Iced Coffee Recipes and Cold Brew Coffee Tips (2024)

FAQs

Is there a trick to making iced coffee? ›

How do you make a good iced coffee? The key is to brew a strong coffee concentrate: I let mine steep overnight, then I strain it, and chill it. I don't add ice until I'm ready to drink my iced coffee; I don't want the ice cubes to melt and dilute it!

Whether cold brew's lower acid flavor profile is a good thing, though, is a matter of debate. In our own blind taste tests, most tasters didn't prefer cold brew when served black. Mixed with creamy dairy, though, and cold brew's qualities shined.

Serve the coffee over ice. It's delicious black or with a dash of milk or cream. If you prefer sugar in your coffee, opt for simple syrup. It'll mix into your coffee much easier than a spoonful of sugar.

It's recommended to allow the hot coffee to cool down first, which helps maintain the full flavor of the coffee. Fill your cup, mug, or tumbler at least ¾ of the way with ice, then pour coffee over the ice and stir.

A ratio of 1:8 of coffee to water will produce a nice coffee ready to drink after around 24 hours at a coarse grind. Another option is to create a much stronger cold brew (named cold brew concentrate), by using a ratio anywhere from 1 part coffee to 4 parts water, up to around 1 part coffee to 2 parts water.

What kind of coffee is good for cold brew? Medium roast and dark roast coffee are good for cold brew. Due to its low acidity and robust, chocolatey, hazelnut flavor profiles that are common in these varieties. Light roast is generally not selected.

Best Coffee for Iced Coffee

For an iced coffee with a sweet, creamy, and/or chocolate flavor profile, go with a medium roast from Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, or Honduras. Think cream soda on the rocks! For a refreshing tea-like iced coffee with fruit notes, go with an Ethiopian or Kenyan roast.

If you soak the grinds for just 12 hours you'll find a cold brew that is weak and somewhat astringent, but after about 18 hours the brew is super smooth. Stick it in the fridge: Use cold water (filtered, if you want to really get specific) and let the brew sit in the fridge for 18 to 24 hours before straining.

You can use your favorite coffee bean for cold brew. It's the size of the grind that matters more. (You'll need coarse ground coffee.

How many cups of coffee grounds for 1 gallon of cold brew? ›

The recommended coffee-to-water ratio for cold brew is usually 1:8. Therefore, for 1 gallon (128 fluid ounces) of cold brew, you would need approximately 16 ounces (1 pound) of coffee grounds. However, you can adjust the amount based on your personal preference for the strength of the cold brew.

Beat the system by making a big batch of simple syrup and using that to sweeten your iced coffee. Add a cinnamon stick to the syrup as it cooks and strain it out before cooling. Other complementary flavors to infuse include: cardamom, nutmeg, and rosemary.

Cold brew coffee has up to 65% less acidity compared to regular coffee because there hot water is not involved which pulls out the oils carrying acid in the coffee beans. The result is a much smoother taste, so whether you have a sensitive stomach or not you'll love it.

Just stick to the basic formula of ice, coffee and flavorings. Try adding in some mint extract, vanilla extract, coconut extract, coconut milk, almond milk, sweetened condensed milk, coffee ice cubes, ice cream, Nutella, chocolate milk, chocolate syrup, Kalua or Bailey's.

Oli Base, professional barista, told me that his preferred method used a drip coffee maker. He said 'The best way to make an iced coffee quickly is to brew a drip coffee directly onto coffee ice cubes.