The Beverage Edition #1: Five iced bevvies for the long weekend 🎆

Fresh mint lemonade, a key lime cold foam, and more.

Hello and welcome back to Five Things I Ate! This is certainly not the first Beverage Edition, but I’m gonna start enumerating them now so you can more easily search for them in your inbox. Read past posts here, and please follow my Instagram, @fivethingsiate.

Fresh mint lemonade at home

Adapted from Williams Sonoma.

Happy Fourth of July and long weekend for all those who celebrate! I am taking some much needed time off to chill and relax, after I learned that I am in fact not immune to food poisoning. Raccoon girl summer did me in. One of the absolute joys of this summer has been growing a garden for the first time as an adult. Everyone warned me that mint would spread and take over everything in the ground, but it turns out that the zucchini did that instead ☠️. My mint harvest has actually been pretty modest, but still enough for me to churn out a big pitcher of fresh mint lemonade. I was really craving Middle Eastern iced mint lemonade but alas we did not have a blender, so I made this simple recipe instead from Williams Sonoma. The result is simple and Not Too Sweet, but still minty enough to feel like this Tonic Might Cure Me.

Iced Brown Sugar Oat Milk Shaken Moka Espresso at home

Buy a Bialetti – it’ll last you for life.

All hail the moka pot— my favorite analog device of all time (although it comes in electric versions, too!). It’s budget friendly, compact and makes a damn good cup. I’ve actually been thinking of replacing my Nespresso with it, because it’s way less wasteful, and I enjoy how I can taste more bean per cup. There’s a few keys to making a good moka cup, but instead of trying to explain, I’m going to let nerdier coffee nerds do that for me. I love using it to make a classic brown sugar iced shaken espresso with oat milk, which is a beverage that really stands the test of time. To make it, I use a “3 cup” Moka pot filled with medium roast coffee grounds and boiling water in the bottom. After extraction, I pour the hot coffee into a large metal bowl and stir in a tablespoon of brown sugar and a dash of cinnamon. I stick it in the freezer for a few minutes while I go about my day, and when it’s chilled a bit, I shake the smithereens out of it in a large empty pasta jar filled with ice. Pour into a tall glass, scraping the foam out with a spoon, and top with full fat oat milk.

Lemon iced shaken espresso at home

A classic combo.

Citrus and coffee is actually a match made in heaven, so I decided to combine the two in a shaken espresso. The results were fresh and bright – like a lemon cream. To make it, brew your coffee as above in the moka pot. When extracted, pour again into a large metal bowl (for rapid cooling) and add two fresh strips of lemon peel, a spoonful of white sugar, and stir to dissolve. Once again, stick in freezer for a few, then shake shake shake in clean used pasta jar with ice. Pour into a tall glass, top with full fat oatmilk, or maybe perhaps a thick layer of softly whipped cream.

Iced Americano with key lime pie cold foam at home

Not really key limes, because I refuse to juice those tiny fuckers.

In the summer I constantly crave key lime pie, but the one and only time I made it it took me half a day and I’m burned (literally) from juicing key limes for life. I also don’t have a good spot for key lime pie, so please send me recs! Instead, I had to make do by making a key lime inspired cold foam creamer for my coffee, which was honestly pretty delicious. To make it, froth 1 tbs sweetened condensed milk with ¼ cup heavy cream and fresh lime zest till softly whipped. Pull a doubleshot over ice, and top with a fluffy layer of the cold foam. Stir and enjoy.

Vietnamese coconut iced coffee at home

Inspired by this Tik Tok guy.

“Sophie didn’t you just say you didn’t have a blender?” Well, I do not at this time and place, but what I do have is a tiny little pink food processor, which I used to make this amazing Vietnamese-inspired coconut ice coffee slushy. To make it, blend, er, process, a cup of ice with ¼ cup whole fat coconut milk FROM THE CAN, 1 tbs coconut condensed milk (or regular condensed milk but I love a double coconut bev). You will end up with a delicious creamy slushy, which you should pour into a tall glass filled with ice and top with a cooled shot of espresso IMMEDIATELY. The slush melts very quickly, even with ice cubes so you may want to stick it in the freezer first. But tbh the melted drink is still very creamy and delicious.

Have a great long weekend,

Soph

P.S. Do you have a spot for great key lime pie? Let me know!