Monday, July 15, 2013

Thanks A Latte!

Every morning for the past 5 years, Brent and I have been making our own iced lattes at home.  From our detailed calculations, it costs about $.75 cents per 16 oz latte, by the time you use coffee, milk and sweetener.  Lots of people have asked us over the years how we make them.  It's actually super simple and only takes a few minutes of prep time every week or two.


Here are the supplies you will need.

A toddy system, which we bought here, about a pound of course ground dark roast coffee and 8 cups of water.  You can also use the concentrate from the toddy to make hot coffee by warming it up in the microwave.



We buy the 2.5 lb bag of Caribou French Roast from Sam's Club and use their grinder on the coarsest setting to grind the entire bag.  This 2.5 lb bag will last us about a month.  We have also had good luck with World Market coffee but we used it for a long time and were ready for a little different flavor.



So first you put the plug in the bottom of the toddy.


Then put the white filter inside the bottom of the toddy.


Place the toddy up on top of the glass carafe.


Pour 4 cups of cold fresh water into the empty toddy.


Then begin pouring coffee grounds in on top of the water until the grounds are about 2 inches from the top rim.  Do not press down on the grounds and do not stir!  Stirring will cause the smallest grounds to go to the bottom and it will plug the filter.  The coffee cannot drain properly with the filter plugged.



Now pour the remaining 4 cups of water on top, going in circles to soak as many of the grounds as possible.  There will still be a lot of dry patches and that is ok.


Time to let it set overnight.  Let it steep at least 12 hours and do not move it unless you have to.  Be very gentle if you move it.


After 12 hours, lift the white tub by the handle and remove the black plug.  

Set it back on the glass carafe and let it drain for a few minutes.


Now we transfer the concentrate into a different container so we can use the glass carafe for the next step.  Here is the container that we put our first batch in.

Replace the plug and pour another 8 cups of cold water on top of the wet grounds.  You can make a second batch out of the same grounds.  The second batch will be a little bit weaker but is still delicious!

Time to make up a coffee!  

Ice and coffee concentrate.


Add flavor syrup.  We buy ours from here or you can also find it at the grocery store, World Market or Sam's Club.


Then top off with milk.  


Stir and she is all ready to go!  You may have to mess around with the ratios of coffee, syrup and milk until you find a combination that appeals to you.  Brent only uses a small amount of coffee while I use 2/3 a glass of concentrate.  Just depends on your taste.

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