As a coffee lover, it’s no doubt that coffee goes well with every mood or occasion for you. And if you’re looking for a perfect way to quench your thirst on a warm afternoon, a mug of iced coffee makes for a perfect treat. 

To make iced coffee, brew your coffee as you usually do, add some ice cubes, shake well, add some flavorings and serve.

But how do we make iced coffee? What makes it special from the other coffee treats?

This guide will take a closer look at iced coffee, what type of coffee you’ll need, and, most importantly, how you can make iced coffee at home!

What is Iced Coffee?

As the name suggests, iced coffee is coffee that has been brewed and cooled with a lot of ice. You can make iced coffee with an Aeropress, espresso, Chemex, or even a drip filter. But, in most cases, iced coffee is made with espresso.

Espresso-based iced coffee is the most common because it tastes the strongest but you can also use ice cubes to make your iced coffee even colder if you cannot get espresso.

What do you Need to Make Iced Coffee?

The truth is there’re different variations of making iced coffee. However, wherever you go, you need the following basic yet important ingredients to make your tasty iced coffee at home.

Iced Coffee Recipe Ingredients

Gather the following ingredients to make your iced coffee at home:

• Instance coffee
• Sugar
• Warm water
• Chilled water
• Ice
• Milk
• Coffee stirrer
• A glass or coffee mug

How to Use Each of the Ingredients and Tools

Coffee – you are at liberty to use any brand or type of coffee whether Arabica or Robusta as long as you ensure the brew is strong. There is no harm if you use flavored coffee because that gives you an opportunity to get a little creative. However, you need to exercise caution. Some of the flavored instant coffees in the market have a very weird taste.

Sugar – whenever possible, use granulated sugar, brown sugar, stevia, or a type of premium sweetener that you deem fit.

Warm water – because we are talking about ‘iced’ coffee, it is easy to think that it is a ridiculous idea to introduce warm water. Well, you have read right. Granted, you need just a little amount of it. By using this approach, you will need to dissolve your instant coffee and sugar using a little warm water. After this, you can add more chilled water and milk.

Chilled water – fridge water is the best for iced coffee. You need to put some water in the refrigerator for a few minutes before you start to prepare your iced coffee. Even if your tap water is cold, fridge water is colder, thus it is the best option.

PS. The Golden Ratio dictates that you use 6 ounces of water against 2 tablespoons of finely ground coffee.

Ice – you need a lot of ice! However, you need to be careful with the amount you’ll add especially if you intend to drink your iced coffee right away for too many iced drinks come with substantive risks. If you are going to use a lot of ice as I recommended, then you must also increase the number of instant coffee sachets you are going to use.

Milk – one of the interesting things about iced coffee is that you can use any type of milk. If you are not bothered by extra calories, then you can treat yourself with dairy milk that is filled with fat. However, if you have a problem with dairy milk that has many fats, then you can choose almond or soy milk. Condensed milk is also a good option.

Coffee stirrer – this tool works magic but you can also substitute it for a chopstick or a latte spoon.

Glass/coffee mug – of course, you need a glass or coffee mug to drink the iced coffee that you’ll make.

How Do You Make Homemade Iced Coffee?

The good thing about iced coffee is that you can actually make it at home as long as you have the ingredients and the tools mentioned in the previous section.

Follow these simple steps to make iced coffee at home:

Step 1. Brew Your Coffee As Usual

As you normally do, brew your coffee but this time, ensure the brew turns out the strongest.

Pour your brewed coffee into a glass filled a quarter or halfway with ice. The amount of ice you add depends on the number of servings and the time you intend to drink your coffee.

On the latter, you need to add a little ice to the brewed coffee if you intend to take it immediately.

Step 3. Stir /Shake Your Coffee

In the event it’s a shaker, add some ice cubes to the brewed coffee but be sure your coffee doesn’t spill because of the melting of the ice.

Put the shaker’s cap on and continue shaking for some time until you are confident the coffee is as cold as desired.

Step 4. Pour the Iced Coffee Into a Serving Glass/Mug

Pour your now iced coffee into a serving glass or coffee mug.

