Riot and Frolic

Yes.  Coffee.  You are delicious.

Let me tell you some stories about coffee.  

– I have a strong memory of the sound of my dad stirring his coffee in the morning.  Groggy from sleep, I would shift into consciousness hearing the clicking of his spoon against a mug.  Anytime I hear that sound, I think of my dad.

– At Amore Coffee (Cafe Amore?), I was waiting for my Mexican Mocha (with cinnamon and chili powder- yowza!) and watching the barista make shots o' espresso when I noticed his tamper.  

Info: a tamper is the doohickey on the right, which smooshes the espresso grounds in the shot maker (a portafilter) to make a delicious shot.

His tamper was pretty.  It was made of wood like the one in the picture, but prettier.  I felt like I was hitting on him in some weird-coffee-geek kind of way by asking him, "What's with your tamper?"  If I was single, and a real coffee geek, I probably would have asked him to marry me right there when I heard his answer.  He had it custom-made out of lilac wood to fit his palm.  That was one sexy tamper.  

– I have been experimenting with making my own iced coffee since baby #1 was kicking around inside my belly.  I crave cold and icy things when preggo, and coffee freezing cold (yeah, I know, pregnant ladies aren't supposed to drink coffee… or go running, or move heavy boxes and furniture, or compete in ballroom dance competitions, or have a glass of wine, or do anything fun) is ever so good.  So besides trying all my local coffee shops' versions of cold press/iced coffee, I decided to try my own.  

Just like the other people who search for the perfect hot cup via every brand of filtered water, trying different coarseness of grind, the best water temperature, and method of brewing, I'm going for the cold version.  And everyone has their own version there, too.  Two of my lovely co-workers have described to me their happy iced beverage brew.  I don't learn well by listening, though, and took to the interwebs.  

I like Smitten Kitchen's version.  I like her description of the result, also.  I toyed around with that version and my adorable co-worker's recipe and came up with this:

Iced Coffee (cold brew)

– 1 & 1/3 cups coarse ground coffee, ideally: regular grinds will work, too, but you might have some sludge in the bottom of the brewing container, therefore you would have to filter it more, or drink it and be really excited for a few extra hours.

– 6 cups of water: filtered is great, but tap is fine.  I'm a cheap non-snob.  Cold or room temperature, doesn't matter.

– cheesecloth: about a foot square and about four layers

– a big jar or pitcher

Put your coffee in the middle of the cheesecloth and tie one knot with the upper left to lower right corner and another knot with the other two corners.  Your knots don't have to be real tight.  Not much will fall out.  Put your package in the jar and pour the water in.  Let it sit for awhile.  I like my coffee strong, so I started it at night and drank it in the morning.  It's very, very dark when it's ready.  Pour over ice and drink!

I hear you can also dump the grounds and water in the jar and just let it sit, without the whole cheesecloth thing.  I like my way because 1) I like making the little package 2) you have to strain it through something anyway when it's done.  That straining mechanism is cheesecloth or a coffee filter, or whatever else you can MacGyver, so I win.  Winning!

I also made my own vanilla syrup, because I'm cheap and don't want to buy a bottle of Torani for $10. 

Vanilla Syrup

– 1 cup of water

– 1 cup of sugar

– 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Boil water and sugar until "water" is clear- 5 minutes?  Take simple syrup (that's what you just made) off the stove and put in the vanilla.  Done.

This also works if you want hazelnut or almond, or whatever.  Just sub whatever flavored extract you'd like for the vanilla extract.

That $4 that you saved?  You can send it to me.  

Suit up.