How to make Iced Coffee? Forget high end coffee shops and make it easily at home in a fraction of the cost, and you don't need an espresso machine or cold brew. It is made in under 2 minutes using instant coffee.
I wanted an iced coffee that is full of body yet made easily in a matter of minutes at home like the mocha latte, without an espresso machine, waiting for several hours for it to brew or spending a fortune for just one drink.
Who doesn't love Coffee? A cold coffee is a great way to quench your thirst like my mango lemonade and still get that caffeine kick. I enjoy drinks from Starbucks every weekend, but not a big fan of the hefty price for something that can be easily made at home.
What is iced coffee? It is exactly what it sounds like: a coffee drink served cold. It can be made with regular brewed coffee and served with chilled milk over ice or made using a cold brew.
Believed to have originated in Algeria in the 18th century, iced coffee was originally made by mixing coffee syrup with cold water. Iced version began to appear on menus by the 19th century and then later gained popularity with big Cafe chains like Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts and Burger King featuring in their menus.
I cannot get away with a blog post titled how to make iced coffee, without talking about the amazing Japenese style iced coffee. It is simply coffee that is brewed hot directly onto ice, which chills it rapidly. This results in a bright, clean, with preserved flavor, and it's a difference you really can taste.
When cold brew or waiting for your hot coffee to cool down, requires planning in advance, Japanese-style iced coffee can be made in just minutes with barely any extra effort.
Cold brew is a chosen method of choice in best iced coffee recipes, because a long steep in room temperature water, produces a coffee concentrate that's smooth and not too bright. It is also celebrated for its flavor, which is round and sweet and low in acid.
Technically a cold brew is perfect for making a cold drink, however many cafe chains simply use hot brewed coffee for convenience. Starbucks specifically uses the double-strength method in which the java is brewed hot with twice the amount of grounds making it very strong and is perfect when mixed with ice. Hot water is able to extract more soluble compounds from the ground coffee quickly, producing a cup of coffee that's better balanced and more delicious.
What is instant coffee ? Invented by a chemist Satori Kato more than a century ago, Instant coffee is made from coffee beans, usually of a low-quality Robusta variety, roasted to taste and then finely ground into an almost powder like texture. It is then stripped of it's water content through brewing, leaving behind crystallized coffee grounds.
Those granules are treated again to remove any remaining water and preserve the flavor of the coffee. Although probably not the ideal choice for your morning cup of joe, instant coffee can be a saving grace when you are in a time crunch. I used instant coffee to make this mocha mug cake and tiramisu tres leches cake.
Cold foods or drinks in general can benefit from a heavier hand when seasoning, because they have no aroma and your tastebuds has a harder time detecting flavors.
Sugar stimulates the tastebuds to signal pleasure - The Science of Good Cooking. These signals are so enjoyable, that it over shadows the absence of aroma, that wafts up to your nose from a piping hot bowl of soup. In a nutshell, sweeten your homemade iced coffee recipe a touch more than you normally would a hot cup.
Jump to:
Why this recipe works?
- No waiting several hours for a cold brew or for hot espresso to cool down. Heat, dissolve, mix and drink!
- Make the way you like it! Mix in more instant coffee granules if you'd like it stronger. Stir in your favorite spices, extracts, flavored syrups or make it boozy!
- Make it for pennies at home.
Ingredients
Scroll down to the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and amounts.
- Instant Coffee - A good dark roast instant granules works best. I used Nescafe Classico Dark Roast instant.
- Sugar - Unlike a hot beverage, cold drinks need more sweetening because the receptors through which tastebuds signal the brain is most responsive at temperatures between 85 and 95 degrees.
- Milk - I like to use regular whole milk in this homemade iced coffee recipe due to the richness without making it heavy. Feel free to use other types such as oat milk, almond or half and half.
Best Instant Coffee to Use?
According to purewow, here are a few leading brands that are full bodied medium roast:
- Cafe Altura instant organic
- Starbucks VIA instant veranda blend
- Nescafe Taster's choice house blend
- Mount hagen organic fair trade
- Jacob's kronung
- Maxwell house original blend
Variations
- Iced latte - Top with frothed milk instead.
