Coconut Iced Coffee

Whenever I make this, I have visions of a Nina Simone-esque alter ego, sipping a tall glass of iced coffee, before performing the pants off of everyone in the room. Yes, yes, I know milk isn't exactly good for one's singing voice, but hey, indulge me, wouldya?  The strains of bluesy jazz songs starts filtering into my thoughts as soon as I take the first sip of this decidedly grown-up version of iced coffee. Don't ask me why, imagination is an odd thing.

Sadly the truth is somewhat different from my imaginary scenario. No silk bathrobes for me. Pink marabou-fluffed high heels are but a twinkle in my eye. Nope, instead of seductively winking at my captive audience, I'm usually in one of two places when imbibing this tropically flavoured coffee:

a) at the office, trying to fight off the post-lunch slump
b) at home, trying to fight off the summer heat

Which, granted, are both a whole lot less glamorous, but hey, at least it's the truth. 

Some more hard hitting truths - this iced coffee is addictive. Buy a couple of tins of coconut milk. Heck, buy a couple of dozen while you're at it. Trust me on this. Even TheHusband, notorious coconut milk hater, loudly demands that I make this on an alarmingly regular basis. Which, of course, being the awesome wife that I am, I do. Just do me a favour, would you? Don't tell him how ridiculously easy this is to make. It'll kinda spoil the whole martyr vibe I've got going on at home. 

PS: Want another moment of truth? That artfully staged coffee stain over there? Not staged at all. Clumsiness is the new art, haven't you heard?

Coconut Iced Coffee
A Creative Pot original
Serves 1

If you really can't bring yourself to use instant coffee, brew a pot of triple strength coffee and use a few tablespoons of that as the base of this iced coffee instead.

2 tsp good-quality instant coffee (I like Jacobs)
2 1/2 tsp sugar
2 tbsp boiling water
1/4 tsp vanilla essence
1/4 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup ice cold water
1/2 cup cold milk
a few ice cubes

1. Add coffee granules, sugar and boiling water to a glass, stirring until the coffee and sugar has dissolved.
2. Add coconut milk and vanilla essence, stirring to fully incorporate it into the coffee mixture. 
3. Top up with cold water and cold milk, add a few ice cubes and there you have it. See, told you, easy as pie.

Don't be tempted to add the last few ingredients in any old order - the coconut milk will not properly mix in if added after the cold water and milk. For some reason it needs some heat to work its magic. This bit of info is brought to you by:  Bitter Experience.