DIY Iced Coffee

Friday I posted some of my favorite pumpkin spiced treats. If you haven't checked those out yet, definitely head over there and pin a couple things for later. Because lemme tell ya, they are pretty dang good. 

Now, I also clarified that it's going to be pretty warm around here in Texas for quite a while. This fantastic DIY iced coffee has been part of my morning routine since school started and I love it. It's very inexpensive and depending on your coffee intake, can last a while! My first batch (which was not a full pound) lasted me two weeks, drinking a glass of iced coffee every day. That means each serving cost me about $0.57 (before half and half and syrup). If I bought a plain iced coffee at Starbucks, it's $2.65.  Made at home= $8 total. Bought at Starbucks= $37 total. That difference adds up pretty quick! 

This cold brewed coffee also is much less acidic than your regular ol' drip coffee which is definitely easier on my stomach!

Now I realize that everyone and their mother has seen the Pioneer Woman's recipe from whence this came but I wanted to show anyone wavering on whether or not to try this out that it's well worth it. 

What You'll Need:
1 lb ground coffee (darker and richer is better)
2 gallons water
2 large containers to hold water and coffee
strainer/colander
cheesecloth/paper towels 

What To Do:
First, take your ground coffee and pour it into a large container. I used a gigantic mixing bowl. I've also used a soup pot to do this. I believe Ree uses a large plastic container.

Then pour the water over it and mix together so that all of the grounds are wet.

(It bubbled up and reminded me of the movie The Labyrinth. 10 Points if you can tell me why!)

Cover this mixture and let it sit for at least eight hours. I left mine overnight. 

Whenever you're ready to move on, get ready to strain your mixture!  Prepare another large container and place your strainer over it with a cheesecloth in it. I don't actually have a fine mesh strainer or a cheesecloth so I took my giant soup pot and placed it in the sink. Then I set my colander over it and covered it with two paper towels (side by side). I used Brawny paper towels and they never ripped, they allowed the liquid to strain through and did not allow coffee grounds to leak out. Perfect.

If your strainer/colander is large enough, pour your entire mixture into it and let it strain. It will take a while.

If you're like me and it is not big enough, use a cup to start scooping liquid into the colander to strain.

Since the container I was straining the liquid into wasn't large enough to hold all the liquid, I stopped halfway through to pour it into my quart size mason jars. Once you've completed the reminder of the straining process, discard the coffee grounds and refrigerate your iced coffee concentrate!

Store airtight and refrigerated in Mason jars, pitchers with lids, storage containers, etc. Unfortunately none of my pitchers have lids, so this is how I store mine! 

[Please note my ridiculously tiny counter space. Also note the yellow splatter painted microwave. Yeah, that's the work of my sister. Does anyone know anything about removing paint from appliances? ]

Ice, add cream and sweeteners, and enjoy! 

Stay tuned for instructions on making a delicious caramel syrup to add as a flavored sweetener to your iced coffee! 

DIY Mocha Frappe

For my birthday this year, my wonderful-beyond-words sister gifted me with 

a Mr. Coffee Cafe Frappe machine. I call him Fred. Fred the Frappe Machine.

This makes my heart happy. See, I'm not sure if you picked up on it when I talked about pumpkin spice lattes, but I spend way too much at Starbucks (and used to at McDonald's until I discovered how many calories their frappes have. Yikes!)

Fred makes it super simple to create my own frappes right at home!

He's a coffee maker/blender combination. 

Now, my recipe will work if you brew your stuff and use a regular blender- 

this just saves me a step.

There are two methods that I use to make a great frappe. 

The first is hot brewed:

Brew about 1/4 cup very strong coffee. 

Pour immediately into blender with:

• 1 1/2 cups ice
• 3/4 cups milk- (sometimes i'm really bad and use heavy cream)
• splash of simple syrup
• 2 Tbsp chocolate syrup (or caramel or whatever flavor you'd like!)

Blend to your desired consistency, adding ice or milk as needed. Top with whipped cream and drizzle with chocolate syrup. Mmmmm!

To minimize weakening of your overall coffee flavor, you can also brew your hot coffee, let it cool in the fridge and then blend.

In the past, things that haven't worked have been

• using too much coffee
• using weak coffee
• using granulated sugar
• waiting too long to blend (thus melting the ice and weakening your drink)

The other method is cold brewed! 

Cold brewed coffee can be used for frappes or iced coffee and has much less acid than hot brewed coffee. So, if you're planning ahead, this is a good way to go. 

What you'll do is soak coffee grounds in water for at least 8 hours (overnight is even better! the longer, the more flavor transfer) The ratio of grounds to water will depend on what you're making it for. If you're making iced coffee, use 1 oz coffee per 1 cup water. For the frappe, I'd triple that amount. 

Once it's all soaked and set, filter the mixture through a fine mesh strainer. I used a colander with coffee filters since I don't have fancy kitchen things (besides Fred, that is).

Once it's all strained, refrigerate up to month in an airtight container 

Use the same measurements to blend a mocha frappe as the hot brewed directions. Yum!

Iced Coffee recipe coming soon, so stay tuned.