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How to make your favourite café-styled iced coffee at home

Simple recipes to make and enjoy iced coffee at home

July 12th 2022

By Savannah Coombe / 5 min read

A glass of iced coffee

When the weather is hot, a cup of hot coffee is not always everyone's cup of tea! But you can still get your coffee fix in hot weather, by drinking one of the many iced coffee variations that are now available. As someone who used to work as a barista, these are my favourite ways to enjoy iced coffee at home. Keep in mind, without the proper, very expensive, espresso machines and other equipment that cafés utilise, you will not be able to fully match the taste of the drinks made at coffee shops. However, this is still close, delicious and refreshing. These coffee drinks can be made with either cold brew or coffee that is brewed hot, and then chilled. This makes the recipes very easy to make at home. This first part will go through the process of making cold brew and regular chilled coffee, which are the bases for the flavoured drinks I will showcase in part two.

A tip I usually utilise to ensure my coffee doesn’t get too weak is to freeze cubes of coffee on an ice-tray and use that instead of ice to chill my coffee drinks. This way, the coffee doesn’t get watered down and lose its quality as you drink it. 

Cold Brew Coffee

Cows in a cow farm

Cold brew is (as stated in the name) extracted cold, which makes a smoother, less acidic coffee. It is usually extracted by leaving loose coffee grounds in cold water, in a ratio of one-gram coffee to seven grams water, for twelve to twenty-four hours and then filtering it through a coffee filter. However, I am going to be using our coffee bags instead, as it’s a fool-proof and mess-free approach to make cold brew without needing to filter it through filters and make a huge batch of it. You could use any of our coffee bags for this but I would recommend using our specific Cold Brew coffee bags, as these have been specifically formulated with a blend of coffee beans that are well-balanced and naturally sweet.

Ingredients:
- 1 coffee bag (50g of ground coffee)
- Water
- Jug (1 litre capacity)

Method:
- Place the coffee bag in the jug and fill with 700 ml water
- Let it steep in the fridge for twelve to twenty-four hours.
- Remove the coffee bag and store the coffee extract in the refrigerator.
- Whenever you feel like a cold coffee, dilute the cold brew extract with one-part cold brew to one part water or milk or milk alternative in a glass with ice.

Iced Coffee

Carbon Footprint by diet type

This is another base for the coffee drinks I’m going to go through later but can also be enjoyed on its own. This way can be utilised with all kinds of roasts, but if you like your iced coffee black I would recommend our light roast, as it’s lighter body and acidic profile makes a coffee that is really easy to enjoy cold. You could make this hot and just pour it over plenty of ice for a quicker version, but it would risk taking a lot of ice and being watered down as a result. I usually make bigger batches of black coffee and always have a big pitcher in my refrigerator in order to always have iced coffee on hand.

Makes one serving of coffee

Ingredients:
- 1 coffee bag (8g of ground coffee)
- Water

Method:
- Boil your water and let it cool for a short while (91-96 degrees Celsius is the best brewing temperature for coffee, otherwise you risk burning the coffee grounds, producing a very bitter flavour).
- Add one coffee bag to a cup of hot water and let it brew for three to seven minutes (I would recommend brewing it a bit longer than you would normally, as drinking coffee cold tends to subdue the flavour)
- Let it chill in the refrigerator until cold.
- Drink cold over ice.

Flavoured Iced Coffee Drinks

In this part, I'll explain how to make different flavoured coffee drinks usually very popular at cafés during spring and summer as a refreshing and sweet caffeine-boost. In order to make these recipes, you will need either a base of cold brew or chilled black coffee, as detailed above.

Iced Mocha Latte

Makes one serving

Ingredients:
- 1 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 tbsp sugar or 1 tbsp vanilla syrup (more sweetener can be added to your taste)
- Water (Optional)
- Store-bought chocolate sauce
- ¾ cup of strong brewed coffee (chilled) or cold brew extract diluted with water
- ¾ cup milk or milk alternative (more milk can be added to taste)

Method:
- Mix the cocoa powder, sugar/vanilla syrup together with a small amount of water to create a thick paste
- Gradually add more water until the mixture thins out and becomes pourable and looks as if can be easily incorporated into the coffee.
- As an option, drizzle chocolate syrup around the glass of your choice. This will give you stronger hints of chocolate if you use a straw when drinking, as the straw will catch the chocolate syrup as you drink it.
- Add ice cubes to the glass and pour over the coffee.
- Add the thin chocolate mixture and top the drink with the milk of your choice.
- Give everything a stir and enjoy!

Iced Caramel Latte

Makes one serving

Ingredients:
- 1 cup of strong brewed coffee (chilled) or cold brew extract diluted with water 1
- cup of milk or milk alternative
- Caramel sauce or toffee sauce
- 1 tbsp vanilla syrup or other liquid sweetener such as agave or maple syrup (more added to taste)

Method:
- Drizzle caramel sauce around the large glass of your choice, add ice cubes.
- Add in your coffee, milk or milk alternative and sweetener.
- Stir the coffee to incorporate everything and enjoy!

Coffee Frappé/Frappucino

Makes one serving

Ingredients:
- 1 cup of strong brewed coffee (chilled) or cold brew extract diluted with water
- ½ cup of single cream or cream alternative
- ½ cup of milk or milk alternative
- 2 cups of ice
- 2 tbsp vanilla syrup or liquid sweetener such as agave or maple syrup
- ¼ tsp xanthan gum (optional but recommended)
- Whipped cream (optional)

Method:
- Add all of the ingredients to a blender and blend until the desired consistency, pulsing it for around thirty seconds should do it.
- Pour into a glass, and if wanted, top with whipped cream and enjoy!
- Omitting the xanthan gum from the recipe can be done but will result in the frappé separating into different layers of ice and liquid.
- Feel free to experiment with different flavours by adding chocolate or caramel sauce, or other flavours.

Cold Brew Coffee Bags
Cold Brew Coffee Bags
Cold Brew Coffee Bags
Cold Brew Coffee Bags
Cold Brew Coffee Bags
Cold Brew Coffee Bags
Cold Brew Coffee Bags

Refreshing Cold Brew coffee

Speciality Cold Brew Coffee Bags

£29.99
£35.97

Made with a well-balanced naturally sweet ground coffee blend from Colombia, Honduras & Sumatra that's perfect for cold brewing.

Every pack contains 4 bags that each make 700ml of refreshing coffee, for 2.8L in total.

Bring on the summer!

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Pack Size

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