It's June. The sun is shining. Birds are chirping. Girls are wearing waaay too tiny booty shorts (shout to the chick I saw last night at Dulano's... you'll probably never read this, but lady, those aren't shorts. They're underwear.) When the Minnesota weather takes a turn for the better, I turn to my favorite summer beverage [after beer], the iced coffee.

Without getting too into the boring details, I've been working on a time-consuming project and spending most evenings at Twin Cities coffee shops. And here's what I am not understanding: Why is iced coffee so freaking expensive?

Keep in mind, I am not ordering a cold press coffee.  In fact, on days that I'm feeling especially broke, I make my own at home, taking regular ol' coffee, sticking it in the fridge for a half an hour and adding ice.  Tastes the same to me.  So why did it cost me $4.03 for a glass of iced coffee last night? Aren't I drinking coffee simply placed in the fridge? Worse yet, maybe it's what they do with day old coffee. 

I hate to say it, but Starbuck's really got me thinking I was getting ripped off my local coffee shop. You can get your caffeine-loving mitts on a grande iced coffee  for only $1.95 plus tax. Having said that, I'd rather support my local coffee shop (er...shops. I live in a city saturated with them), but am still miffed that adding ice and a straw tacks on two extra bucks. 

My question to you all: Why is iced coffee so spendy? Am I missing something huge that occurs between the brewing and adding ice cubes phase? I want to continue tooling around town a la Mary Louise-Parker on Weeds, sipping on my iced coffee and feeling fabulous. Maybe dealing drugs is the only way one can fund an iced coffee habit.