In The Kitchen with Laura McKenna: International Coffee Day Tips & Tricks
October 1, 2024 9:35 AM CDT
By: Laura McKenna
Supported by
On Sunday, we celebrated National Coffee Day. Today is International Coffee Day. To all of us coffee lovers, every day is coffee day!
Here’s a few tips and tricks to be an at home barista with minimal skills and even less effort.
COFFEE ICE CUBES
I am an old school 12-cup coffee pot type of coffee brewer (no fancy single serve machines in this house). What I do is: drink about half the pot and then put the remaining coffee in a container in the fridge for making iced coffee later in the afternoon.
I like my iced coffee loaded with iced cubes, too. The downside of that: as the ice cubes melt, they water down the coffee. So here’s what you do: Take some of that leftover coffee and fill your ice cube tray with it. Then once frozen, empty the Coffee Cubes into a ziploc bag and keep them at the ready in the freezer.
**Warning** This will startle whoever is the next person to grab that ice cube tray out of the freezer without knowing you’re making Coffee Cubes. Imagine reaching for regular ice and getting quite the surprise when you pull out a tray of black cubes. Quite shocking. So even a little post-it note (to remind yourself or the people who share your kitchen) that “Coffee Cubes are being made” will help so they don’t end up being thrown on the floor in a fright!
MAPLE SYRUP
This little trick came about by desperation. While doing a morning radio show in Green Bay many years ago, my co-host and I would take turns bringing the flavored coffee creamer into the station for the two of us to use. One morning, we realized we had run out! Steve (my former co-host) said he’d just use the powdered creamer and sugar in the company kitchen but I can’t drink it like that. So I started rooting around the in the fridge to see what I could find. Leftover from the day before, there sat a tub of maple syrup that a restaurant had brought with their pancakes and crepes for all the staff to sample.
So I added some maple syrup to my coffee and it was actually really good! Now, some days I’ll skip the french vanilla or caramel creamer on purpose and just add a splash of cream and maple syrup. Yum!
Want to contact Laura McKenna about some coffee recipes or tricks you do? Anything else on your mind? Email anytime, she’d love to hear from you: [email protected]
And tune in weekdays starting at 10am to St. Croix Country & WCFW!
More Articles By Laura McKenna
12.02.24
Movie Monday: “Moana 2” Rides A Huge Wave Into Theaters
Moana 2 had the biggest five-day opening of all time, with $221 million. Earnings were tallied from movie goers from Thanksgiving Eve (Wednesday) showings through Sunday. What’s interesting is that the first Moana did well but didn’t seem to perform as great as some other animated movies did when originally released. In fact, it wasn’t even […]
Read More >
11.25.24
Movie Monday: Before there was Wicked, there was The Wizard in Wisconsin
Wicked blasted into theaters over the weekend and brought in $114 million (domestically) and another global haul of $164.2 million. However, long before Wicked, there was The Wizard of Oz. Chronologically, by release date, I mean. Since Wicked – technically – is the prequel to The Wizard of Oz (if we’re speaking purely on plot). […]
Read More >
11.20.24
In The Kitchen with Laura McKenna: Every holiday host NEEDS this!
Planning The Perfect Holiday, Party, or Picnic just got so much easier with this simple idea! I have been a HUGE fan of this website for years! If you’re just hearing about it for the first time, get ready because this is going to take your holiday hosting and party planning to a whole new level. […]
Read More >
11.18.24
Movie Monday: 2 Thrillers that Laura McKenna says are worth a watch
If you are fan of thrillers, I watched two good movies back-to-back on Saturday night. STRAW DOGSI started with the James Marsden and Kate Bosworth version of Straw Dogs from 2011. I honestly didn’t even know there was an original Straw Dogs with Dustin Hoffman from 1971 until I did some digging. This one has […]
Read More >