Lifesaver: Trader Joe's Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate

If I had to sum up the past two weeks of my life, I'd say one thing: stress. Moving, cleaning, starting a new job, cleaning, dealing with old apartment problems, cleaning, organizing the new home, having my bike stolen, it goes ON and ON and ON.

The one thing that has kept me running is coffee. Recently, I've been experimenting with my own cold brew but tend to pass out at night way before remembering to mix my brew. With a very tight budget these past two weeks and very little time to stop and get coffee every morning, I resorted to a quick, cheap and easy solution at home. 

Trader Joe's Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate! When I was checking, the girl told me to mix it 1:1 for a strong coffee as opposed to the 1:2 recommendation. This was pretty strong, and probably still delicious for many. My mom is a coffee enthusiast so I am very used to a rich, dark cup of joe when she brews it up.

I stuck to the recommendation: one part coffee concentrate to two parts water or milk. Anything creamy is right up my alley, so it turned into one part coffee, one part water, and one part milk with a dash of pumpkin spice syrup. YUM YUM YUM YUM YUM, did I say yum?

Real coffee taste, can be made in literally less than 60 seconds, and I'm running out the door 5 minutes late like always, oops. But in all seriousness, this stuff has been a lifesaver! $8 for the bottle with 8 servings total. If you end up mixing 1:2 like I did, you have 8 days worth of coffee coming out to $1/day. That's pretty damn good.

Once the bottle is open, it's good in the fridge for up to 30 days. If you're like me and occasionally find yourself short on time in the mornings, this is a great back up alternative. Running late? Pour yourself a quick cup and run out the door. All in all, I will be stocking up on a few bottles to have on hand. Give it a shot, tell me what you think.

Note // If you're interested in doing your own cold brew, check out these instructions by Smitten Kitchen. I'm a fanatic of her blog all together, but this is the recipe I use when I actually remember to mix the night before.