No matter the time of year, I always like having an afternoon drink as a little pick-me-up. A treat to motivate me not to sleep during Eli’s afternoon nap, but to actually get a bit of work done. My all-time favorite afternoon drink in the summer is Starbucks’ Iced Caramel Macchiato, but at four bucks a pop, I knew I needed to find an at-home solution that I loved just as much.
I’ve made iced-coffee in a lot of ways, but keep coming back to this cold-pressed method, that’s really more like a “room-temperature” method. You’ll find tons of ways to do this on the internet, many of them similar, but this is what I’ve found to work for me and our lifestyle. I like making a huge batch of it at the beginning of the week, so my husband can take it to work, and I can drink on the daily as my “special-afternoon drink.”
Here’s how it’s done.
Get a bag of coffee grounds and dump them in to a huge container that can hold at least two gallons of liquid. I’m using an old catering container leftover from a party we hosted. And don’t worry about buying “iced coffee” grounds – I feel like that’s just a hoax to get you to spend extra money on coffee. Your favorite grounds will work great, medium or coarse ground is best, but let’s be honest, you can make anything work.
Next, throw in two gallons of water. And for those of us bad at math, that’s 32 cups in a Pyrex.
Swirl it around a little and get it mixed up. Then throw a cover on it and let it sit, anywhere from 12 – 24 hours. I usually just let it sit overnight and then get to it whenever I can.
When you’re ready, it’s time to strain the grounds. You can do this through a coffee filter, or since I do such a large batch at a time, I use a fine-mesh sieve with a couple layers of cheese cloth. I just set it up over a mixing bowl.
I strain it in a couple batches since it’s so much liquid, so be sure to have your “final container” at the ready.
And ta-da! You’re done! I usually throw mine in a drink dispenser so it’s easy to pour without lifting a giant container from the fridge. (Two gallons of liquid is heavy!) The pic below shows our container about half gone, so it’s not as full as it could be, but that’s just because we drink this stuff super fast.
When you’re ready for your afternoon pick-me-up, just fill up a glass with ice and pour in some coffee. Then add your fixings as you like them – my personal favorite? The one that has replaced my much-loved Caramel Macchiato? Vietnamese coffee – iced coffee with a huge spoonful of sweet and condensed milk.
It’s not for the faint of heart, but I promise, you will love me for it.
Anyone else have an iced-coffee method? If so, would love to hear!
2 comments
How much would you say you yield? I usually make my cold pressed coffee in a French press and get about 3 cups after it is strained, so obviously I have to make it more often…
Where do you get a sieve? I read about using a sieve but don’t know where to get one.