Yo, VIPs. Let’s kick the summer heat by making our own iced coffee at home. Yayuh.

Every year around this time, I start spending way too much money on iced coffee. The thought of how refreshing it will taste overtakes me while I’m sitting at my desk knowing that there is a Starbucks two blocks away. This summer I say, “No more!” I’ve got other things to spend my hard-earned cash on.

My research revealed a couple of methods: hot brew & cold brew. Since I’ve never done this before, starting out with hot brew seemed like the right thing to do. Don’t ask me why.

Begin with good coffee beans, like these from Drew’s Brews.

Slightly Sweet Iced Coffee
Serves 2

Coffee
Water
Sugar
Almond or vanilla extract (optional)

• Brew your coffee twice as strong as you normally would. For example, when I brew 4 cups of coffee I generally use 4 scoops of beans. So, for 4 cups of iced coffee, I need to use 8. This is important because you will be pouring your coffee over ice which dilutes your beverage. Who wants watered-down coffee? Not me.
• After brewing, add desired amount of sugar while coffee is still hot so that it will fully dissolve. I used ½ teaspoon per cup.
• Let cool on counter for a while.
• Pour into a pitcher and place in fridge overnight.
• If you like, add a small amount of almond or vanilla extract for flavor. Keep in mind how much sugar you have already added—you don’t want the sweetness to overpower your drink. I used just 1/8 of a teaspoon.
• Add cream if you’re into that sort of thing. Personally, I am not.

   

Next time, I think I’ll:

• Try the cold brew method. I’ll be using my French press, though, not a jar. This technique might require using simple syrup to sweeten since I don’t want a bunch of undissolved raw sugar settling at the bottom of my beverage.
• Make coffee ice cubes out of any leftover regularly-brewed joe. I hear you can pour room temp coffee into ice cube trays and use that in your iced coffee for an extra kick (i.e. less water).