Refreshing Coffee for the Summer

Summer is really one season that you would want to cool down.  This is the reason people during this time often head to either somewhere cold, go to the beach or spend time at a resort.  For those that are at home, a tall drink of something cold or even better, iced is a way to refresh and cool down the body.  When we say cold drinks for the summer, it is often associated with lemonade, fruit juices and iced alcoholic drinks.  We rarely think of cooling down with a tall glass of coffee with a shot of any of the Torani syrups on hand.

However, this notion is fast changing especially with the proliferation of big name coffee shops like Starbucks offering cold drinks all year long.  Now, coffee can be enjoyed not just hot but also cool and refreshing. People are more aware now that there are more ways of preparing coffee other than pouring hot water over our mugs for an instant coffee fix or through the coffee maker. With the availability ofTorani syrups almost everywhere, this notion is being dispelled.

Taking in cold coffee may be considered sacrilege to those coffee purists who enjoy it plain and black.  The temperature upon which coffee should be served is another important characteristic that these purists check on whenever they order coffee from a store. It is said that the temperature of the water should not be boiling as it will burn the coffee and give it a bitter taste.  The temperature should just hover between 85 to 95 degrees.  It is hot but not too hot that it will burn off your tongue after the first sip. 

But with the soaring temperatures, a glass of iced cold coffee is a welcome respite from the heat.  There are already a lot of different preparations on how your coffee can be made even when cold.  Most of the preparations that we enjoy with hot beverages like latte, Americano, Mocha can also be enjoyed cold.  Flavored coffees are also a great way to take in to combat the heat, as this can now be easily prepared with a variety of coffee syrups available in the market. 

·         Iced coffee is probably the easiest to prepare, as you just need to add a couple of ice cubes to a glass of coffee.  However, the trick so that your coffee won’t be too watery is to use frozen coffee cubes instead of ice cubes.  This way your coffee will retain its flavor and still remain cold and refreshing.

·         Blended drinks are starting to become popular.  Instead of whole ice cubes, ice is blended with the coffee, milk and other slew of ingredients like Monin syrups, cookies, and other flavor shots. The resulting drink is rich and creamy and when topped of with whipped cream, it becomes heavenly.  However, be wary of these kinds of drinks as the calorie content of this would be higher than those regular cold coffee drinks.

·         Dessert coffee is another way of enjoying cold coffee.  It is just starting to get noticed by coffee aficionados.  It combines dessert and coffee in one glass.

Coffee can now be enjoyed hot or cold.  It just depends on the mood that you are in. This summer, yes, you can get refreshed with coffee!