Making Cold Brewed Coffee For Ice Coffee

You learn so much when you write  a coffee blog. Here I had always made ice coffee from hot coffee or espresso. Now I know you can make frappe from instant or soluble coffee.

Well, I learned yesterday you can cold brew coffee to make ice coffee. You don't need as much ice so there's less of a problem with watery ice coffee. Basically you make your own coffee concentrate.

Cold brewed coffee gives a totally different taste to your coffee.  With cold brewing you'll have less acid in the coffee so for those folks with sensitive stomachs, this is a real bonus.

Some say the coffee is sweeter, I just think cold brewed coffee is smoother. Plus it makes fantastic ice coffee.

You need to plan ahead, but oh the coffee taste. You get to adjust the degree of coffee taste by the amount of coffee you add to your mixture.

Here's a recipe to try:

Ingredients Needed:

• Coffee beans
• Covered container or pitcher which holds 1 quart
• Coffee filter

Steps:

1. Coarsely grind coffee beans of your choice. You'll need about 2/3 of cup of ground beans when you are finished.
2. Fill the container or pitcher with  3 cups of cold water.
3. Add the ground coffee  to the container(or pitcher) and stir to mix.
4. Put the container (or pitcher) on the counter or set aside at room temperature for at least 12 hours or overnight.
5. In the morning strain the mixture through coffee filter or fine sieve.

You can keep the concentrate in the refrigerator for up to one week (if it lasts that long).

Mix the coffee concentrate in a 1:1 ratio with cold water. So for one tablespoon of concentrate you would add one tablespoon of water (or to taste).

For those of you who want a sweet ice coffee ready to drink, here's the  Dulce de Leche Ice Coffee recipe:

• Take one  2 qt pitcher.  Add 3 cups of coffee concentrate and 3 cups of cold water.
• Add  3 tbsp of dulce de leche* (if available) and stir.  Or you can use  one can (14 oz) of sweetened condensed milk.
• Refrigerate and enjoy whenever you want a glass of refreshing smooth ice coffee.
• Top with whipped cream if you wish or just drink as is.

 *dulce de leche is a carmel style sauce/topping popular in Latin America. My girlfriend keeps a jar  in the refrigerator to use as an ice cream topping, in recipes or as a coffee sweetener. This is powerfully sweet. A little dulce de leche goes a long way but  eh, you're free to add more. It also dissolves nicely in cold liquids.

Not the usual grind,

 Tip of the mug to S W Yang for the photo of the ice coffee.