Coffee is Liquid Happiness

I am a coffee addict. I started drinking coffee when I was a little kid because I wanted to be like my aunt Mimi. She and her sophisticated friends would get together, gossip and drink coffee. After most of my teen years were spent hanging out at my local Starbucks drinking grande skim mochas, I started working there when I was 18. I earned my certified barista cred which only cemented my status as a supreme coffee snob. My kitchen is filled with every possible coffee gadget. I have a 4 cup drip coffee maker, a stainless steel french press, an espresso machine, a coffee grinder and a Tassimo single serve machine.

Iced coffee is something I love in the summer months but I've always had a hard time getting it perfect. Just brewing regular coffee and putting it over ice dilutes the coffee flavor. Brewing a double strength batch to put over ice still has almost a burnt quality that subtracts from the pure coffee goodness a good glass of iced coffee should have. I am a big fan of Ree Drummond, also known as the Pioneer Woman. Her blog and cooking show are a great source of inspiration to me as a regular mom who has a passion for food and for life. One of her most popular posts is one in which she provides instructions for making cold brew iced coffee. I tried it and I believe I have finally found the perfect way to relax with a delicious iced coffee.

On the internet you can find several good ratios for cold brew iced coffee concentrate. The one I used is 1 cup of ground coffee to 2 1/2 cups of cold water but you can tinker with the ratio to find what works for you.

Simply measure out your coffee grounds and put them into a large container. Plastic works best, but I didn't have anything handy so I used one of my large cooking pots. For my first experiment, I used my favorite Starbucks variety, Sumatra.

Then add your cold water, stir, cover and let this yummy sludge sit for 24 hours.

When your brew time is up, simply strain the liquid coffee concentrate to remove the coffee grinds. You can do this using a mesh strainer with cheese cloth inside or if you have one, use a french press. Here's mine.

Once you have your finished liquid concentrate, move it to a more permanent storage vessel, like a plastic drink pitcher, and refrigerate.

This iced coffee is fabulous with milk and served as is over ice, or blended into a "Fakeaccino".

Simply add your desired amounts of ice, coffee concentrate, milk and chocolate or caramel syrup to a blender and give it a whirl. You can add whipped cream and more syrup to the top if you happen to have it on hand. What I prefer to do is go a little light on the ice and allow the milk to froth slightly in the blender. This gives your "fakeaccino" an almost cappuccino like foam on top that is, in my opinion, even better than whipped cream.

Does anyone have a straw?