixture.

Place coffee grounds in container. Pour 32 ounces (4 cups) cold water over the coffee grounds. Put on the lid and gently swish to get all the grounds wet. Let it sit on the counter overnight, or 12-15 hours. Pour coffee mixture into your french press and press this amazing concentrate OR place your strainer over a large bowl, and put a coffee filter inside the strainer. Slowly pour coffee into the filter and allow it to sit until it has drained through. As I said, I changed filters about half way through. Keep straining the coffee mixture through a filter until jar is empty. Pour coffee concentrate in another smaller jar along with a small pinch of baking soda to keep in fridge for further use.

To make the iced coffee, fill a glass with ice and mix equal amounts of coffee concentrate and choice of milk alternative, or water depending how you like it. I like to add in a good splash of cream or half and half to make it nice and thick and rich.  Add sweeteners if desired. I have made it using 1/2 cup coffee concentrate and 1/2 cup chocolate almond milk, splash of cream, and some Truvia  making a yummy mocha-ish drink, I have also made it using 1/2 cup coffee concentrate and 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk, adding 1/2 scoop of low sugar vanilla protein powder. You could even get fancy and blend the coffee concentrate with ice, add some dark chocolate or sugar free chocolate chips, chocolate almond milk, top with some Redi-Whip...Viola! Mocha Frappacino! What is great about this is you can totally adjust it to how you like it with flavors or control the amount of sugar and fat with the type of sweeteners and milk product you use.  Plus, once you have the coffee concentrate made, whipping up a scrumptious, HEALTHY coffee drink takes under a minute!

You can also make 1-cup hot coffee by using the same method and heating it up.