I've long been an iced tea drinker. In fact, family lore includes the story of my grandmother curing me at the age of 6 months of a bout of intestinal distress with her super-sweet iced tea in my bottles. As toddlers, she began giving all of her grandchildren something we called "tea milk". It would start as mostly milk with a splash of very sweet iced tea, with the ratio of tea to milk increasing as we got older. We all loved her tea which was nearly sweet enough to stand a spoon upright in it. I admit I did the same with my own kids. Lisa, in particular, refused to take a bottle so at about 11 months I tried regular milk with a little sweet tea. She loved it and yes, her pediatrician knew about it.
Grandma also passed along a love of hot tea to all her grandchildren. One of many fond childhood memories is of her fixing me a cup of hot tea in one of her bluish-green melamine cups and saucers and bringing it to me to sip in front of the furnace on chilly winter mornings. She always used Lipton tea and added plenty of sugar and milk. Again, I shared this habit with my kids although at some point we all became lovers of Earl Grey tea instead of Lipton.
And by now you're probably wondering why this post is titled "Iced Coffee" when all I've done is talk about tea. I'm getting there; I promise. So, for all my childhood and young adulthood, tea, both hot and cold, was a big part of my life. I didn't begin drinking coffee until my 30s when I developed severe asthma. Coffee contains a compound that can help asthmatics breathe a little easier so I taught myself to drink it. I'm still a big tea drinker but have also come to love a good cup of coffee. But it must be GOOD coffee. I buy whole beans, grind them fresh for each pot and make it in a French press. I'm pretty much a coffee snob - I admit it.
Now I have a new obsession. Can you guess? Yep. Iced Coffee. The Pioneer Woman recently shared her method for making iced coffee concentrate and I decided to give it a whirl. It's a fairly lengthy process although not difficult. And it is quite a treat to have a few bottles of this stuff in the fridge so I can have a glass of iced coffee whenever the mood strikes.
Take a look at PW's post and pictures of the process. She's the pro so I didn't think there was any point in reinventing the wheel. I did, however, snap a photo of the straining process in my kitchen:
It's hard to tell from the photo but that pan on the right is a large Dutch oven. That's a toaster oven behind it, for size reference. And since I don't happen to have any cheesecloth I've been using coffee filters. We haven't had a regular coffee maker for several years but I still have a couple of boxes of filters in the dark recesses of a cupboard and this works.
I will share a few helpful hints. First, make sure you have enough containers and enough room in your refrigerator for the quantity of concentrate you decide to make. PW's recipe makes two gallons. I cut that in half and was still scrambling for bottles to put it in. I ended up washing out a Ketel One vodka bottle for the last of it which could be confusing for guests who might open my refrigerator.
Second, the straining process takes a very. long. time. Like, most of the day if you don't plan to stand there continuously. Each time I'd walk into the kitchen I'd scoop more into the strainer and let it drip. A friend suggested a two-step straining process and that did seem to speed it up a little. The first time, simply use the strainer without cheesecloth or a coffee filter. That gets most of the grounds out. Then strain again with your filter of choice. Any way you look at it, it's going to take awhile but once it's done you are left with a delicious, very handy brew ready to turn into refreshing iced coffee.
Third, PW only fills her glass about half full of coffee and the rest with milk. I don't tolerate large amounts of milk very well so my iced coffee is mostly coffee with just a splash of whole milk, plus a couple of teaspoons of organic sugar. I've also been trying half sugar and half Stevia, which is still quite tasty and fewer calories.
Lastly, I would recommend purchasing a set of glass straws for your iced coffee. This eliminates the waste of disposable straws and really makes your drink feel like a special treat.
