7 Tips for Making the Best Iced Coffee
Spring is is finally upon us, summer is right around the corner. Most days are just too warm for hot cup of java juice. So what do you do? Well, I don’t know about you but I make iced coffee! It’s super simple and still gives me that great coffee taste that I love and enjoy.Here are some tips to help you make a great iced coffee.
1. Start with fresh coffee beans. mmmmm I love using fresh beans and grinding them myself. It only takes an extra minute or two and you coffee tastes so much better. A great iced coffee was never made using stale beans so avoid buying your beans on sale. If you don’t drink iced coffee often, consider buying fresh beans at a coffee shop where you can buy only the amount you need for the occasion.
2. Test the taste. Hot coffee tastes different than cold coffee. So to get an idea of how your coffee will taste cold let a hot cup cool to room temperature. This little test will help you decide what tastes perfect to you. I put a little less almond or coconut milk in mine (skim works if I’m out!)
3. Use fresh ice. Ice has a tendency to get a stale if it sits in the freezer unused for too long. My husband doesn’t believe me, but its SO true. If you’re wondering whether your ice is helping of hurting your iced coffee, it’s easy to test: let a few cubes melt and come to room temperature, then taste the resulting water. If it’s water you would want to drink by the glassful, you’re in good shape. If not, toss out the old ice and make fresh. If it still tastes stale, buy a bag of ice, the cost is worth the boost in flavor. Funky ice can also have a funky flavor.
4. Brew it strong. Brew your coffee on the strong side as it will be weakened by the ice. To keep from diluting your drink, try turning your leftover coffee into ice cubes. Use these in the place of regular ice cubes to keep your drink chilled.
5. Try a cold brew. Some people object to acidity in their cold coffee. Cold brewing greatly reduces the acid content of coffee (with the same coffee it will lower the acidity one full pH point vs. hot brew).
Cool trick: Put 3/4 cup ground coffee in a quart Mason jar, fill with water and stir. Cap it and put in the refrigerator for 12 hours. Strain the resulting concentrate through a coffee filter to remove the grinds. Add water to taste when you’re ready to drink. You can even heat the reconstituted beverage for a quick, low-acid cup of hot coffee.
6. Don’t use burned coffee for your iced coffee. Seriously, just don’t. Saving leftover coffee for iced beverage is often fine, but don’t be tempted to use the dregs of a burnt pot. If it doesn’t taste good hot, it definitely won’t taste good cold. Who drinks burned coffee anyway?
7. Add some zip to your iced coffee. Adding fruits like strawberries, oranges, blueberries or even cherries and spices like nutmeg, cinnamon or cardamom are a great way to perk up your drink and your day.
The important thing is to have fun with it! Try lots of new things. Vary your usual routine. The worst that can happen is you won’t like it. You can always try something else!
If you’re short on time and don’t have a stash of reconstituted coffee available, try this recipe using instant coffee.
Vanilla Iced Coffee
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons instant coffee
- 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons cold water
- 1 1/4 cups milk of your choice
- Dark chhocolate shavings optional
- Stevia optional
Instructions
- Put the first 5 ingredients into a blender.
- Pulse blend until the ingredients are smooth and frothy.
- Add the cold milk and pulse blend until all the ingredients are blended well.
- Pour over a few cubes of ice, add the chocolate and voila!
- You can also add the ice to the blender for more of a granita style.
Iced coffee is my fav. But I always have to buy it, mine never stacks up so maybe Ill try some of these tips!
I can never seem to get a great cup of iced coffee when I try to make it at home. I am going to have to try some of your tips!
I love iced coffee, but I’ve never made my own before. I’ll have to give these tips a try and see how it goes.
My hubs loves iced coffee. He is always making it and raving about it. I should probably give it a try but I’m really not a coffee fan!
Thanks for the tips. My hubby loves coffee and especially iced coffee. I’ll be sure to pass this on to him.
I love ice coffee. In Australia, they also add a BIG blob of ice cream and lashings of whipped cream in our iced coffees.
You might raise your eyebrows if I tell you I haven’t tried iced coffee lol. It sounds delicious though!
OMG it is delicious. You should definitely try it. It’s so good!
My daughter spends too much on iced coffee on-the-go. We’ll have to try making this at home to save a few buck.
These are great tips! I love iced coffee and would love to be able to make it for myself! Thanks for the help!
