Coffee Concoctions

Coffee is Calm to me.
Coffee is a connection to people.
Let’s talk Coffee for a minute.
I often get asked coffee-based questions, honestly, I never tire of them.
Coffee has been a passion of mine for a long time. 
Today I hope to share some of my most frequently asked topics in the world of Coffee.

What are your coffee Concoctions? Seriously – leave a comment and let me know!

Nowadays (If home) I like a cup of hot coffee in the morning.
I brew it pour-over style with some cinnamon shaken into the grounds.
I top it off with some honey and Coffee Mates-Natural Bliss-Sweet Cream.
Basically, everything in the above photo is my morning routine.
Granted nowadays that’s only 2 days a week.

At Home Coffee

Let’s talk about making coffee at home for a moment!

Options for a good old-fashioned hot cup of coffee:
Coffee pot – french press – pour-over – percolator (rare these days)

Pour Over

Personally, my first choice is the pour-over method.
It doesn’t take long.
Each person can have it the way they like it! See-through or sludge.
One can use a carafe if one needs to have coffee ready for guests.
In our house, we love it!
I brew my coffee with cinnamon mixed in the grounds whereas my husband does not.
Nor do we like the same strength of coffee.

Coffee Pot

If your choice is the coffee pot – Clean it with water and vinegar every few months!
Your pot will last longer, run smoother, and deliver you a better cup of coffee.
Coffee pots are nice because you can set a timer to start brewing in the AM and or serve multiple cups at a time.
The downfall is you can lose track of how long it’s been on the burner, which will bring about a burnt coffee flavor if it sits too long.
The coffee may be too weak or strong for others depending on grounds to water ratio.
Fun fact – Add Cinnamon to your grounds for Cinnamon Flavored coffee. Be sure to shuffle them in!
Cinnamon at the top could cause the brewer to get clogged.

The French Press and Percolator are too messy for me, and getting the grounds out can be a hassle.
You do get a nice strong cup of coffee with either (if the ratio of the grounds to water is correct)

Iced Coffee – At Home

All of the above avenues can be used to brew iced coffee, here is the thing.
Iced Coffee gets watered down as the ice melts in it.
Therefore brew your Iced Coffee twice as strong to prevent this from happening.
This means you’d use the same amount of water but double your grounds-to-water ratio.
The internet will tell you iced coffee is good in the fridge for 3-4 days. LIES.
No honestly, the taste will start to go sideways after 48 hours.

Ice Cubes

Side thought: If you don’t like that watered-down Ice Coffee factor, or you’d prefer stronger Iced Coffee…
Consider coffee iced cubes. When making the Iced Coffee you can use any remaining to make coffee iced cubes!
Or brew a batch of Iced Coffee solely for creating coffee iced cubes.
Variations: If you like a flavoring you can add flavor to the coffee, stir it up and then pour it into cube trays.
If you like a slow release of creamer you can fill the trays with half creamer (of choice) and half coffee.
OR full coffee creamer cubes to put in your iced coffee. This would provide a slow release of cream.

Iced Coffee is one of my favorite things because you can play with it in so many ways!

Cold Brew

An alternative to Iced Coffee.
A few more steps are involved however you can also store it for longer!
Whereas Iced Coffee is good for up to 48 hours.
Cold Brew is good for up to 5 days, which means it could last you a whole workweek!
Albeit, the internet will tell you it’s good for up to two weeks, again, LIES.
I’d say to keep it fresh as fresh can be, stick to the 5 days.

Cold Brew Steps: Find the Ratio whether it’s 1/2 lb of coffee to 1/2 gallon of water or a full lb to a gallon.
Remember the grind matters you want a coarse grind and you want to steep your grinds in water 20 hrs. Be sure to take stock of your storage situation before making the cold brew!
You can trap the grounds in a filter or cheesecloth for easy removal, or you can straight soak them in the water and then strain them post-20-hour brew.
Cold Brew is known to be less acidic than iced coffee so if your stomach can get sensitive to coffee this may be your new best friend!

Coffee Shop Concoctions

Maybe you have your go-to drink at your favorite coffee shop! – Awesome.
Maybe you’ve always gotten the same thing out of fear of trying something new.
Or maybe you’re intimidated by coffee shops because you don’t know where to start.
Coffee shops have endless options when it comes to creating a drink.
You aren’t stuck to the menu, that is just a guide!

Simply building your own, is easy!
Know your shots…1 shot of coffee is 45mg (small shops) – 75mg (Starbucks) worth of caffeine.
Add shots accordingly to your caffeine preference.
If you have a syrup flavor in mind ask about it! Or ask for a suggestion for something similar.
Most of your sauce-based options Mocha/White Mochas will have dairy in them, so keep that in mind.
A lot of shops also do Honey or Agave if you don’t want actual syrups.
If you have a milk preference but don’t see it, ask! And bam you’ve made your own Latte!

My current drinks:
Starbucks – Iced Blonde(shots) Pistachio Latte with Chai (2 pumps of Pistachio and 2 pumps Chai) made with oat milk!
Smaller Shops – I usually order based on what syrup they have so it changes often.
But 90% of the time it’s something Iced with Oat Milk. Shots vary by day.

Fast Facts & Did you Knows

The Lighter the Roast, the higher the Caffeine content. So if you want more caffeine then choose a light roast.
Yes, that means Dark Roasts have the least amount of Caffeine.

You can brew espresso blends as your daily coffee option at home, our house coffee is Blonde Espresso.

Invest in a coffee grinder and keep your beans whole until the day of use!
Whole beans opened are good for 7 days!
Air-tight container in a cabinet you could go 14 days. (Internet LIES, don’t look to it for answers)

If you didn’t catch it 45-75mg of Caffeine in 1 shot of espresso. (Starbucks is 75mg)
Other Machines may vary depending on factors like automatic, or manual, how much coffee is extracted

Grind matters:
The finer the grind for Espresso Machines.
I like mine on the finer side for poor overs as well
(most do middle-of-the-road grind semi-coarse for things like pour-overs)
Medium Grind works for Coffee Pots.
Coarse works well with French Presses and Cold brew Soaks.

Links to some of my top choices from above