chillax with cold-brewed coffee

Apparently I have a tendency to talk about things I'm going to cook or bake without getting around to it for months, sometimes up to a year. Cold-brewed coffee is one of those, and it's completely unacceptable since it's a snap to make. Stir coffee grounds into water, place jar on a counter for 12 hours or overnight. It's also what I order when I go to Borders, a cold-brewed vanilla latte.

Note, this won't have the same taste as an iced vanilla latte which has espresso shots, but I like it so go away.

Many people might say that cold-brewed coffee is a stupid concept, none of the bitterness and something around 90% of the flavor opposed to a shot of espresso poured over ice.

• A) a one ounce shot is not enough to give my my fix cool me off in the hot summer heat
• B) this is only the most simple thing to have in the fridge to stir up when the desire strikes
• Not only that, it doesn't taste of stale coffee, which is C)
and
• D) I don't own an espresso machine

I never really pay attention to how long it actually it actually brews as I prep it and leave it on the counter if I make it early in the day/afternoon, then place it in the fridge overnight, though I think it comes out fine. Strain twice through a coffee filter placed in a sieve.

Coffee is my joy in life. I love it, I love everything about it. I love complaining if the coffee is too bitter and acidic, I love to look at the color. I love waking up in the morning, snapping off the comforter, jumping out of bed onto the floor and with arms raised in jubilation scream, "COFFEEEEEEEEEEEEE!". Much to the chagrin of my cats, I might add. "Folgers in my cup!" is my favorite commercial. If I like you, I might pelt you with chocolate-covered espresso beans. I feel sad when I look into the cup and instead of a dark brown liquid seeing white.

This process makes a concentrate that can be diluted with 1:1 ratio of concentrate to liquid, either water or milk. You can also make ice cubes.

What I do for a "latte" is to mix 2/3 cup coffee concentrate (note how I use more coffee) and 1/3 cup milk, then I pour it into a small jar along with some vanilla syrup and shake it up really well so it's frothy for a brief moment.

If you want to give it a go, I mixed 1 cup coffee grounds with 4 1/2 cups water. For a fun read, head on over to this article from the NYT, Iced Coffee? No Sweat

quality control: McDonald's iced mochas

Yesterday, McDonald's gave away free 7 oz. samplings of their iced mocha, in which we partook. Four times. No, we did not mooch, we were testing for quality control. Are all McDonald's associates at various locations equally enthusiastic on "mixology"? Will the comfort of seeing chain restaurants everywhere with the knowledge that no matter where we are, we will be able to get the same exact item prove to be true?

First Micky D's we hit up was the 4711 Miami St, South Bend, IN location. The drink comes in a miniature version of their regular size, which I think is cute. I also think I'm going to order a "short" at SBUX whenever I get a flavored beverage from now on. First sip resulted in a note of edge from the espresso, followed by a chocolaty sweetness that blended together as it should. The drink was chilled enough to make the flavors stand out properly, as well. Nice job.

Next stop was the 416 N Michigan St, South Bend, IN location, two from the hospital and the closest to Notre Dame, not to mention where anyone downtown would go if they wanted their fast food fix. After which they could proceed to the hospital. I actually got out to get mine this time, and they were not prepared to place our order. What I mean is that if you are having a free giveaway, you should be set up, but they had to search for cups and other ingredients. Fail.
Back in the car, after a picture, it became clear that the punk hadn't any clue how to follow instructions. Way too sweet, and the chocolate tasted powdery. Here is where we got into a banter over how our iced mochas tasted, me saying it was too sweet and didn't have any espresso taste, her saying it didn't have any sweetness and just tasted of espresso, me saying that she's wrong, it's too sweet. Then we switched cups and realized that these were not made the same. Fail again. Fail representation of the impeccable McDonald's standards.

Third stop was at 52665 State Road 933, South Bend, IN, another place out of towners might stop at. The landscape at this location was lovely. Again, though, for being almost empty, they were not prepared to mix these up and had to go on a search for cups, and they were out of the cups for the iced version.

There could not have been a worse iced mocha than the last one, and luckily this wasn't. But it wasn't iced enough so it was like drinking a lukewarm hot mocha latte. Seriously, this is getting troubling.

On the plus side, this was the only location where we were asked whether or not we wanted whole or nonfat milk. This did not, however, make up for the wait, but it was interesting to note.

Final stop on our research took us to the 5704 Grape Rd, Mishawaka, IN location. I think. Anyway, the lady who asked us what we wanted kind of gave us a face when she realized we weren't actually ordering anything. Hahah. This one didn't quite have enough chocolate sweetness, but it was the closest to the first iced mocha.

So there you go, not all iced mochas are made equal. You'll be lucky if you get something drinkable the next time you pull up to a McDonald's with a craving, and this will probably, hopefully, be in the back of your mind.

Hand model