Creamy Iced Coffee with Carrot Juice
What do iced coffee and carrot juice have in common? I sat at the doctor's office not too long ago and his assistant told me about Persian iced coffee, which, surprisingly, isn't made with coffee at all, but instead with fresh carrot juice. Of course that made me perk up immediately. For this Persian drink, you need Bastani akbar mashti, a homemade saffron rice.
I'll let you in on the original recipe (without coffee) below. Also featured: my very own version with a shot of espresso.
One cup of coffee per day really can't do any harm, can it - particularly if it's iced coffee and it's summer! It immediately gets you into an indulgent holiday mood. Of course, whipped cream and ice cream aren't exactly superfoods, but once in a while you deserve to treat yourself. If you want more vitamins, have the Persian version.
Carrots have the highest beta-carotene/provitamin A content of all vegetables, which gives them their intense orange colour and supports our eyesight. Carrots contain fat-soluble vitamins, so you should always eat them with a drop of oil. In this case, the whipped cream/ice cream is enough for the body to absorb the vitamins.
But not just the carrots are healthy in my iced concoction - the coffee is too, even though for a long time, it was thought to be bad for us despite even older studies confirming that it supports concentration and memory. If you drink coffee moderately but regularly, it is thought to have a positive influence on your health. Your blood pressure spikes right after drinking a cup and it also acts as a diuretic, but neither effect is detrimental to our bodies, but instead replenishes our energy depots. When you drink coffee, the caffeine travels through your stomach into the bloodstream and subsequently into the brain, where it blocks the receptors of a neurotransmitter called adenosine. This in turn increases the number of other neurotransmitters and produces a release of neurons, boosting our energy. Coffee is the ideal picker-upper when you have to work or study for a long time, as it increases your performance and learning capacity.
A further study from Scandinavia revealed that your body's physical performance after coffee consumption is increased by 11%. So have a cup of coffee before you go for a run!
In addition, caffeine is said to burn fat, increase sweating and boost your metabolism.
And finally, all studies agree that up to 4 or 5 cups per day are totally fine for a healthy person.
According to lore, coffee was discovered by a 9th century sheepherder, who noticed his goats getting really lively whenever they ate certain berries. Humans used to chew these berries for 400 years and it wasn't until the 13th century that someone tried to roast them, which produced a pungent, oily smell and the bitter aroma that we know so well.
Until now, I've always prepared my coffee the traditional way - with an Italian coffee maker on the stove. But these days, I enjoy my morning coffee a bit faster - with the Eduscho Cafissimo Picco. Deliciously creamy!
Creamy Iced Coffee with Carrot Juice
Ingredients:
Ingredients for 1 glass of coffee:
- 150ml fresh carrot juice
- 2 scoops vanilla ice cream
- 1 shot of espresso
- ¼ cup/jar whipping cream
- ½ tsp chopped pistachios for the iced coffee
- 1 tsp chopped pistachios to garnish
- ½ tsp chai kisses
- ½ tsp Aladins Kaffeegewürz (coffee spice mix by Sonnentor)
- 3-4 ice cubes
Ingredients for the persian saffron rice (enough for 4 people):
- 1/2 litre vanilla ice cream
- ½ tsp saffron strands
- 1 TBSP rosewater
- 2-3 TBSP unsalted pistachios
- 2 TBSP milk
- pinch of sugar
additional ingredients for the iced coffee (enough for 4 people):
- 600ml carrot juice
- 1 jar whipping cream
- 4 tsp chopped pistachios
Preparation:
Preparation of iced coffee:
- Juice the carrots (if you don't have a juicer at home, buy some carrot juice at the store). Whisk the whipping cream.
- Remove the vanilla ice cream from the freezer and let it soften a bit. Put 1 scoop of ice cream and 1 tablespoon of whipped cream in a high container. Add the chopped pistachios and the carrot juice and mix well.
- Put ice cubes in a glass, then add a scoop of vanilla ice cream and the carrot mix. Garnish with a bit of whipped cream and some chopped pistachios and top with chai kisses and spice mix, if you like.
Preparation of saffron rice:
- Put the saffron strands in a mortar. Preheat the oven to 50°C and warm up the mortar with the saffron for a few minutes. Add a pinch of sugar and grind well with a pestle. Then add milk and let the mixture steep for 15 minutes - the lactic acid in the milk will release the aroma in the saffron strands.
- Remove the vanilla ice cream from the freezer and let it soften a bit. Put it in a bowl, mix it well with the saffron, chopped pistachios and rose water and put it back in the freezer until ready to serve.
- For the Persian iced coffee, whisk the whipped cream and juice the carrots. Put two scoops of the saffron ice cream in a glass, pour the fresh carrot juice over it, top with a bit of whipped cream and garnish with chopped pistachios.
