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Disclosure: I’m a member of the Seattle’s Best Breakfast Club. They sent me a package of coffee-related goodies in exchange for writing about iced coffee and giving a prize pack away to you nice people. But I really do love their coffee. And they had the best breakfast at BlissDom. Just sayin’.
It feels kind of funny writing about ways to cool down from the heat of summer today, because we’re having an unusually cool time of it this week in Arkansas. In fact, we flirted with record low temperatures yesterday morning.
I expected to want something cold to enjoy on my blueberry picking adventure, but I ended up sticking with warm. By the time I got home from an hour in the fields and running some errands, though, I was completely ready for a cool treat.
And thanks to a little planning and some good advice from Seattle’s Best, I was ready to make myself a perfect cool-down treat: iced coffee.
A Perfect Cup of Cold Coffee
I have to admit, most of the time I just make iced coffee from the used-to-be-warm leftover coffee from the morning. And that’s fine. But the good people at Seattle’s Best wanted me to try it their way, and since they’re the experts, I was willing to.
They sent me a great pack of coffee and other goodies (more on that in a minute) and their recipe for iced coffee, which, yes, takes a whole day to make. But it might just be worth it.
What You’ll Need
- 2 1/2 cups cold water
- 1 1/2 cups Seattle’s Best ground coffee (we love level 4)
- a bowl you can cover
- a spoon
- a Melitta coffee brewer and filter
- something to put your coffee in
- extra water and ice for making your iced coffee
What You’ll Do
- The day before you want coffee, put the grounds in your bowl and add 1 cup of water to start. Stir gently and add the rest of the water. Try not to stir too much.
- Cover and let sit at room temperature for 12 hours (mine actually only made it 10, but it was still OK).
- Set up your Mellita and filter over a glass or another small vessel.
- Strain the mixture. It’s best if you can pour it and leave most of the grounds in the bowl, otherwise you’ll make a huge mess (ask me how I know).
- Cover the concentrated coffee and store in the fridge up to two weeks.
- When you want your cool, refreshing drink, arm yourself with a Seattle’s Best iced coffee cup (or whatever you like to serve cold beverages in) and combine one part coffee with two parts water and whatever else you like in your coffee (for iced, I like lots of milk and lots of sugar). Add ice and enjoy. Which I did.
I thought I hadn’t strained well enough when I made mine, because the first couple sips I took were really grainy. Then I realized it wasn’t coffee grounds but sugar that hadn’t dissolved. So if you have a liquid sugar-type product that you like, I recommend using it here. I just pulled out the straw a bit so I wasn’t drinking from the very bottom of the cup, and it worked out fine. Yummy, cool goodness I’m sure I’ll be glad to have when summer comes back.
This cup, too, is really awesome, by the way. It’s double walled to keep things cool and keep condensation off your fingers. And it holds a lot of coffee, which is always good when dealing with the never-ending crazy that is summer schedule.
A Hot Iced Giveaway for You
If I’ve got you craving your own iced coffee experience, have I got a giveaway for you. Seattle’s Best is going to send one of my readers a prize pack with all the goodies they need to make their own iced coffee and enjoy some hot as well.
It includes
- 4 bags of Seattle’s Best coffee
- an iced coffee tumbler
- a hot coffee travel mug
- a Melitta coffee brewer and filters
- a coffee scoop for measuring just the right amount of coffee
(Basically everything you see here, only more coffee and not that gorgeous red bowl; that’s mine.)
To enter, leave a comment sharing your favorite way to cool off in the summer heat (you know it’s coming back, right?) and enter the Rafflecopter below. Extra credit for following me on Facebook or Twitter or liking Seattle’s Best Coffee on Facebook. When you visit, you’ll get a $1 off coupon; there are also coupons on the bags of coffee right now.)
The contest is open through next Friday, July 12. One winner will be selected at random. U.S. mailing addresses only, please! Thanks so much for visiting and good luck.
8 Comments
Love to cool off in the pool during the summer!! Fortunately my son feels the same way!!
I love jumping in the pool! So refreshing!
My favorite way to cool down is sit by the pool with a nice cold drink — lemonade, iced coffee, or Coke
I love a big glass of iced lemonade!!
I love to swim!
I love lying on a raft in the pool, reading a good book!
I swim in our pool.
I love ice tea in the summer.