How to Make Iced Coffee at Home? | Easy Recipe | Coffee Queries
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Cold coffee has been a favorite amongst coffee lovers for quite some time now. Not only is it strong enough to fulfill all your caffeine needs, but it also allows you to have coffee in the summer. If you’re a coffee lover, but don’t want to get your cold coffee at the café, worry not. We’ve got you covered. Here’s the best cold coffee recipe without a machine.
You can simply brew iced coffee at home by preparing black coffee first and letting it cool down. Further, you can add milk or ice as per your taste requirements.
Ingredients
-200ml strong black Coffee
-50 ml Milk
-Sugar
Method
Step 1: Prepare a cup of black coffee, and allow it to go completely cold.
Step 2: Add the coffee with sugar, and cold milk into a blender or jar. Shake or blend until foamy.
Step 3: Serve chilled, with additional ice cubes if you would like to. You can also add any toppings you want here.
Tips to Have Perfect Iced Coffee at Home
Brew your coffee the night before. For cold coffee, your brewed coffee has to be at room temperature if not cold. This will be difficult to achieve if you brew the coffee in the morning. Pouring hot coffee over ice is never a good idea.
Add syrups. Cold coffee is pretty good by itself, but syrups make it even more delicious. You can use any syrup of your choice, however, simple syrup is the easiest to use, and to make. That’s right. You can make a batch of simple syrups for yourself at home, which will last you quite a while. You can add these to any cold coffee recipe.
Use half and half. Half and half is a mixture of equal parts of whole milk and heavy cream. You can use whole milk too, but half and half make the coffee creamier.
Avoid coffee whitener/creamer. The main reason to avoid a coffee whitener is that it contains no benefits except the taste. Milk and half and half both contain a plethora of nutrients that your body needs. Even if you’re lactose intolerant, milk substitutes like oat milk are still a better choice than creamer.
Don’t add sugar if you’re using instant coffee. Instant coffee has sugar beforehand, so adding more is something you should avoid.
Stay away from skim milk. Skim milk will make your cold coffee taste watery.
Add your sugar to the coffee before chilling. The sugar will have trouble melting into the cold water, and you will be able to taste the crystals.
Invest in an Iced Coffee Maker. While this may sound like an expensive investment, there are plenty of affordable coffee makers for iced coffee. We have reviewed the best coffee makers for iced coffee as well.
Can You Use an Espresso Shot to Make Cold Coffee?
There is only one answer- yes. Espresso shots are an amazing way to make cold coffee because they are much stronger than brewed coffee. This means cold coffee made using espresso shots has a more distinct flavor. Espresso shots don’t require a lot of time to cool either, since they are very little in volume. You can simply add ice to your shot to cool it completely. Add milk and sugar, shake or blend, and your cold coffee is done. All you have to do is make sure your milk is cool.
However, espresso shots can take time to make, so they’re not the most efficient choice for a cold coffee easy recipe.
What Is Better for Cold Coffee? Espresso Vs. Black Coffee
| Comparison Between Espresso and Black Coffee | ||
| Types of Coffee | Advantages | Disadvantages |
| Espresso Shot | – Requires no time to cool – Stronger flavor – Low water content, so cold coffee is less diluted. | – Needs an espresso machine to make. – You can use other methods, but it’s not the same |
| Black Coffee | – Easier to brew – Can be made using instant coffee too – Cold coffee requires less milk because of its high water content, so it’s cheaper. | – Needs a long time to completely cool – More diluted flavor |
Should I Use Instant Coffee for A Cold Coffee Recipe?
Instant coffee is easy to make, and it’s pretty affordable too. If you’re looking for ways to make cold coffee without a machine, instant coffee sounds like the perfect option. However, if you’re a true coffee connoisseur, brewing your coffee is the way to go. Brewing your coffee gives you control over the sugar content, and flavor; which is the most important part.
Either buy packaged coffee grounds, or roasted/unroasted coffee beans and grind them yourselves. There are so many good coffee grinders you can find in the market, that are both economical and easy to use. Take heed though, you Do Not want to grind coffee in your spice grinder. Coffee beans are extremely hard, and you’ll most probably end up with chips in your grinder blades. The coffee beans might also dull the blades.
Simply use the coffee to make a cup of black coffee or an espresso shot. The coffee needs to be medium-coarsely ground for the best flavor. Caffeine will not be properly extracted if the coffee is too coarse, and it will not be filtered and will end up in your cup if the coffee is too fine.
Why Do I Need to Chill My Coffee Beforehand?
The reasoning for this is simple. Heat will melt the ice. If you add hot coffee over the ice, the heat will melt the ice, thus mixing water into your coffee. You’ll coffee will be watered down.
If you can’t wait for your coffee to cool, but still don’t want it to be watered down, use coffee ice cubes. Simply make yourself a cup of unsweetened coffee, and freeze it in an ice tray. Pop a few of those in a cup, and add the fresh coffee on top, and make any cold coffee recipe. There are various other ways to chill your coffee.
Ideas to Make the Perfect Iced Coffee at Home
A Cold Latte: I mean, why not? Simply add frothed milk instead of plain milk to the brewed, cold coffee. There you have it. A cold latte.
Spice It Up: Milk coffees aren’t the only types of coffees you can flavor with spices. The next time you make yourself a cold coffee, add in a little spice.
Replace the Sugar: You don’t need sugar to make your drink sweet. Replace plain, old sugar for condensed milk, or simple syrup next time. Maple syrup is an amazing choice too.
Extracts Are the Way to Go: Extracts like vanilla can be a welcome addition to any cup of coffee.
Conclusion
Winter is coming, however, the season for cold coffee never ends. No matter what mood you’re in, cold coffee makes everything better. The best part is you don’t have to put in a lot of effort into enjoying a cup, especially if you know how to make cold coffee at home. Follow the recipe we’ve given above, and enjoy one of the biggest wonders of the coffee world. Also, you can try new stuff with the recipe, and make your versions of it. Tell us in the comments what you think.
