Soooo, I love coffee, and I drink it year-round regardless of how hot it gets outside.
I can make a good cup of hot coffee, and have several contraptions in my home to accomplish this and which require either zero skill or a little skill. From easiest to hardest I have:
1. Keurig coffee maker–pop in a coffee pod, pour in some water . . . the end.
2. Mr. Coffee drip coffee maker–the blissful guesswork begins. . . how much coffee, how much water. . . the end.
3. La Cafetiere french presses (8 oz and 32 oz sizes)–the plot thickens. . how much coffee, how much water, how long do I let it sit there until I push that little plunger down . . . the end.
4. Vietnamese style phin filter brewer–and I have now entered into pure coffee insanity because not only do I have to worry about water, coffee and filter time, I have to factor in how tightly to screw down the metal filter to insure the water doesn’t flow through too quickly, but I can’t screw it down too tightly or the coffee will take an hour and a half to brew like it did last time and then I will have to get my needle-nosed pliers back out OR JUST FORGET ABOUT IT AND THROW THE WHOLE THING AWAY. . . the end.
But despite all of the ways I can make coffee, what I really like to do is drive up to a window or saunter lazily into a coffee shop and pay for what I should be making at home for a fraction of the cost. And today I did just that. As I perused the website Small Notebook last night (thanks, SBC!), I came across a simple iced coffee recipe that was incredible and quite simple. It was better than any other iced coffee I had tried to make before, and I love that it was cold-brewed. A link to the recipe follows. Happy brewing!
Very truly yours,
Sarah E.
bigscrimping 
Very pertinent rambling. So true. it was during rough economic times of 2008 that I bid adieu to a $4.25 triple tall 200 degree cappucino, and graduated to a tall regular coffee. Still, I think I spend a fortune. I am slowly curbing my enthusiasm to go almost everyday to starbucks. I hope I gain total control soon….pray fo rme 🙂
Madhu, this very morning I wanted to go to Shadrach’s which is a local place (and kicks Starbucks’ butt btw), but I thought it was a little early in the week to start spending that $10.00 beverage budget of mine. And I will add you to my prayer list. 🙂