Coffee gets my attention every time, hence my site name lol. I am going to try your recipe tomorrow, it looks like I have all of the ingredients on hand. I should try one tonight and take it outdoors to watch the bats flying around.
My daughter loves cold brew coffee. Any iced coffee will do for me though.
These are great tips. I think I might like iced coffee even more than hot coffee.
I LOVE my some iced coffee! I love that I can make it at home and make it decaf since the Dr has limited my caffeine while I’m pregnant!
These are all awesome suggestions! I have been very curious about cold brewing and would love to give it a try.
The only coffee drinks I drink are iced coffee. I’ve never made it myself. I’ll have to try it this summer!
Perfect timing! I was just thinking about how I could keep up my coffee habit through the summer! lol
I love to make iced coffee during the spring and summer. I’ve never tried adding fruit before, but it sounds delicious. I’ll try it next time. These are all great tips!
I have never made my own Iced Coffee. Thanks for the recipe, I can’t wait to make my own.
I love iced coffee drinks, but mine tend to be very high calorie with cream and sugar, so I limit them. Your recipe sounds delicious and the tips are great, especially cold pressing to cut the acid.
I’m not a coffee lover at all. I do like iced tea though, especially with lemon.
Iced coffee is my favourite but I have yet to nail a recipe. Thanks for these tips. I’m sure my iced coffee will taste perfect the next time I make it!
I love iced coffee. That recipe so sounds good I’ll have to try it soon.
Great Tips. I love Iced Coffee. That is actually how I make my coffee every morning, so delicious! 🙂
With all this warm weather Iced coffee will be my new obsession. Love me some coffee but can’t drink it hot when it’s hot out.
I just saw on TV today how to cold brew coffee. I think I’m going to give it a try!
I like your vanilla iced coffee recipe. We have well water with natural minerals that make the ice taste funky after a day. I use bottled water to make ice when I know I’m going to use it because I tend to notice “off” tastes a little more than the family does.
Iced coffee is so delicious! I am going to need to try this one. Sounds really great!
I loved iced coffee and have always wanted to make my own. Thanks for sharing these great tips. I am going to give them a try.
Iced Coffee! Yesssss Please! These are great tips on making Iced coffee. I was not a fan at the beginning of the craze..but now I really enjoy it! This looks amazing. NOW I want one…like right now!
These are great tips for iced coffee!! I have been using the “Brew Over Ice” blends from Keurig and they are pretty good, I also reeeeally want to try The Pioneer Woman’s recipe for iced coffee, it looks amazing!!
I love love love iced coffee!! Thanks for the tips 😀
Thanks for the awesome tips! I love iced coffee and spend wayy too much buying it rather than making it.
I love iced coffee. But I don’t drink it often since caffeine keeps me awake.
Good tips here. I especially like the one about not using the burned coffee!
Burned iced coffee sounds like no fun! Thanks for the tips, I drink a lot
That’s a great tip about the ice! I like to freeze coffee and use those ice cubes in mine!
I love iced coffee. But I almost never make it because I just can’t seem to get it right. I have to try these tips.
Here’s another great tip. Make coffee ice cubes from yesterdays’s left over coffee, then it doesn’t get watered down at all.
I do that! I keep a bag of them in the freezer so I can use the ice cube trays. I use them in my smoothies.
I have just recently started to like iced coffee. It’s my afternoon pick me up!
I love iced coffee but could never get it right – turns out I’m breaking most of the rules! I’d love to try the cold brew sometime as I’ve never heard of it. I am a fan of fast food iced coffee so thanks for the tips – I might actually get it right next time!
I am a huge fan of iced coffee, especially in the summer time. One lesson I learned is, NEVER pour hot coffee over ice cubes. Your coffee will turn super bitter, fast.
This makes me want to try an Iced coffee, I’ve never tried one before but I would love to. Thank you for sharing this.
Interesting…I never thought about adding other ingredients to iced coffee after it was made. Well, with the exception of whipped cream, of course.
I have so many coffee recipes. I just love using it.
Using fresh ice is definitely a big one! it’s amazing how much the taste can change if the ice is not fresh.
I am a huge coffee addict and have at least 2-3 cups every day. I have only had iced coffee once and it was great. This recipe sounds really yummy..
Thank you for this recipe. I tried iced coffee for the first time recently and loved it. I had not realized the importance of using fresh ice, as you mentioned. Will that effect the taste of the coffee itself?