A Coffee Revelation

I must confess: I make a really awful cup of coffee.

I honestly don't know what I'm doing wrong. This should not be a challenge: Add grounds to filter, add filtered water, and voila! Fabulous coffee. But mine ends up either weak or way too strong (or filled with grounds that made it through the filter). So I've given up and bought the Starbucks Via coffee packs, which are sinfully expensive but make a decent cup that I don't have to be embarrassed to serve (and that makes me feel like I'm treating myself every morning when I have my cup, after I drop off the kids and walk the dog).

But I've found something even better (and cheaper), that's perfect for the summer months. Pioneer Woman posted her method for making iced coffee by the gallonful, and stashing that liquid gold in the fridge for regular refills. It's super easy, too. All you need is a pound of coffee, a container big enough to hold a couple of gallons, some sort of filter (I used paper towels in lieu of cheesecloth), and about 8 hours for the brewing. You simply mix the coffee grounds into the water, let it sit, then filter out the grounds (that part takes a while....and expect to smell like coffee for a while after you squeeze out the liquid from the grounds through your paper towels).

The iced coffee this morning, which I had with a dose of skim milk and some homemade vanilla coffee syrup (recipe coming tomorrow), was simply divine—an equal of those pricey coffee drinks I love so much at Starbucks. I may try making my own frappuccinos with that tomorrow.