- Caramel - Stir in 1 to 2 tablespoons caramel sauce, top with whipped cream if desired ---> Just like Starbucks.
- Alcoholic - Try adding some whiskey, rum, brandy or Baileys.
- Spices - Stir in ground cinnamon, ginger or freshly grated nutmeg.
- Flavorings - Vanilla, almond or coconut extracts can be stirred in.
- Vietnamese - Mix in sweetened condensed milk and reduce/skip sugar.
- Flavored syrups - Skip sugar and add flavored syrups like vanilla, caramel, mocha, hazelnut or chocolate syrups.
- Whipped Cream - Top with whipped cream.
How to make?
You can find full printable recipe below, but here is a quick overview of the procedure along with step-by-step photos.
1 & 2. Warm water, instant coffee granules and sugar in microwave or on very low heat on the stove top. Stir to dissolve.
Pro tip: Don't make it hot! You need water to be barely warm enough, to dissolve the instant granules and sugar. This produces a coffee concentrate that's smooth, full of flavor and low in acid.
3 & 4. Cool for couple of minutes and then mix with chilled dairy and ice cubes.
Pro tip: Choosing the right ice is key! Crushed ice will water your drink down very quickly, I recommend medium or large sized cubes. Large ice will be much better, if you have it around, because it melts very slowly keeping your drink cold.
Make ahead
How to make iced coffee at home and store for later use? Make as instructed but without adding any ice. Store in a sealed mason jar or any air tight container and refrigerate for up to 2 days. Serve over ice.
It is a great way to cool down during hot summer months, especially when you can do so when sipping on a delicious, homemade caffeine drink.
Helpful tips
- Don't reduce sugar - Sugar makes this taste delicious just like you would get at Starbucks. Reducing it might make it healthier but might also not be as tasty.
- Milk - Use your favorite variety.
- Don't heat until hot - This not only affects the taste but also takes longer to cool down. Heat just until lukewarm to dissolve the sugar.
Recipe FAQs
Choose a medium or dark roast! It will give a rich flavor and be easy on the palate.
Sure can! Simply cool down a hot brewed, until room temperature and then refrigerate until cold. The only down side is that this step requires planning in advance.
Starbucks either uses Terraza Blend or Starbucks Kenya. Both are medium roast and has a well balanced acidic flavors.
"Iced" means cubes of ice is added to a drink whereas "ice" means frozen or blended with ice like ice cream, slushy or granita. So this is iced coffee.
Cold brew is coarse ground java steeped in cold water for at least twelve hours. The longer it sits, stronger is the flavor. The grounds are then filtered out, resulting in a concentrate that is less acidic and bitter than hot brewing. This method uses time instead of heat to extract the oils, sugars and caffeine. Whereas cold coffee is cold or hot brew mixed with sweeteners and dairy
More cold drinks
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How to make Iced Coffee
Ingredients
- ½ cup water
- 1 tablespoon instant coffee granules
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons milk preferably whole milk
- Ice to serve
Instructions
- Add water, instant coffee and sugar into a microwave safe cup, microwave until lukewarm (10 to 15 seconds). Remove from microwave and stir until coffee and sugar is dissolved.Pro tip: Don't make it hot! You need water to be barely warm enough, to dissolve the instant granules and sugar. This produces a coffee concentrate that's smooth, full of flavor and low in acid.
- Let cool for about 2 minutes and then stir in milk. Pour into a glass filled with ice, enjoy!Pro tip: Choosing the right ice is key! Crushed ice will water your drink down very quickly, I recommend medium or large sized cubes. Large ice will be much better, if you have it around, because it melts very slowly keeping your drink cold.Tip: Refer above blog post tasty flavorings/variation suggestions.
Notes
- Cafe Altura instant organic
- Starbucks VIA instant veranda blend
- Nescafe Taster's choice house blend
- Mount hagen organic fair trade
- Jacob's kronung
- Maxwell house original blend
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third party calculations, should be considered estimates and not be construed as a guarantee. Varying factors such as product types, brands purchased, produce, the way ingredients are processed and more change the nutritional information in any recipe.
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