Iced Coffee

I am addicted to coffee, and I am so grateful that my addiction is a socially acceptable one and that so many companies enable me to satisfy it (Caribou, Stumptown, how I miss Stumptown coffee, Peet's, to name a few....). One of the worst parts about living in Ireland for six months was the terrible coffee. The tea was fine, but as we all know, tea is not the same as coffee, as Seinfeld said tea is yard work, leaves and bags and yard work has never been my thing. However, something good came out of that situation, I was researching how to make coffee without any specialized equipment (making french press coffee without a french press and not making a giant mess can be quite difficult, also using paper towels as coffee filters doesn't work too well... trust me) I stumbled across cold brew coffee. You may know about the beauty that is cold brew and how delicious the iced coffee that comes from this process is, if not you should try it. It is so simple I almost feel silly dedicating an entire post to it, but I do take my coffee seriously.

Start with coffee beans. I ground these myself, but you don't have to do that.

Place the beans in your container. I use a french press because it is easy and fits nicely in the fridge but you could use any pitcher or jar you have around. I also use about the same ratio of beans to water that I do when I make regular coffee.

Add cold water and make sure all of the grounds are wet. Pop it in the fridge for about 12 hours.

Once it is ready, either press the plunger down (if it's a french press) or pour it through a coffee filter or fine sieve to get the grounds out. Now it is ready to drink. I hear you can keep it in the fridge for up to 2 weeks, but I wouldn't know, it barely lasts 2 days around here.