Iced Coffee Season


Iced coffee season is here, folks. I'm happy to report that this year's batch has been pretty decent so far. Now if you're shopping for your iced coffee at Starbucks, don't order an iced coffee. Seriously. You don't want an iced coffee. What you want is an iced Americano, which is a wicked shot of espresso over ice and topped with filtered water. It tastes like a cigar in a cup. Hell, it even SMELLS like a cigar in a cup. Very refreshing indeed. And it's strong flavor promotes smaller sips so it lasts longer, which is a problem with me, especially with the cream and sugar-substitute version I enjoy at the Dunkin Donuts. I recently heard that McDonald's makes a nice iced coffee - Paul Newman's behind those I think - but I have yet to try one. I order the decaf version of Starbuck's iced Americano, and there's no loss in flavor. So if you need an icy fix and don't want all the usual jumps and jitters, do yourself a favor and go decaf. The DD decaf iced coffee is kind of hit and miss. They don't sell as well as the regular version, so sometimes it sits in the tank a bit too long and it's less than desirable when it arrives. They're easy enough to return if you order in-store, but a PITA if you use the drive-thru, because you're usually too far away from the DD to return it before you take that first sip and say, "Damn... this is terrible. I ought to return this."

Two more things to consider when going for an iced coffee: napkins and straws. Make sure you have plenty of napkins, because you'll have to wipe down your plastic cup a bunch of times due to condensation and leaks from the edge of the lid - usually caused by the aggressive shaking and poor lid-setting abilities by your counter person. No need to complain though. It's just a fact of iced coffee life. Part of the territory. Clean it up and enjoy.

As far as straws go, that's just it... you have to make sure your straw goes far enough so it reaches from the bottom of the plastic cup and sticks up at least three inches into the air. Anything less and you're bumping your nose, lips, chin, hair, eyeballs, and whatever else on the lid in an effort to take a sip. Don't be afraid of a really long straw either. It may look kind of goofy, but if you were about looks you'd be at the salon, not at the coffee shop.

Hope this was helpful. Enjoy those iced coffees, people.

G

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