Starbucks Iced Coffee

I have to say, I'm not a huge fan of Starbucks Coffee. I find their roasts to be a little too bold for me. They almost taste burnt. I do love foo foo drinks though and Starbucks has oh so many to choose from. Even though I could happily drink a Caramel Macchiato or Iced Mocha, I can not justify spending that kind of money on coffee. Vince on the other hand drinks them like water. Especially before we moved. Vince's daily commute was upwards of 1 hour each way. He would leave the house at an ungodly hour just to try to beat rush hour traffic. The years of this commute gave him a huge iced coffee addiction. He literally gulps them down in seconds. He would order several to drink on his way in to the office every morning. Do you know how expensive this got!?!

Now that we have moved, Vince's commute to work is literally 5 minutes, maybe 7 if he hits a red light. There is no more need for him to get several coffees on his way in to work and he really does prefer sleeping in to making a stop at Starbucks. However, he still loves his iced coffee.

I saw a post somewhere (I'll be honest, I don't remember where) talking about making iced coffee at home. We tried several variations and even bought the iced coffee k-cups for the Keurig. Nothing really matched the flavor of Starbucks. Then someone mentioned that The Pioneer Woman had an awesome recipe on her site that mimicked the ever elusive coffee. Sure enough, it was awesome!

The great thing about this is that it really does taste like Starbucks iced coffee and it costs pennies per serving. The unfortunate thing about it is that I now must drink at least one a day, sometimes several. If you know me at all, you know I can't tolerate much caffeine. I get shaky, jittery, and generally start acting like I just snorted a bunch of coke. Needless to say, that first big batch of fully caffeinated coffee concentrate did not do me much good. Vince and my mom both loved it though!

Moving forward, Vince has since kicked his iced coffee habit (for the most part) and my mom the coffee addict doesn't visit very often. I will be making a new batch of coffee concentrate using decaf and then proceed to horde it all. I mean it! I'm not sharing!!

Starbucks Iced Coffee

From The Pioneer Woman

Ingredients

1 lb of Starbucks (or your favorite brand) Ground Coffee
2 Gallons Cold Water
2% Milk (or whatever you prefer)
4 14oz Cans Sweetened Condensed Milk (adjust according to your taste for sweetness)
Optional: Flavored Coffee Syrups (I prefer Torani brand and the sugar-free syrups are zero points)

Directions

1. Pour the coffee grounds into a very large container.
2. Pour in the water.
3. Lightly mix to wet all of the grounds.
4. Cover and let sit overnight, or for 12 hours.
5. Prepare a large pitcher or jug (must be able to hold 2 gallons of coffee).
6. Place a fine mesh strainer over the opening of the pitcher.
7. Line the strainer with coffee filters (or paper towels).
8. Very slowly begin to pour your coffee through the strainer into the pitcher. This step takes some time but it is worth it to not have coffee grounds in your pitcher.
9. Pour the cans of sweetened condensed milk into the coffee and mix thoroughly.
10. Refrigerate the mixture.
11. Once the coffee is cold, get out a large mug.
12. Fill your mug with lots of ice (you can freeze coffee in ice cube trays and use that so it won't water down your drink as they melt!
13. Fill your mug about with delicious sweet iced coffee
14. Add a splash of milk (or your creamer of choice) and Voila! perfection.
15. If you prefer flavored coffees, just add a splash of coffee syrup (like hazelnut, caramel, or coconut).

Yields: 2 Gallons of Coffee