How to make the perfect homemade iced coffee
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A summertime staple, quit wasting your hard earned wage at the coffee shop and brew up an iced cold coffee right at home.
Making a refreshing caffeine jolt does take a bit more effort than just pouring hot coffee over ice, but now you can learn how to become a barista in just minutes by perfecting this great iced coffee recipe at home.
"Iced coffee is a complicated thing, and there are many different approaches. One would think that one could merely pour brewed coffee into a glass full of ice and call it a day…but I find that method extremely flawed."
– Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman
Mix together 4 litres of cold water with 250g (5lbs) of ground coffee in a large container. You are using just about double the amount of coffee as you normally would use since you want to make a very strong coffee mixture (remember, you will be diluting this mixture even more when you add the ice). Alternatively, you can also use espresso for an extra intense flavour.
- A summertime staple, quit wasting your hard earned wage at the coffee shop and brew up an iced cold coffee right at home.
- Making a refreshing caffeine jolt does take a bit more effort than just pouring hot coffee over ice, but now you can learn how to become a barista in just minutes by perfecting this great iced coffee recipe at home.
Cover and place the mixture in the fridge or in a cool space and let steep, at least 4 hours, but best if it sits overnight. Once it has had time to steep, strain with a piece of cheesecloth on top of a fine mesh strainer. This may take about 20 minutes for the coffee to fully seep through the strainer.
Once strained, now the mixture is ready to serve. Fill a tall glass with ice and pour in the coffee mixture. Add in milk, a flavoured syrup, sugar (or another sweetener) and give a good stir. Stick a straw in the glass and enjoy.
- Cover and place the mixture in the fridge or in a cool space and let steep, at least 4 hours, but best if it sits overnight.
What you’ll need
250g/.5lbs good ground coffee, use your favourite kind 4 litres/ 4 quarts cold water Optional: Sweeteners, flavoured syrups, condensed milk, other milk products (Full fat, skim, soy, etc). (Yields 16 cups of iced coffee)
Resources
Tips
- - For a sweeter version, do as the Vietnamese do and add sweet condensed milk. - You can follow a hot brew method by brewing very strong coffee, letting it cool (to become room temperature), and pouring it over ice. - Extra coffee can be frozen in ice cube trays for consumption at a later time. - While this batch makes 16 cups of iced coffee, you can cut down this recipe and measure 5 tablespoons of ground coffee for every 4 cups of water.
Writer Bio
Alexandra Lazar is a writer, editor and eater based in Argentina. She writes for various for newspapers, magazines, online publications, travel guides and blogs about food, wine, bars and travel.