Much like my beloved “Mommy Juice,” I have a deep passionate love for another beverage in my life: iced coffee. Having worked at Starbucks for the past 2.5 years, I can be pretty picky about all things coffee, but these days the most important factor to me is how easily I get from Point A (no coffee) to Point B (coffee en cup). We had a Keurig, but when we were in the process of purchasing our home, I read online how mold can find its way into the machine if it wasn’t properly dried before storing for a long period of time and was too scared to use it. At the time, I also wasn’t drinking much coffee (hey pregnancy!) and had also discovered from that same article the negatives to using K-cups on the daily. Since then, I will get drinks from Starbucks or use their VIA instant coffee packets (delicious for on the go or in the office or lazy moms at home without access to a coffee maker!), but when asked what I wanted for my birthday, I told my husband an iced coffee maker! My husband rarely, if ever, drinks coffee so I really only needed a machine that would make one cup at a time, and if it could be iced from the get-go, even better. Unfortunately, my husband has a vendetta against my love for coffee (probably just jealous that he shares my heart) and refused to purchase my beloved for my birthday. Little did he know I had other sources: my mother-in-law! As usual, she came to my rescue and on my birthday I unwrapped the perfect little iced coffee maker along with a bag of coffee! She is just too great!
When looking at iced coffee makers, I considered a cold brew method, but after reading how time intensive and messy the process was, I knew it wasn’t for me. Maybe one day when my kids no longer spend the breakfast hour whining for smoothies and crying his head off (cough Sawyer cough), it will be something I look into again, but for now my iced coffee maker is perfect!
This is the machine I use. All it takes is 3 TBSP of ground coffee directly into the tiny brew basket (no filter needed!) and a cup of filtered (very important! I use water from my Brita) water into the water reservoir. Push the button to brew into a glass 3/4 full of ice and voila! Easy no-thinking-required iced coffee! While I can drink coffee black and have many times before, I prefer a little sweetness. Luckily, I came across this at-home recipe online and made my own brown sugar cinnamon syrup to go into my iced coffee. The coffee to water to ice to syrup proportions definitely take a little playing with, but my daily cup is delicious! And I don’t need to leave my house or spend $4 to get it, aka it’s perfect!
Bononno 