Vietnamese Iced Coffee

It has been unseasonably warm this week and that makes me long for Spring to arrive.  I'm already thinking about all the warm weather recipes I want to share with you.  For example, this Vietnamese Iced Coffee - it's sweet and full of warm spices like cinnamon and cardamom, but it's served over ice which makes it very refreshing.  

Here's what you'll need:  ground cinnamon, whole cloves, ground cardamom, ground coffee, sweetened condensed milk, and grated whole nutmeg (it's like a gazillion times better than ground).

I love fresh nutmeg - the flavor and aroma is so much better than any brand of pre-ground stuff you can find.... and check out what the inside of the nutmeg looks like after it has been grated on a microplane.  So cool.  

And here are the coffee and spices measured out.  Even before steeping, the room smells amazing!  

I like to mix the coffee and spices together.  You don't really need to, but it's quite satisfying - like playing with an aromatic zen sand garden.  I need a little sand rake!

Heat the water until it boils.

Turn off the heat and add the ground coffee and spices.

Stir it will until no sign of dry ingredients remain.

That looks about right.  Now allow the mixture to steep for 10 minutes.

Using a sieve, strain the large solids from the steeped coffee mixture.  I find that's enough straining, but if you want to remove the ground cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamom, continue with the next step.

Pour the remaining coffee mixture through a coffee filter (I like to use a pour over system).  Because the ground spices are so finely milled, they will clog the coffee filter quickly so this step will take a long time.   

Oh how I wish you could smell this!

We're almost done - can't wait!!! 

Pour sweetened condensed milk (amount below) into a large glass pitcher.  I start with 10 ounces - you can always add more if you want your iced coffee to be sweeter, but you can't take it away so start with less.  

Add the strained coffee mixture and stir to combine.  

Serve over ice and enjoy! 

Items used to make this recipe:

(affiliate links)

• microplane https://amzn.to/43YdXTO

• pour over coffee strainer https://amzn.to/3gE34zr

• sieve https://amzn.to/3r7wlek

• pitcher https://amzn.to/337bX1z

• sweetened condensed milk https://amzn.to/3B5kGOm

• whole nutmeg https://amzn.to/3GuQFIQ

• whole cloves https://amzn.to/34LGSkx

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Vietnamese Iced Coffee

makes 8 cups

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 cup ground coffee

• 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom

• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

• 5 whole cloves

• 8 cups water

• 10 to 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk (start with 10 and add more if you like)

• ice

Directions

1. Combine coffee, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, and cloves in a bowl; set aside.

2. In a 4-quart saucepan, bring water to a boil; remove from heat.

3. Stir coffee and spice mixture into hot water and steep for 10 minutes; strain and discard the coffee grounds.

4. Stir strained coffee and sweetened condensed milk together and serve over ice (add only 10 ounces of sweetened condensed milk to begin, then add more if you like).

Cold Brewed Iced Coffee

Refreshingly Delicious Iced Coffee... Hello!

Truth be known, I'm not much of a coffee drinker (unless I'm staying up all night baking a wedding cake), but every now and then I crave a tall glass of delicious iced coffee. Mmmmm.

There are so many recipes out there - most of which call for leftover hot brewed coffee, but I'll let you in on a little secret - cold brewed coffee is considerably less acidic, resulting in a heavenly smooth brew!

The coffee concentrate used to make this iced coffee is very easy to prepare and can be refrigerated for up to 2 weeks (or frozen for longer storage, although I seriously doubt you'll need to worry about that).

Before we begin, there's one little problem I have to share with you guys - I can't decide which flavor I like better, plain or mocha, so I'll share both. Here we go.

To make the cold brewed coffee concentrate, you'll need coarsely ground fresh coffee, cold water, and a covered container. Please note - I'm only demonstrating 1/2 of the recipe listed at the end of this post. Scale it up or down to suit your needs.

Start by pouring a little water in the bottom of a suitable container.

Then add half of the ground coffee.

Don't shake or stir the mixture - tap the container to evenly distribute the coffee grounds.

Add more water - tap, tap, tap.

Add the remaining coffee and last little bit of water and tap again if needed. This is what it should look like.

The next step is the easiest... and the hardest.

It's the easiest because all you have to do is cover it and let it sit for 12 hours.

And it's the hardest because, well, we're talking twelve hours!!!

Time's up. Not a significant change, but the grounds appear to be darker in color.

We're almost done.

Time to strain. I like to do this in two steps, once using a mesh sieve to quickly remove the large coffee grounds.

And then again using a coffee filter to remove the smaller grounds. Be patient - this part will take 10-15 minutes.

Ta-da! Cold brewed coffee concentrate. Now go and make yourself one of these...

Enjoy!

Cold Brewed Coffee Concentrate

makes 3 cups of concentrate (enough to make 12 individual servings - recipe below)

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound high quality coffee beans, coarsely ground

• 4 1/2 cups cold filtered water

Directions

1. In a large container, without stirring, add the following ingredients in the order listed: 1/4 cup water, 1/4 pound coffee, 2 cups water, 1/4 pound coffee, and 2 cups water.

2. Wait 5 minutes and add remaining 1/4 cup water.

3. Gently tap outside of the container to evenly distribute coffee grounds.

4. Cover and set aside at room temperature, undisturbed, for 12 hours,

5. Strain and refrigerate concentrate for up to 2 weeks, or freeze in ice cube portions for longer storage. Recipe for iced coffee below.

Iced Coffee (two ways)

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons cold brewed coffee concentrate

• 2 tablespoons cold water

• 2 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk

• tall glass of ice

• Garnish - whipped cream, cinnamon, nutmeg, and/or chocolate syrup

Directions

1. Combine coffee concentrate, water, and sweetened condensed milk together and pour over a full glass of ice.

2. Now dump it all into a blender and buzz the heck out of it.

3. Garnish if desired. Kick back and enjoy!

Note

• To make a mocha version, add 1 tablespoon of Hershey's chocolate syrup.

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