It's summer!! We're back in Kea, and the island is yet again home to the 18 hour bikini and shirtless motorbiking of August.
Even though we're shirking the morning commute, opting instead for the occasional 10am wake-up and intermittent glance through email, coffee is still essential.
Greece loves coffee like it loves talking about how it invented democracy. Their drink of choice is a Cappuchino Freddo: a shot or two of espresso blended with ice and sugar, poured over ice, and topped with milk that has been whipped to the consistency of thick icing. I've come to enjoy it, though I am still puzzled by how to efficiently drink its stratified parts, always poking my straw around hoping to blend the milk and coffee, instead ending up with watery ice-melt and cream at the end. Not nice.
It's in these moments that I wish I could just have an American-style iced coffee. In an attempt to get one, I recently asked for a "filter coffee with ice," thinking this might actually work. Instead I got a piping hot cup of coffee and a small bucket of ice cubes. Close. Very close. But not close enough to avoid me making a coffee-marinade for my friend's souvlaki.
So, I'm very happy to report that I have found a home solution to my coffee woes: the fridge!!?! For all my searching for iced coffee, I've done one better: overnight cold-brew coffee concentrate aka Fridge-Brew Espresso. No more sweating at the stove as I boil up my espresso to immediately dilute it over ice, I just mix the coffee grinds and water and leave it in the fridge to let time do its magic. By morning you have coffee so strong and so smooth (cold brew avoids the bitterness that can come with heat!?!) and so easy it's stupid. Strain it into a pitcher or a glass water bottle and it's coffee simply waiting in the fridge for you to pour it over ice. Yes please all the time every day all year long!
Fridge-Brew Espresso
adapted from chow.com
ingredients:
2 cups coarse-ground coffee beans
4 cups water
to serve:
Ice
Milk/Cream
Simple Syrup (if desired)
make it happen:
Stir coffee grinds and water together in a pitcher/bowl/whatever.
Cover and leave in fridge overnight/12 hours.
Stir then strain through mesh sieve into a bowl. Discard grinds.
Strain through coffee filter paper (or paper towel in a pinch) into jar/pitcher. This will take a while. Try to be zen and let it take its drip-drip time. Once you reach the sludgey solids, don't bother sending them through, just discard.
Fridge-brew espresso is highly concentrated.
Dilute to suit your taste with ~equal parts coffee and water/milk/cream.
To sweeten, add simple syrup.
Serve over ice (of course!).
