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Monthly Archives: May 2014

THE perfect iced coffee (so says me).

THE perfect iced coffee (so says me).

 

 

 

 

 

e·piph·a·ny (n):

a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple or  commonplace occurrence or experience.

I can remember the exact moment 4 years ago.  I was standing in line at a coffee shop (that shall remain unnamed) as I did every morning and started doing the math in my head.  The conversation to myself went something like this:  Let’s see… $4 x 5 days a week x 52 weeks=@$1000.  Wait.  What the what?  $1000.  On coffee.  That can’t be right.  Out my phone calculator came and my dodgy math skills were validated.  And there it was… an epiphany.   I was spending too much flippin’ money on coffee.

So, I watched very closely to how my impossibly delicious iced coffee was made that day.  I didn’t check my email, didn’t chat with co-workers, I watched.  Was it really that impossible to recreate?  It looked simple enough.

After many trials and errors, I finally mastered the art of iced coffee (again-so says me).

Iced Coffee:

Step 1:  It starts with the perfect cup.  I have tried almost every reuseable cup on the market (for verification purposes, you can ask my husband, who opens the ‘cabinet o’ cups’  daily, fearfully awaiting them to tumble-down on his head).  My favorite cup (drumroll please) is….

The Contigo Shake & Go Tumbler.   I use it for everything!   Iced Coffee. Iced Tea. Lemon water. Protein shake.  The possibilities are endless. It has a leak proof design that allows you to shake it, which means that you can be sure that your drink is mixed perfectly. Click here to buy or get more info.  Contigo is offering 20% off!  Just enter the discount code: shakeitblog.  (Reg. price $12.99)

Step 2: (Optional) Add your sweetening agent of choice to the bottom of the tumbler.  I am using Stevia these days.  Not 100% sold on the taste but my agave obsession has been permanently sidelined.

Step 3:  The coffee.  I have a Keurig, so I just pop my favorite pod in, place the tumbler underneath and use the smallest setting.   If you don’t have a Keurig,  a good ol’ pot of coffee will do.   Pour about 3-4″ of coffee into the tumbler.

Step 4:  The ice.  This is key.  You need to take an entire handful of ice and dump into your tumbler at once.  This flash freezes the coffee.  Do NOT do one cube at a time, you risk melted ice and watery coffee.  Yikes.

Step 5:  Top off with your favorite dairy product.  I use vanilla almond milk right now but regular or soy milk will work just fine.

Step 6:  This step is why I dig the Contigo Shake & Go Tumbler specifically.  I can put the top on and shake it to perfectly mix the coffee.  Pop the straw in and go.   Otherwise, you need to mix with spoon, a straw (which can sometimes be difficult when the ice is sticking together).

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Drink up buttercup!