Anytime you return to work from a nice long weekend or vacation there is that moment of sadness. Reality swoops in and reminds you that the last few days are what you work for, live for even. I find that this “back to reality” process is best coped with following a cold glass of iced coffee. Hot coffee is fine in the winter, but summer calls for a specialty cold brewed cup of joe. It awakens my mind, makes me alert and ready to seize the day. Since I have to jump back in to reality, why not do it fully energized and motivated?
I did a little research on cold brewing coffee to see what all the hype was all about. It turned out to be quite fascinating, to me anyways. The cold brew process allows the coffee to maintain a nice mild flavor opposed to the bitter aftertaste many iced coffees have. Apparently, when the coffee heats up and then gets cooled down it creates that flavor. I personally prefer a smooth iced coffee, so this was an immediate plus in the cold brew coffee department.
I also learned that the coffee beans do not release as much caffeine when you cold brew yet the flavor released is just as much as heated brews. Since I tend to chug iced coffee opposed to sipping my hot mugs,…..this was also a plus.
Finally, I looked at how exactly you go about cold brewing coffee. What I found made me laugh. It is SO simple. Like, how have I never done this before? You grind, soak, strain, voila! The hardest part was deciding what to mix with my iced coffee to make it a true masterpiece. I decided upon chocolate cashew milk! Silk has a new line of cashew milks and they are amazing! At the time of this coffee experiment I had only had the unsweetened original and it was so creamy and delicious that I just KNEW the chocolate version had to be tasty! Sure enough, it was. The mix between perfectly brewed iced coffee and creamy chocolate cashew milk made this the ultimate Iced Mocha Coffee-aka: the best way to get over post vacation blues!
Whip up a batch, get creative if you must. Creamer would work just fine too, I am sure, if you want to go with a different flavor than mocha. Let me know what you decide on in the comments below! Also, take a picture and use my hashtag #peppersandpeaches on instagram and twitter, I love to see your concoctions!
- 1 cup ground coffee beans
- 2 quarts water
- 1 quart chocolate milk (I used Silk Chocolate Cashew Milk)
- Cheesecloth
- Combine ground coffee and water in a medium sized container. Place in fridge for at least 8 hours, overnight is best.
- Remove coffee ground mixture from fridge. Take a fine meshed strainer and place cheesecloth inside strainer. I doubled my cheesecloth up for extra filtration.
- Place strainer over a bowl. I used a small bowl and worked in batches. However, you could use a large bowl and do it all at once. I simply found it was easier for me to use the small bowl by myself.
- Slowly pour coffee mixture into strainer, being careful not to let any grounds slip through.
- Once all coffee ground mixture has been strained, place strained mixture in air tight container for storage.
- Take your glass of choice and fill with ice.
- Pour coffee mixture into glass, about half way full. Top other half with chocolate milk. Enjoy!
- **Use the used coffee grounds in your garden! I placed mine in with my tomatoes and basil for fertilizer!**