Williams Sonoma Gets Iced Coffee Wrong With Zoku

I live in New England, and, once you live here long enough, you will drink iced coffee as your beverage of choice. It's just going to happen. One day, you will realize it's thirty degrees outside, you're freezing, and you still ordered an iced coffee. So I learned to make my own, and it's easy. Unless, apparently, you work for Williams Sonoma.

The Williams Sonoma Method

Here's how Williams Sonoma does it: You buy their $30 Zoku, stick it in the freezer, and then, when you want iced coffee, you pour hot coffee into the mug, snap on the travel lid, and go. This idea is terrible for two reasons: One, rapidly chilling hot coffee changes it chemically, and depending on your brew, might make it more bitter. Two, it costs $30. For $30, I can teach you how to make iced coffee far more easily.

The Method That Actually Makes Sense

For this, you'll need a few things. One, a plastic pitcher, preferably one that can hold about two liters. Two, a nut milk bag, which sounds disgusting but is actually just a fine mesh bag easily found on Amazon for $10. Three, some coarsely ground coffee, and four, a spoon. Optionally, you can also have a second pitcher, a strainer, and paper coffee filters. This will still put you well below $30.

Iced Coffee Fast

You're probably way ahead of me, but insert about twelve to thirteen big heapin' helpings of coffee into the nut milk bag. Put it in the pitcher, fill the pitcher with water, and stick that in the fridge for about 20 to 24 hours. Pull out the bag, give it a nice squeeze, and if you're fussy, filter it into the second pitcher using the filter and strainer to get the smaller particles that escaped the bag's mesh; otherwise, just don't drink the very last of the coffee. The nut milk bag lets you just dump the grounds out in the trash, although you will have to let it dry out to get those pesky clingers. But basically, you'll have all the iced coffee you could ever need, and you won't have to overpay Williams Sonoma to do it.