Ok all you coffee drinkers out there, I have a treat for you. I am prepared to share my top secret, world's best iced coffee with you. Remember that I love café racers, and ideally you might employ a café racer to race from café to café. And Coffee shops are cafes, right? I knew you would see the relevance of all this nonsense! Hmmm but if I make my own coffee instead of racing for it, what does that mean?
Click the image for a real live video testimonial
Here's the back story: (If you really don't care about all this story stuff and just want the recipe, then you can skip this whole post and go to the next one.)
It is hot in Austin, TX, and I sometimes I want a good cup of joe, but I don't want to get double scorched for it. That's one reason I like iced coffee. Don't mistake iced coffee with that coffee flavored Slurpee stuff. When I say iced coffee I'm talking about normal coffee that is strong, milky and sweet -- and not diluted at all. I
love Vietnamese iced coffee.
Some time ago Kristen and I were settling down to watch a movie, and one thing lead to another and all of a sudden it was almost 9:45pm, which is a bit of a late start for us. So I'm like, "Love Bug, since you're set on still watching this film, howabout I scoot up to 7-11 and tag us some go juice so I don't fall asleep during this crappy Elizabethan period romantic drama." And she's like, "right-o, lover boy. If that's all it takes for you to sit down and watch this crappy Elizabethan period romantic drama with me, then I'm all over that like flies on poop." So I hop on my vintage café racer and scoot up to the local 7-11 and tag me one of those horrible over-priced, pre-bottled Starbuck's (Pepsico) "
Frappuccino Coffee Drink" things. It just looked so good as it sat there prominently displayed in the forefront of the big glass front drinks cooler. I got sucked in my their clever advertising and the promise of a coolly, non-carbonated, heavily caffeinated beverage. I sprung the double change for the larger 16oz Vanilla Mocha one. When I eventually got home and popped it open to down its contents before drowning in our crappy Elizabethan period romantic drama I found myself sadly disappointed. And I'm not just talking about the film.
My first thought was not, "wow, what a refreshing, creamy coffee treat. It was, "Damn. I can taste the high fructose corn syrup. This tastes like a wet dog." And then I looked at the inviting 16oz glass bottle, sadly sighed and with a little resolve, I drank all the rest in one breath. However while glugging that crap down I experienced a beautiful ‘eureka moment.’ I thought, "I don't have to drink this stuff. This is expensive and tastes like crap. I bet if I made my own non-carbonated, heavily caffeinated beverage I can easily do better than this." Then I put down the bottle, wiped my upper lip, took a deep breath and gagged a little. I resolved not to think about it for a while.
A good while later, while grocery shopping, I stumbled across some very inviting
Promised Land ‘Midnight Chocolate’ milk. Sometimes I really like chocolate milk. The other thing I noticed was that perfect glass bottle would make an ideal bottle for my own homemade cold coffee beverage. I bought the milk and kept the bottle, and found the rest of the inspiration I was needing to make my own stuff.
Long, long ago I was something of a strong coffee master. Then my cappuccino machine broke or something like that and I stopped drinking all together. But I had this limited wealth of experience from which to draw as I stood there in my humble kitchen contemplating the ultimate iced coffee beverage. I let my mind wander and internally I brewed batch after batch, changing brew times and ingredients, when a really good mix fell into place in my mind. It is really simple. Yet it is OH so good.
