DIY Iced Coffee

I LOVE iced coffee, but oddly enough, I do not love hot coffee at all. I like lattes, and frappucinos, and all the hot drinks that ultimately make the concoction taste far far away from plain coffee. Regular coffee? Yuck. You will never catch me drinking coffee with cream and sugar in it, I just do NOT like the taste of bitter coffee. And unfortunately, too much coffee gives me a zinging headache, so I have to be careful with my consumption. But iced coffee, particularly McDonald's iced coffee... bliss. Dollar drink days in the summer= happiness. Probably because flavoured iced coffee is sweet and watered down and just how I like it!

So I decided to make my own. It's SO much better when you can say I made this myself. That, and ultimately it's saving money and a lot of plastic cups from going in the garbage (recycling!).

This is probably the easiest thing I will ever post on this blog.

Yield: 8 quarts (about 7 1/2 litres)
Ingredients:

1 pound coffee grounds of your choice (I used a dark roast, which resulted in a very very strong coffee base... not the most ideal for me!)
8 quarts cold water (1 quart= slightly over 4 cups)
1 very large container
Fine mesh strainer
Cheese cloth or coffee filters
Containers to put the strained coffee in, such as saved 2 ltr pop bottles

Directions:
Combine the cold water and coffee grounds in a large container that can be covered. Stir the grounds a bit so all of them get coated with water. Now sit back, and let it sit for 8 hours or overnight! This is the cold-brew method. It removes the acidity from the coffee that you would get from hot-brewing, and results in a much smoother product (so I've read... since I don't drink coffee regularly I really have no idea, but it tastes good to me!)

Once your grounds have soaked for the 8 hours, here comes the fun part (not)! You must strain out the grounds from the water. Do this by slowly pouring, or ladling the mixture into a fine mesh strainer that is lined with a cheese cloth or a  coffee filter. If using a cheese cloth, double or triple up the layers. More layers equals less chance of very fine grinds getting through. If using a coffee filter, you'll have to change it out for a new one every once in awhile. Sorry, I don't have a picture for this step!

Pour the strained coffee into bottles or containers that may be sealed, and put it in the fridge to cool. Once it's cool, it's ready to be drank!

Add lots of ice to a cup...

Fill cup about 3/4 full with coffee...

Top up with whatever you want! Cream, milk, flavoured syrups...
My favourite so far that I've found is a combination of milk with a mixture containing sweetened condensed milk and evaporated milk (touches that sweet spot in me!). What you do is combine a can of sweetened condensed milk and a can of evaporated milk, shake it up and there you go! Make sure to keep it refrigerated in the mean time.

Give it a good shake or stir and you're all set. Easy peasy. And delicious. Pin It