Fantabulous Iced Coffee
I made perhaps the best cup of iced coffee ever this morning, thanks to some prep I did yesterday afternoon.
First off, it’s important to know some of the background behind iced coffee. You can’t make it the same way you make iced tea, by simply pouring hot tea over ice. When you do that with a cuppa joe, the result is a weak, tepid cuppa crap. Some people (coffee shops, especially) get around this by doing a cold-brewed coffee. I get around it by making coffee in advance and letting it chill in the refrigerator overnight.
By itself, though, that’s not enough for a fantabulous iced coffee. Additionally, you have to take sweetening into account. I like my hot coffee black, but my cold coffee requires some sweetening and some milk. Sugar does not dissolve well into iced coffee. Some people use artificial sweetener instead, because it does dissolve well. I have no patience for this imitation sugar and its displeasurable aftertaste, so I stubbornly use real sugar, or, if I’m on my game, make a simple syrup to use in my coffee. Even with a sugar syrup, though, you’re still not quite to fantabulous.
I reached fantabulous by making a coffee syrup for my coffee. I took 1 1/2 cups from a full pot of coffee, mixed it with about 1 1/2 cups of sugar, and brought it to a boil. As it heated, added a couple of shakes of cinnamon and a few runs across the grater of nutmeg. I let the syrup simmer for about ten minutes, poured it into its own pyrex container to cool, then added it back in with the regular coffee and put it in the fridge overnight.
This morning, I poured a cup of the sweet, cold coffee over a few ice cubes and a bit of milk. The result is a sweet, subtly spiced iced coffee the likes of which are not available at any coffee shop I know. Nice guy that I am, I’ve decided to share my secret with the (small portion of the) world (who reads this blog). Take advantage of my generosity and make yourself a fantabulous iced coffee. You’ll be glad you did!
October 4th, 2007 at 2:59 pm
Try this for a great iced coffee… http://www.coolbrew.com
October 4th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
Coffee puts the system under the strain of metabolizing a deadly acid-forming drug, depositing its insoluble cellulose, which cements the wall of the liver, causing this vital organ to swell to twice its proper size. In addition, coffee is heavily sprayed. (Ninety-two pesticides are applied to its leaves.) Diuretic properties of caffeine cause potassium and other minerals to be flushed from the body.
All this fear went away when I quit, and it was a book that inspired me to do it called The Truth About Caffeine by Marina Kushner. There are five things I liked about this book:
1) It details–thoroughly–the ways in which caffeine may damage your health.
2) It reveals the damage that coffee does to the environment. Specifically, coffee was once grown in the shade, so that trees were left in place. Then sun coffee was introduced, allowing greater yields but contributing to the destruction of rain forests. I haven’t seen this mentioned anywhere else.
3) It explains how best to go off coffee. This is important. If you try cold turkey, as most people probably do, the withdrawal symptoms will likely drive you right back to coffee.
4) Helped me find a great resource for the latest studies at CaffeineAwareness.org
5) Also, if you drink decaf you won’t want to miss this special free report on the dangers of decaf available at http://www.soyfee.com
October 4th, 2007 at 4:21 pm
I don’t get why someone would pay for “coffee concentrate”, so I am assuming that is a company rep posting up there.
Anyway, I usually like to sweeten mine with a little bit of chocoate syrup, but that coffee syrup sounds like it would be good on ice cream, especially a warm brownie sundae!
October 4th, 2007 at 5:13 pm
If you want to get the same effect in less time use a little bit of sweetened condensed milk in your coffee instead of the sugar and milk. It can be found in lowfat and fatfree varieties too.
As for the person who thinks that coffee is bad for you…you haven’t been reading the latest research on coffee and caffeine.
Coffee contains loads of anti-oxidants. It protects the liver from the damaging affects of alcohol and contributes to mental acuity. Coffee isn’t the villain it was a few years ago.
Of course adding milk or cream to coffee or tea seems to deaden their health benefits but it sure make coffee tasty.
October 5th, 2007 at 11:32 am
Both of the first two comments sound like shills for something to me.. The Soy fee thing sounds pretty much the same as the one below it.
One suggestion for you on the whole “Pouring coffee over ice” thing for you is to make coffee cubes. Get a ice cube tray, fill it with coffee and freeze the sucker.. When you pour your coffee over them, it does not dilute your drink.
October 5th, 2007 at 12:15 pm
Wow, 1.5 cups of sugar per pot of coffee is a LOT of sugar.
I usually use caster sugar for dissolving in cold drinks. It’s a lot more convenient than simple syrup.
October 5th, 2007 at 1:57 pm
Samantha’s comments about the health effects of coffee/caffeine are scary… Harvard med school says you’re fine if you drink a few cups a day…
http://www.health.harvard.edu/press_releases/coffee_health_risk.htm
I do believe that coffee is mildly addictive…
Jesse: what’s the consensus on the health impacts?
October 7th, 2007 at 12:38 am
Jesse, that sweetened, ided coffee sounds like it would make an excellent granita di caffe.
October 7th, 2007 at 12:38 am
“Ided” = “iced”
October 8th, 2007 at 5:21 pm
Re: Adam’s comment–it was a bit sweet; I’ll likely cut back a bit on the sugar next time I make it; what I really liked about it was the cinnamon and nutmeg flavors that were simmered into the syrup.
Re: Shaz–I’d trust Harvard’s opinion regarding its safety/ lack of health risks when drunk in moderation; it is somewhat addictive and a regular coffee drinker can expect to have headaches on days that they don’t have any. However, the concerns raised by Samantha regarding the pesticides and growing practices aren’t unfounded, either. Major brand coffees (think Folger’s or Maxwell House) tend to be sun grown because that’s the cheapest way to produce coffee as a commodity. Most specialty coffees (more expensive, whole bean) are shade grown nowadays because there has been such a large consumer backlash regarding deforestation. If you have any questions about the growing practices associated with your coffee, purchase your beans directly from a coffee roaster, who should be able to tell you more about the source of the coffee. Any certified fair trade coffee is generally shade grown; many are also certified organic.
Re: Courtney–I think I’ll make a batch of the syrup sometime soon and chill it especially for use on an ice cream sundae. I’ll let you know how it came out.
October 13th, 2007 at 9:39 pm
My friend keeps pouring old coffee into a pitcher to make iced coffee, but she never completely empties it. She just keeps pouring more and more coffee in every day. Won’t she eventually poison herself?