Archive for August 17th, 2011

Something strange happened to me yesterday morning–something that hasn’t happened in months: on my walk to the subway I stopped in to my usual coffee shop and realized I wanted a hot not an iced coffee.  Fall was in the air.  After about 36 hours of constant rain, the air was cool and damp.  The oppressive heat and humidity seem to have passed.

Still, I’m sure the summer and fall have more than a couple iced coffee mornings left in them; which means that I need to get back to making my own.  With the transition back into work life, I’ve been full of excuses about how busy I am in the morning.  Sure making regular coffee takes a minute and I might actually have an excuse there.  But making your own iced coffee is really so easy I don’t have one for not doing it myself.’

How to Make Iced Coffee:

The hard way to make iced coffee is to make regular coffee and put it in the fridge.  The easy way to make the stuff is to grind some beans (about two grinders’ worth of grounds) put them in a pitcher with some cool water and let it sit over night in the fridge.  That’s it.   Under the easy way, after 12 hours the coffee is a little weak, but each day you let it sit the flavor builds.  In general, I prefer the flavor of the easy way–a little less bitter.

Now all you need is a travel mug full of ice and a little simple syrup and you’re good to start your day.  The time?  Less than the wait at the coffee shop.

You can use sugar instead of simple syrup, but because the coffee is cold the sugar doesn’t like to dissolve and it will make the iced beverage grainy.  And making your own simple syrup is, well, simple.

How to Make Simple Syrup:

You need only two ingredients: sugar and water.  Put the water in a pot on the stove, heat to just below any simmering or bubbling, and then add some sugar, stir until the sugar dissolves, and repeat until the water doesn’t seem to be taking any more (e.g. the sugar isn’t dissolving any more).  [Or just use the two parts sugar to one part water ratio Rick points out in the comments.]  Find a bottle to put the sweet stuff in and that’s it.  I used an old, well rinsed, scotch bottle myself.

I haven’t done the actual math, but iced coffee always seems to be insanely expensive—it’s time to enjoy some savings along with the last of the warm weather.