The Everyday Spruce {Get Set for Summer}

I have been loving The Everyday Spruce posts from Heather at Growing Spaces and Sarah-Lou at Lapinblu. They are so inspiring and I adore the idea that sprucing can refer to, not only your home, but your body and wellbeing as well. I was so excited when they decided to open it up to their readers for everyday sprucing ideas. Their first prompt of “Get set for summer” had me bursting with ideas, but I settled on this one because I knew Heather would love it.

Heather and I have lots of things in common and our love of good coffee is definitely one of them. I don’t do instant anymore and even though I need a little sweetness, it has to be brown sugar. Coffee snob? Me? Totally. I am a full on caffeine addict and I can’t contemplate sprucing anything unless I am sufficiently caffeinated. That does prove to be a challenge in summer. I love a refreshing, citrusy iced tea in the afternoon and have a perfected recipe here, but to me, mid morning means coffee and when it’s so hot no-one wants a piping hot brew. I make an acceptable iced latte, but I don’t always want, what is effectively a coffee milkshake! So, I decided to try a cold press coffee, which can be taken with just a little milk or black. Perfect for those of you who are dairy free. You will need:

Coffee Beans

Water

A coffee grinder

A large sealed jar

A sieve Muslim cloth

Coffee papers or kitchen roll

First grind your beans roughly. You want them to be breadcrumb like. I made mine even coarser as I’m fussy about muddy coffee. If you don’t have a coffee grinder (seriously? Why not? Get one immediately) I’m sure your local independent coffee shop would be happy to grind them coarsely for you. Add your ground beans to your jar and add cold water. You need a ratio of 1 part coffee to 8 parts water. Stir, seal and leave for 24 hours. I actually left mine longer because I wanted to take photos. Now, it’s just a matter of straining the coffee. Start with a sieve to get the large grounds out, then sieve again, but this time through a muslin. Finally strain through kitchen paper or even better coffee filters. I use these to make my hot coffee, so always have a stock.

That’s it! The coffee should keep fine in the fridge for several week, apparently. Serve over ice, white or black and sweeten as you normally would. I’m not sure Heather’s favoured sugar lumps would work, as they’d take an age to dissolve, but I used loose Demerara sugar and it worked fine.  I’m sure I’ve seen this served with a splash of condensed milk, which I think sounds rather decadent but oh, so good. The flavour of the cold pressed coffee is really fresh and fragrant and less bitter than hot brewed coffee. I have my hot coffee white, but can take this black with no trouble. It’s a real hit and I urge you to give it a try.

Go visit Heather and Sarah-Lou for more ideas to spruce your everyday and also their beautiful Instagram hashtag #theeverydayspruce and Pinterest board for loads more ideas.