iced

I admit it.  I liked the N.O. Brew iced coffee extract, but the thought of having to order coffee online every week or two or buying it in bulk online = not so appealing.  The coffee extract I’ve found locally is expensive.  So I searched online.  Of course I could cold brew at home (DUH) instead of making one cup of hot coffee in my Senseo machine and putting it over ice or worse, making a lot of individual cups then and then refrigerating them.  Now I could rig something up myself but I’m not so handy in the kitchen.  There are two home cold brewing options on the market:

and

Honestly?  I wanted the Filtron.  It seems to be older — “the original”, they make a commercial cold brewer.  Their carafe is plastic and having MS and sometimes being unsteady = less chance of breaking that.  The Toddy seems more well known as it’s sold in Seattle’s Best stores, but has a glass carafe.   It’s also cheaper and had shipping that was less than half of the Filtron.  I just couldn’t justify the added expense right now so I went with Toddy for now.  I’m hoping it will sit / fit over a plastic container I have already or I can find ones that will fit with it.

If you like iced coffee, as I do, either of these could be a nice way to make it at home.  I’ve always just brewed up hot coffee at home and refrigerated it.  It’s a pain in the butt.  Not that cold brewing won’t be — you’ll have to brew it for about 12 hours and then refrigerate it.  But it stays in the fridge for 3 weeks or so.  It can also be frozen for a few months.

Serving suggestions for iced = also freeze up some in ice cube trays, limiting that watered down coffee taste if you drink it slow or if you live someplace hot where the ice melts fast.

Of course you can rig something up with a jar and a sieve, but I’m not that brave and I’d probably make a mess of it.

Ohh and if you have a sensitive tummy but love coffee? This gets rid of the acidic flavors. So, it might not be for the die hard coffee drinkers who like that part. But I’ve had regular iced coffees and ones made with extracts / cold brewed both.. And I love it made this way.

Get a clue.  Iced Coffee.  Sell it.  Everywhere.  I don’t mean coffeehouses.  I mean for home use *nods*  Coffee Bean does sell Coffee Extract, for a lot… And I rarely go to Coffee Bean.  So basically I get to make up tons of cups of coffee to refrigerate (because umm yeah I have an espresso maker and a pod coffee maker).  What I wouldn’t give to be able to buy chilled coffee… just coffee.  I like frappuccinos (yeah I probably mutilated that spelling, so?).  But I don’t always want that oh so good sugary crap! ;)  I just want something to add to my soy milk.  Just coffee.  If Coffee Bean can sell extract surely some grocery stores can.  So VONS, get on that, before I go grocery shopping next weekend, k, thanks!

I want iced coffee!  Err ok so I made some, but it’s not the same really, I can’t just make one cup because I know I’ll want some tomorrow and the next day and would rather not go through it every day.  If I bitch about this enough will someone hear?  Doesn’t anyone else drink coffee iced at home?

Hazelnut to be exact. I must admit, while I AM addicted to coffee, I’m not a fan of just coffee. It has to be iced, well the occasional hot latte, but even in winter I prefer iced. And yes it’s those “girly” drinks. Lots of milk, sometimes mochas. No black coffee for me. So perhaps I’m almost the reverse of a coffee snob? It seems like coffee snobs tend to be the ones who are very picky about certain roasts, flavours, blends, whatever. Me? Throw some coffee / espresso and a bunch of milk with some ice and maybe a syrup or chocolate in a cup and I’m happy.

That said, McDonalds iced hazelnut = Yummmy Yummy in my tummy. Yeah, I said it. I might even try the plain iced coffee next time I’m at a McDonalds. I’ll probably skip vanilla though.

Oh, did I say I’m NOT a coffee snob? I am I guess. I’ve found two flavours I don’t think work well in iced coffees = vanilla and honey. I’ve tried the vanilla ones at Starbucks and meh, they just don’t work for me. And also at Starbucks they had a honey latte I thought sounded interesting especially when I was getting over a cold, honey is good for sore throats right? Ohh, honey and iced coffees at least do NOT mix. Not sure about hot ones, but the iced experience was enough to make me not want to find out.