Step 5. Add Any Flavorings/Sweeteners as You Please

It is time to add milk, flavorings, or toppings to make your iced coffee even more flavourful.

The Different Methods of Making Iced Coffee

Ideally, you can try different methods of making iced coffee but these six methods stand out:

1. Making Iced Coffee With Aeropress Coffee Using Room-Temperature Water

This cylindrical coffee-making tool with a basket and a filter is one of the best for making iced coffee. Thanks to its design, water goes through the vessel while a different piece directs the water into a cup.

In the case of iced coffee, you will need water that is at room temperature. To make it cold as iced coffee demands, you stir your coffee grounds, which are mixed with water for about one minute.

You can now pour the vessel’s contents into a serving cup and introduce lore cold water to create your iced cup of coffee. This process takes 2 minutes at the most.

2. Tasty Keurig Iced Coffee

Most Keurigs in the market do not come with many customizations that other coffee machines have. Nonetheless, it can be a perfect tool for making your aromatic cup of iced coffee.

• To start with, fill the coffee machine’s reservoir with water.
• Lift up the handle to locate the chamber.
• Put a K-cup in the coffee maker.
• Put some ice cubes inside a glass (do not fill the glass with ice because you need space for your coffee).
• Place the glass below the Keurig spout.
• Select the brewing amount from the brewing function.
• Once the coffee has been brewed serve the coffee in a large glass.

3. Making Iced Coffee with Moka Pot Iced Latte

Moka Pot is one of the prominent Italian coffee-making equipment. It is actually a staple in Italian homes. If you’ve never seen it, then you must know it resembles a percolator. With its three chambers, a Moka Pot is among the best in making tasty n robust coffee drinks.

Pour hot water into the bottom chamber (you can boil your water using different equipment such as a kettle). As your water boils in different kitchen equipment, grind your coffee.

Now, fill the boiling chamber with the already-boiled water and put your fine grounds into its place – the basket. Screw the basket as well as the topmost chamber.

Now, place your Moka Pot on the stove but ensure the heat is low to moderate.

Remove the pot from the stove the moment you see the coffee grounds boiling out and sputtering through the top part.

Now pour your nicely smelling coffee into a glass or mug that has ice in it.

This process takes around 10 minutes.

4. Making Iced Coffee Using Japanese Pour Over

Although this method takes some five minutes, it requires additional equipment such as a scale to measure the coffee-ice-water ratio. With the right tools, place the carafe on the scale. Make sure the scale is set to zero.

Add some ice, preferably 8 ounces before you put the dripper on top. Using a filter put some coffee (medium coarse) before you tare the measuring scale once again.

Have some water boiling aside (8 ounces or thereabout but you are not going to use all of it). Pour a little of the boiling water into the coffee grounds and allow them to rest for about half a minute . The process is referred to as blooming and helps the coffee release some of the most mouth-watering aromas.

Now, pour the remaining water into your vessel.

Wait as the coffee drains slowly into the bottom chamber.

At this point, the dripping hot coffee hits the ice thus cooling almost instantly.

5. Overnight Cold Brew Using a French Press

Perhaps you’ve already seen the word ‘overnight’. Yes, this iced coffee-making process takes a whopping 18 hours! There’s no way you are going to sit there to make iced coffee for nearly the whole day.

With this method, you need an ounce of coffee against 12 ounces of extremely cold water. Make sure you grind your coffee beans but do not make them very fine.

Put the ground coffee and the water into the base of the French Press.

Replace the lid but make sure you don’t plunge.

Let the coffee steep the entire night.

Plunge the top of your French Press first thing in the morning.

6. Iced Coffee Using Regular Drip Coffee (Chilled Overnight)

With this method, you place coffee grounds inside the Drip Coffee Maker basket, add some water, and turn on the machine. Once the machine is on, your coffee will be ready within 2 to 5 minutes.

Transfer the hot coffee into a glass or coffee mug, give it a few minutes to cool, and seal the coffee tightly, before you pace it in a refrigerator overnight.

In the morning, you will drink a tasty iced coffee.