OK listen. Yeah I know it sounds s u p e r weird, but bear with me on this one, and trust me: I haven’t led you too far off the path thus far, and I don’t plan on starting now. Here’s the story.
It’s hard for me to complain about where my job has ended up this year, because I’ve had so many amazing experiences in my career over the past twenty-five years. One of the most fun and rewarding projects I’ve been honored to participate in was 2019’s collaboration with Stumptown Coffee for their seasonal beverage program that year.
They really let me off the leash and go wild with some crazy coffee drinks (before you ask, no, none of these contained any alcohol): there was a Cold Brew Piña Colada, a Honey-Grapefruit Peppercorn latte, an Apple Shrub coldbrew “cocktail”, and a delicious Rum Raisin Piloncillo latte, in addition to a bunch of others.
But my very favorite concoction last year was one that Stumptown approved of but never ended up running in their cafés: the Sweet Corn Milk Iced Coffee. Fuck me if I’m wrong, but it might have had something to do with the word “corn” in there.
I’ve spoken before about my love of this crazy Brazilian batida made from green corn and sweetened condensed milk (watch the video if you haven’t seen it), but another one of my absolute favorite drinks in the world is a Vietnamese iced coffee. So I thought, why not kinda mash up those two ideas?
Let me tell you, there was nothing in the world like being in that test kitchen with all of the Stumptown Coffee bosses and decision makers and watching their faces when I passed around this crazy sweet corn milk coffee drink dusted with cinnamon on top. I was really surprised – and so unbelievably stoked – when they accepted it.
It always bummed me out that the drink never saw the light of day, but with their permission I’m putting the recipe out in the world for everyone to try. We’ve been making them down at the bar with a shot of nice aged rum snuck in there, I highly recommend you do the same if you’re in the mood for a cocktail, but don’t sleep on this one as a delicious summertime iced caffeinated beverage.
Sweet Corn Milk Iced Coffee Print Me
- 1½ oz (45 ml) sweet corn milk*
- 3 oz (90 ml) cold brew extract
- 1½ oz (45 ml) aged rum [OPTIONAL]
- Combine all ingredients in a tall glass, preferably a chilled one.
- Add crushed ice to fill.
- Dust with cinnamon or garnish with a cinnamon stick.
*To make sweet corn milk, combine one can of creamed corn with one can of sweetened condensed milk (these cans are generally sold in the same-ish weight, about 14 oz or 400 grams) in a blender and blend until smooth. Strain mixture through a fine-mesh strainer or sieve and refrigerate until ready for use. Should last refrigerated for approximately one week.
Recipe printed courtesy of jeffreymorgenthaler.com
I had this exact thought for a drink and am going to the grocery store today to get the stuff I need. I just happened to do a quick google search to see if someone beat me to it, and you did.
Mine will be a bit different though; I’m not doing condensed milk. I’ll be simmering soy or coconut milk with sweet corn, sugar, cinnamon, cacao, and probably aniseed. Then I’ll be adding cold brew concentrate (using Sweet Boom Migration coffee). Little bit lighter most likely, though now you have me tempted to add coconut cream. Hmm.
This reminds me of mazamorra. I’d hear it hollarded up and down the street every morning from vendors while I was in Colombia. While it’s not smooth it’s sweetened with panela or guava paste and pretty good. Gonna have to make this very soon.
I’ve been making my own sweetened condensed milk per instructions of Stella Parks, and have been adding two corn cobs to the mixture as it cooks down. It’s a delicious homemade version. Thanks for the idea to use it in coffee!
Canned tomatoes and fresh tomatoes are very different ingredients and one is not a substitute for the other.
Very much not mad at that pun.
AMaizeIng
The fresh, uncooked sweet corn milk was awesome, but I feel like this is probably like tomatoes, where you would prefer canned any other time but the ~2 months of peak season.
Do you have a preferred brand for the coffee, or is the bottled stuff pretty bad?
Check out my post on how to make your own!
OK I made the fresh corn milk! Corn from 2 cobs, 3oz water, 1/8 cup sugar, healthy pinch of salt blended and strained. Made 6oz total. I had no cold brew on hand but made a cool rum drink instead with Becherovka. https://www.instagram.com/p/CENUcP0FaO4/
That’s awesome, I never even considered making my own creamed corn. Nice work!
I shared this with a friend who runs a coffeeshop, and her and the rest of the staff liked it so much that they’re thinking about putting it on the menu, so at least it’ll be served at one coffeeshop. Since they don’t wanna scare people off with the word corn, they’re gonna call it Farmhouse Cold Brew, rather than the much better name suggested by one of his employees – CornBrew
Jared this makes me so happy to hear! Tell them thanks from me, it would be an honor to be on their menu.
It’s fresh sweet corn season ’round the midwest here – I assume you could just blend some corn-off-the-cob (RIP Mitch Hedberg) with a little water/salt/sugar instead of the canned creamed corn if you want to use fresh?
I would imagine so! You’ll have to try it and report back here with your findings.
So should I use cold brew concentrate or normal cold brew for this?
Yes, I recommend extract/concentrate instead of regular cold brew for a stronger flavor.
What brand of blender are you crazy about?
My home blender is a Wolf blender and I absolutely love it, but we use Vitamix at the bar and they’re great too!
Perhaps this could be renamed Garmonbozia to appease the folks turned off by the word “corn”.
My rule book says to play it where it lies. 😂
I do love sweet corn milk! I’ve made a syrup out of it too for a cocktail called Say Elote My Little Friend.
Heck yeah!!