Some family members who visited Milan are trying to find the ultimate tiramisu in the States. I am on a quest for the ideal iced coffee in France. In Gainesville, we have iced coffee for all tastes—Maude’s, Starbucks and Panera’s are perhaps the better known shops.
Years ago, I used to get a very good iced coffee at Nice Etoile—an in-town shopping center. Two shots of espresso and some milk, flavored with almond syrup. Today, with the growing coffee awareness among visitors to France, we assumed iced coffee in Cannes would be . . . obvious! But not so. After settling into an outdoor café on one of the side streets, just off of the Rue d’Antibes, we ordered.
--Iced coffee? The waitress seemed perplexed.
--Yes, espresso with sugar and ice cubes. . . .Oh, and cold milk.
After much delay, our coffee arrived. A watered-down espresso accompanied by a pitcher of hot milk.
No amount of sugar brought the coffee to life. The man next to us had ordered a
café latte, but his coffee was black. We handed him our pitcher of hot milk.
Given that the French take pride in their selections of hot coffee, perhaps iced coffee is viewed as something of a travesty. . . . For now, I will stick with café latte, cappuccino or macchiato, which are among my favorites. But come to think of it, it’s difficult (for me) to find the ideal iced coffee in the States. Most are too sweet or too bitter. The solution may be home brewed.
Here's how we make cold-brewed iced coffee. We let ground coffee steep in cold water (an 11-ounce bag with four cups of water) for 12 hours and then filter it (this procedure seems to remove any bitterness). We use about ½ cup of this coffee and add sugar and cold milk to taste. We experiment with flavors—chocolate syrup, caramel, almond. The coffee base keeps about a month in the frig. Enjoy!
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