There are few things I look forward to in the summer more than iced coffee. One of my favorite ways to kick off a weekend is go for a decently long walk with my dogs and then hit up a good coffee shop for a large iced coffee.
This time of year it's harder to come by so as with so many things, it’s so much easier to just make it at home rather than rely on the luck of the draw to get a good cup. Recently I’ve been experimenting with adding some whole spices to the coffee as it steeps.
The results are so delicious. The finished cup ends up being pretty mild due to a slow steeping process. It’s great black, but you can also add a little cream or sugar to it if that’s your thing! If you feel daring some rum and eggnog are a real flavour treat!
However you like it, make a batch of it pronto!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup coarse ground coffee
- 4 cups room temp water
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 whole nutmeg, smashed
- Milk or cream, for serving
- Honey or sugar, for serving
The key to making sure the coffee isn’t over-powered by the spices is to use whole spices. If you’re a nutmeg fan, you can toss in all those halves of nutmeg that you have from grating it in things. Again, it’s seriously worth buying whole spices just for this. It’ll cost you a few bucks for a big thing of cinnamon and nutmeg.
If you would like to defy me and use ground spices, use a very small amount. Just a pinch would have the same effect, but I think it would probably still be a bit too much because you wouldn’t be able to filter out the ground spices.
With whole spices though, grind up the coffee and roughly smash the cinnamon and nutmeg. I just use a kitchen mallet and give them a whack!
Smashed and ground.
Add four cups of water to the mix. Use room temperature or slightly warm water and stir it all together. If you use hot water, it’ll become a bit bitter from the spices. Using cold water and time will result in a super-smooth cup. This will need to steep for at least four hours so it’s not a spur-of-the-moment thing, for sure.
The best way to handle it is just to make a batch and let it sit overnight in the fridge.
Then you can use a french press to strain the coffee or just pour it through a normal coffee filter.
Like I said, it’s totally refreshing without anything else, but I do like a little egg nog and some whipped cream this time of year in mine.
If you're entertaining outdoors and with the forecast you might be regretting putting the garden furniture away I suggest making a triple batch and serving it in mason jars.
Posted on: 2015-12-11 1:09 PM 
