Coffee Hack for when you don’t have Simple Syrup-Plus Our Favorite Coffee Beans and Preferred Method of Making Coffee

COFFEE HACK

Hello! If you’re on this page just for be coffee hack, it’s maple syrup!! It doesn’t even taste like maple syrup once it’s in your coffee. We always used regular sugar when it came to hot coffee; you can say this hack is more of an iced coffee hack. Perhaps you know of this hack already, but my husband discovered this maybe a year ago for when we were too busy to take the time to make our usual simple syrup for our iced coffee. We always have this ginormous Costco Maple Syrup sitting in the fridge forever. We have pancakes only maybe twice a month?”. He used it randomly one day and I asked him when he had time to make simple syrup, in which he responded he didn’t and used the maple syrup in the fridge. We were hooked since then and it is always our go to when making iced coffee in the summer months. Well, there’s the story of of the hack my husband discovered at home. Read on for our go to on how we make our coffee and our favors coffee beans.

FAVORITE METHOD

My husband and I are huge coffee drinkers! I guess you can even call him a coffee enthusiast. He knows his coffees and love playing around with different ways to make it taste best. It took several years of trying different assortments or combinations of testing and tasting, until he was seasoned enough to make it consistently now; his go to, one way; and it’s perfect every time. He weighs his whole coffee beans on his little scale and grinds his beans using the spice grinder. He heats up water and uses his Hario kettle to pour over his Chemex. We used to do smaller servings on the V60, but after 3 kids, we were gifted that large Chemex (which we used everyday) and we drink it all, the two of us, all within a morning. We’ve also tried the Aeropress, but my husband found it a bit inconvenient with all the pieces involved. The V60 was great, but just didn’t make as much coffee as the Chemex. The Bialetti was great, but wasn’t something we wanted everyday. We prefer to drink a lot of coffee throughout the day and the Bialetti is essentially an espresso that does its job with the caffeine and fix right in the morning and that’s it. The French Press we like but find it too grainy and the clean up too messy. I think I covered all the ones he’s tried. Whew!

FAVORITE COFFEE BEANS

As for coffee beans, our favorite is Blue Bottle; there’s just no flavor that compares to it– the caffeine fix we get from that is the best. Grady’s Cold Brew packets of ready to make cold brew is hands down the best cold brew we have ever had. We ordered it two summers straight already and we plan to reload again soon for this year. We even gifted it last Christmas to friend and family; and we plan to gift it again next Christmas for Olivia’s and Ayla’s new teachers. So easy to make and just delicious coffee if it even makes any sense. It’s perfection every time and impossible to mess up. Just grab that mason jar and follow the instructions on how much water to fill it with. Wait a day or two or three and it’s ready to go. We leave it out when the weather isn’t too hot to make the coffee even stronger tasting. We love the flexibility you Grady’s Cold Brew offers. The flavor is pretty similar to our favorite hot coffee, Blue Bottle. Although our go to is Blue Bottle Coffee and Grady’s Cold Brew, you can always count on us for trying all sorts of coffees- especially ones that have a unique description or flavor profile. We always appreciate the coffee our family and friends bring us from their travels as well. They all know we would appreciate them to the fullest.

BONUS-MY FAVORITE INSTANT COFFEE

As for me, I just make instant coffee (no shame in that). I really like the Nescafé House Blend and I can proudly make it taste just like coffee ice-cream! I get the Vietnamese Vinacafe Instant Coffee Mix from the Chinese Supermarket and like that you don’t have to add sugar or creamer because it’s a 3 in 1 ready to drink coffee. Love the flavor of that too. The only other area I can say I’m exceptional at is making iced coffee from the coffee that my husband had made that had been left to cook, hah! I do not have the patience like him to weigh, grind and pour coffee. If I had to choose canned coffee, I would choose the Starbucks Expresso Double Shot and Cubano which is a close runner up too, by not as creamy and slightly sweeter. The Doubleshot has great flavor, is perfectly balanced, not too milky, diluted or sweet.

Well there you have it, our favorite beans and our favorite way of making it! Grab your maple syrup and enjoy non- grainy sugar iced coffee! Let us know if you’ve given it a try. Any other coffee hacks or favorite coffee beans you would recommend?