My Latest Obsession

It seems like this has been the summer of caffeination for me--despite my wife's recent switch to decaf for pregnancy reasons. I always start my day out with a nice cappuccino, but lately I've also been adding in an afternoon iced coffee.

Yesterday started off as a bad day: I slept horribly and had bad dreams, and I was grumpy all morning. A trip to a random baby store in Korea Town didn't help either. I decided my pick-me-up would be Chicken Nachitos from La Grande Orange in Pasadena (perhaps the best nachos ever) and an iced coffee. Deciding to spur the ubiquitous StarBean or whatever is on every corner, I found Jones Coffee Roasters in Pasadena. In addition to picking up some much needed espresso for my morning brew, I ordered probably the best iced coffee I have ever had. Seriously. The best. Suddenly my afternoon of baby shopping wasn't so bad. You might say I actually enjoyed it. (note: we were shopping for stuff for our upcoming baby, not shopping for actual babies. I was confused too.)

The people at Jones cold-brew their iced coffee for 24 hours. I usually go 12-16 hours. But 24 was rich. For my home brew, I fill a French press about 1/4 way with coarsely ground coffee (usually as much as will fit in my grinder at one time), fill with filtered water and let sit overnight. The next morning I depress the plunger and pour the coffee concentrate into a container in the fridge. To serve, I pour about 1/3 of the concentrate into a glass, diluting slightly with some sweetened water (in which I dissolve about a half tablespoon to a tablespoon of sugar; it's not quite simple syrup) and a splash of skim milk.

Here are two great recipes for iced coffee, along with pictures that make me think it's just about time for an afternoon Iced Delish: GQ and SF Gate.