Broke-Ass Brews: Put Your Iced Coffee in Beer Bottles
If you’re like me, the snooze button on your alarm clock is not optional, it’s necessary. Only a minor detail of my unhealthy sleep patterns includes my 49 minute snooze cycle each morning, which inevitably leaves me with unbrushed hair and half-brushed teeth as I stumble out the door just in time to buy coffee at the bodega on my corner.
Coffee or Beer?
Not owning a self-timed coffee machine, my daily food budget often goes to a hot cup of freshly brewed coffee, which makes me cringe every time I think of the mark-up on what is basically hot water. And with iced coffee season soon approaching, my wallet is only expecting to hurt more.
I buy my coffee beans from Porto Rico Importing Co, a local outlet with high quality, organic, and delicious flavored coffee beans that cost less than $12 a pound. But my late morning habits prevent me from making coffee, or breakfast, most days.
The solution? Brew the night before! At first, I wasn’t quite sure what to do with my made-in-advance coffee: I didn’t want to reheat it and storing it in ice cube trays was almost as much effort in the morning as just brewing a fresh pot. One evening, after happy hour, I had a great idea: beer bottles! From one brew to another, my previous night’s beer bottle becomes the ideal container for iced coffee. I brew four cups, enclose it in the bottle in the refrigerator overnight, and just pour the cold coffee over a few ice cubes in my travel tumbler– and I’m ready to go! Of course, you could always just stick a straw in the bottle, but I’m not sure how well that would go on public transportation…
(My favorite bottle to re-use is Grolsch, because it comes with a top and is resealable)
Photo Credit: Grolsch