Iced Coffee

I’ve mentioned not long ago that I’m giving up Dr. Pepper. I am now having one maybe every other day. I figure if I want one really bad, I’ll have it. I’m no longer drinking them with meals and that cuts way down on the number of Dr. Peppers I want.

Coffee smells so good but I have never liked the taste of it. Through the years, I would try it. Back in my younger years, I’d sometimes stay out too late and then have to go to work and appear to be a fully alert employee and I would try coffee . . with lots of sugar and lots of cream, but I could never drink it.

A while back, I started wanting to try iced coffee again. I had Vince brew extra and I would stick it in the fridge til I was ready for it but it wasn’t what I thought I wanted.

A few months ago, I started reading about coffee and decided to try cold brew, which is supposed to be less bitter than hot brewed coffee. I generally buy flavored coffee. I came back from Louisiana with four or five flavors and of course, the first one I opened was King Cake.

I put 4 cups of filtered water in a jar, add 1 cup of ground coffee, give it a good stir, place a lid on it and stick in the fridge for 18 to 24 hours. Then I pour it through a filter and stick it back in the fridge until I want it.

I also made a batch of simple syrup (sugar and water) because I use that in my hibiscus tea that I drink a couple of times a day.

When I’m ready to make an iced coffee drink, I pour the coffee into a jar, add however much simple syrup I want until it’s almost as sweet as I want it, then I add a teaspoon (or two) of sweetened condensed coconut milk. I put a lid on the jar, give it a good shake, add a bit of cream, shake it again and pour it over ice in my insulated cup. That stuff is so good. Who needs Dr. Pepper.

I don’t know that this drink is any healthier than the Dr. Pepper. Both have caffeine. Both have sugar. My iced coffee has no high fructose corn syrup so that has to be better. But the good news is that I drink iced coffee probably once every two or three days where I was drinking three or four cans of Dr. Pepper every day and I’m drinking more water. I actually like the iced coffee better but I’ve told myself once a day is my limit. So far, I don’t think I’ve had more than once every other day. In the morning, instead of DP, I drink juice. We keep a pitcher of juice – either apple, orange, pineapple, grape – whatever we can find, in the fridge. I drink water with meals at home but if we’re out, I drink Dr. Pepper still. It’s usually mid-afternoon that I’ll fix the iced coffee if I think about it and want it.

When Aldi stopped carrying Dr. Dazzle, then the price of Dr. Pepper went up, then they were hard to find for a while and I keep hearing they’re in short supply in some places, I told myself – there may be things I need that I can’t get in this new way of life we all seem to be living, but I am not going to have to worry about where I’ll get my next Dr. Pepper. That was the point that I told myself I was giving them up and I pretty much have.