Cold coffee is not just for summer

By: 
Miriam Nelson
News Editor

I was drinking cold coffee before iced coffee was even cool.

Full disclosure here, I never mean to drink cold coffee. It just seems to work out that way.

When I worked at the Mall of America, the shop next door sold hot, fresh coffee. I like mine with cream — not to cool it off, but because I like the way it tastes.

On the mornings when I wouldn’t buy a cup, I would have no one in the store until lunch. On the days when I really needed that kick of caffeine and wanted to savor every hot sip, I would be blessed with customers needing my undivided attention for hours on end. Maybe it was the aroma of the fresh coffee that drew them in, or maybe it was Murphy’s law. All I know for certain is that I never drank a hot cup of coffee the entire time I worked there.

When I first moved home 15 years ago, I had a coffee pot and would start the day with good intentions. But by the end of the day, I would usually find a half pot of very strong, very bad coffee and a cup or two abandoned in various locations in the house.

My sister moved me into the 21st century by getting me a purple, one-cup brewing machine. Now that I’m working out of my home, I generally find my coffee cup still in the machine an hour or two after I intended to drink it.

The microwave is just a step away, but for some reason I just don’t like reheated coffee. Maybe it’s just that I’ve learned to drink cold coffee over the years, and it seems to be the lesser of two evils.

There are mornings when I actually get a sip or two while the coffee is still hot, but those mornings are rare, and I never get to the bottom of the cup while it’s still warm.

I suppose that fact that I like a large cup of coffee so I have room for a lot of cream doesn’t do me any favors. If I really wanted and needed hot coffee, I would stay standing by my machine and drink my coffee the minute it finished brewing, but that will never happen.

I’m a wanderer, and I like bringing a cup of coffee into any room in the house. I have coasters spread throughout so that I always have a place to set my coffee. This probably doesn’t work in my favor, either. It encourages me to put down my cup of coffee and wander off again.
I do know that if I ever want hot, fresh coffee, I can go to a restaurant where a waitress will top off my cup the minute I pull it away from my lips. It’s almost impossible to drink a cold cup of coffee, unless it’s a very bad restaurant.

At this point in my life, cold coffee is just something I’ve learned to embrace. I suppose I could take my cold coffee and put it over ice and be hip like the rest of the summer time coffee drinkers, but we all know that won’t happen.