Meet Toddy, my best friend.

 My days start pretty early. To be at work at 7, I am out the door by 6:20am to catch the train. Because my job involves keeping a (very important) tiny human happy and healthy, I don't like to work sleepy. Going to bed early keeps me well-rested, but I like to add coffee to the equation for extra baby-lovin' power.

The consequence of working in a (realllllly good) coffee shop for many years, is it's difficult to enjoy most other shop's coffees. Even in Chicago. So, I make my own cold press toddy each morning. It's fast, easy, delicious, and incredibly caffeinated. 

My preferred recipe is one part cold brew concentrate, one part sweetened soy milk*. With one pound of high-quality coffee beans and two large cartons of soy milk, we can get about ten 16-oz servings for $1.80 each.  Dirt cheap! You can barely get a small cup of dirt coffee for two  Washingtons!

*A note about milks: In general, I prefer unsweetened almond milk over soy milk. Unfortunately, in my experience, almond milk curdles in the toddy concentrate. I haven't experimented with rice or hemp milk. Dairy milk is delicious, but in order to cut some of the toddy's intensity, I can't recommend a splash of half & half enough! A little cream goes a long way, so you don't need to be concerned about calories.

*I use sweetened soy milk because its subtle sweetness does the drink a huge favor. I don't really have a taste for overly sweet things and drink my brewed coffee black (no sugar--ever!), if that gives you a perspective on how important a small amount of sweetness is in this drink. Buying unsweetened, or using dairy milk, would be a fantastic idea--just remember to add some simple syrup/honey/agave nectar.

In case you missed it, you can get your own Cold Press Toddy contraption here or here. You won't regret it!