Cold Brewed Iced Coffee

It's a simple tale: there was a time when we didn't own a coffee maker and I had been CRAVING coffee for some time.  Starbucks?  Psht,  ridiculously overpriced and even though McDonalds has the McCafe going on, I'm still not convinced it's worth paying $2+ for an iced coffee.  Our already pinched pennies had to be pinched for the better good despite my wants!  Boo hoo for me!

I heard about something called 'cold brew' in which you soak coffee grounds overnight and strain it using the 'concentrate' to make your coffee.  I found this fascinating!  I can get my coffee fix AND not have to deal with another appliance on my already crowded kitchen counter.  Yippee!!!

Easy enough .. or is it?!?!?!?

Find yourself a container with a lid and empty your coffee into it for its overnight stay.

Use 1 1/2 c. water per 1/3 c. ground coffee, completely covering your coffee grounds.  Place a lid on your container and let it rest at room temperature overnight or 12 hours.

Make sure you have something guarding its safety .. my Delft cow creamer was up to the task at hand.

Strain your concentrate through a fine mesh sieve or some cheesecloth, making sure not to let any grounds escape.  I strain it into a container with a lid so I can mix everything together and pour into my glass.  I usually put a coffee filter in my sieve so I don't have a lot of grounds to mess with.  Even after it's drained, I'll wrap my ball of coffee grounds in two more filters and squeeze out the excess liquid that's hiding.   I want every bit of coffee I can get!

You will need to add an equal amount of water to your concentrate and if you like, some creamer or sweetener to jazz it up.

Once combined, shake it up in your container and pour your concoction over ice into either a fancy or a not so fancy plastic cup .. whatever works for you!

Looks good, doesn't it?  Looks strangely familiar, right?  And it tastes absolutely delicious .. for less $$!