Franny's Perfect Summer Iced Coffee Recipe

My thoughts on coffee: it is meant to be iced. I don’t care if it’s 5 degrees at 8am on my way to work, my coffee is iced. It’s just better. All the sour and bitter notes are toned way down and it’s perfect either black or with creamer. However, I will say it is more enjoyable to indulge in your iced coffee during the summer. Sadly, this period of time in quarantine I lost the ability to waste my money buying overpriced coffee every day. Did that mean I stopped drinking coffee? Absolutely not. I laboriously learned the techniques of my favorite coffee shops. And I am here to divulge my secrets:

Step 1: Grind your coffee beans (regular not espresso beans). It’s better if you buy them whole and grind them than if you buy them already ground, because they lose some freshness. This can be done in a coffee grinder or if you have a dry goods blade for your blender. 

Step 2: Set up your pour-over. First fill up a glass jar with ice. Then grab your pour-over dripper stand (or some sort of makeshift container with a hole in the bottom). Place it on top of your cup of ice.

Step 3: Prep the filter. Boil your water. Once the water is boiling, wet a coffee filter with the hot water and place in the pour-over dripper stand. Scoop 3 tablespoons of your freshly ground coffee into the wet filter. If you like it sweet (I think it’s better without), add sugar to the grounds and this way it will dissolve with the hot water. 

Step 4: Slowly pour the boiling water over the coffee grounds and watch as the coffee aesthetically drips onto the ice. Continue to pour and watch, pour and watch, until the cup is about ¾ full of coffee.

Step 5: Prep your milk. Okay for this step you have two options - be extra or be normal. If you're extra, you will be “cold frothing” your milk. Either way, you will need both milk (I use oat milk, but it could be any kind) and a creamer (I use the Nut Pods creamer but again any kind will do). Pour some milk and a bit of creamer into the frother and froth on cold.

Step 6: Once the milk is nice and foamy (or just regular) slowly pour into the coffee and marvel and the beautiful marbling of coffee and milk. 

So yeah, maybe this takes an irritatingly long amount of time and effort, but what else am I going to do??? I guess I could just put a cup of coffee in the fridge… But no, I stand by my method, it makes an exceptional cup of iced coffee! How were you making coffee during quarantine?