Iced Coffee Angostura - What?

It's the end of July and while the weather here is anything but conducive to iced drinks (non-stop rain and thunderstorms) I thought it would be fun to explore a 'recipe' for iced coffee from the late 1930's or so.  Believe me, we're grateful for the rain and storms knowing the drought conditions that are affecting our country currently but a small ray of sunshine would be appreciated in our corner of the world!  In most parts of the United States the sun is blazing, the crops are suffering and relief is nowhere in sight.  A tall glass of iced coffee would certainly take the edge off a stifling day of heat and humidity.  I was surprised to find this recipe in my collection for 'coffee-iced' but that's exactly what it is!  Follow the recipe carefully because of the special ingredient!

Coffee - Iced

Into a 12 oz. glass pour one T. of angostura*, add 2 t. sugar, fill the glass with ice.  Then add 2 oz. cream, 4 oz. double strength hot black coffee.  Stir thoroughly - serve.

*Call me naive but I had never in my life heard of angostura.  Click on the link to read all about Angostura bitters and what they were used for!  It was difficult to discover much information about this strong 'elixir' but I did find this nugget of information from 'The Food Lover's Companion',

"Angostura bitters - Formulated by German Surgeon Johann Gottlieb Benjamin Siegert, who served under Marshall von Blucher at the battle of Waterloo, angostura bitters are the most widely known bitters today.  Dr. Siegert created the bitter elixir (based on angostura bark, gentian root, rum and other ingredients) as a tonic to stimulate the troops' lagging appetites and improve their health.  Although bitters are still taken as a Digestif, angostura bitters are often used today as a flavoring in foods and drinks and are essential in many cocktails such as the Manhattan and Old Fashioned.  At 90 proof, angostura bitters are the most potent among this genre."

I found the photo below on www.pinterest.com of an Angostura bottle in case you ever ran across one.  It has always had a distinctive over sized label.  Personally, I prefer a 'regular' iced coffee with nothing special done to it.  Click on this Wikipedia Iced Coffee link to read about all the different varieties of this cool summer thirst quencher!