Iced Coffee

How many of you are addicted to iced coffee? Or at least really enjoy a nice coffee once and a while? Well, I have the perfect thing for you! Homemade iced coffee : D You may be thinking, "wow, how ingenius... letting your coffee cool and then putting ice in it, I've only done that a ton of times already" Now, now, now you've got it all wrong. I'm not talking about taking your hot brewed coffee that's cooled and putting it in the fridge and then using it later for iced coffee. I am talking about cold brewing your coffee. It's almost revolutionary, it's that good.


Again, this is something I have seen among fellow bloggers. Every post that mentions this also sites a magazine article that has outlined research behind the cold brew method. Here is the NY Times article if you're interested in the facts. If you don't feel like getting that far into it, let me just tell you this one fact. Coffee is bitter. Hot brewing increases the bitterness of coffee. Cold brewed coffee is about 67% less bitter. That makes a HUGE difference in taste. It is much smoother. Just try it this once. You won't be sorry.


Now, let me show you how easy this is. Start off with coffee grounds of your choice. Obviously, the better the coffee grounds, the better the end product so choose wisely. Anyways, use the formula for coffee concentration given at the bottom of the page to prepare the product. If you want to make more concentration for more iced coffee, go for it. Double it, triple it, whatever. It will keep fine in the fridge and you can have it ready for you each morning when you wake up for days, or even weeks if you go bulk, as suggested here.

Start with a glass full of as much ice as you'd like.

Fill the glass halfway with coffee concentration.

Fill the other half with water or milk, if you want it to be super delicious.

 YUM : D

TaDa! Iced Coffee! Haha wasn't that hard?
Now sweeten it up, fix it up however you like your coffee.

Guess how I fixed up my coffee?? Hehe... that's right I took the advice of the Pioneer Women in her Iced Coffee post and it absolutely paid off.

Oh yeaaaaaah, SO good. Do it if you dare. I also had two fat slices of cake on the side.

You don't have to do that.

Feel free to join me in my gluttony though.

For help making iced coffee concentration in general or in bulk, here is a fantastic link for step-by-step pictures and tutorial.


Iced Coffee
adapted from Smitten Kitchen
serves 2

Coffee Concentration
1/3 cup ground coffee
1 1/2 cups water

The night before, stir ground coffee with water. Cover and let rest at room temperature overnight or at least 12 hours.

Strain through a fine mesh sieve, coffee filter or sieve lined with cheesecloth (or even a paper towel). In a glass with ice, mix equal parts coffee concentration and water (or milk). Store any leftover concentration in the refrigerator.

Serving Suggestions:


Chocolate Syrup
1/4 cup plus 2 Tb cocoa powder
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
1/4 cup plus more if needed

In a small bowl combine cocoa powder and sugar. Add vanilla extract, if desired, along with 1/4 cup water. If syrup is very thick, add a tablespoon of water to reach a nice syrupy consistency. Stir until well combined and leave at room temperature in covered container. If you refrigerate the mixture, it will harden and be difficult to incorporate.

Sweetened Condensed Milk

Add until desired sweetness is reached : ) Maybe a tablespoon or so...