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How To Make Iced Coffee: 3 Ways You’ll Love!

Published by: Chef Matty Riedel • Updated: January 24, 2023

Every morning, nearly two billion people wake up around the world and drink coffee as they start their day. If you’re one of the two billion, you’re our kind of people. We love coffee so much that when we get in bed at night we are already looking forward to our fresh brew in the morning.

But sometimes, we’re in the mood for something a little more chill. Sometimes we need an afternoon pick-me-up to get us through the end of the day. That’s when we reach for a refreshing iced coffee. There are so many ways to enjoy this brewed beverage over ice. Here are three of the best. 

1. Filter Coffee Machines Chilled Out 

Many of us brew fresh coffee each and every morning using a filter coffee machine. The simplest way to make sure you have coffee to pour over ice is to ensure you brew a few extra cups each day. Whatever you don’t drink at first light, just pop in the fridge, and later on in the day when you need a hit of caffeinated goodness, just do the following: 

Ingredients & Equipment 

  • Brewed coffee, chilled
  • Ice 
  • Optional milk, cream, sugar, or simple syrup 
  • A filter coffee machine  
  • A tall glass 

Method 

  1. Brew your morning coffee, placing at least 250ml in the fridge to enjoy later.
  2. Fill a glass with ice, as much as you’d like. 
  3. Pour approximately 250ml of brewed, chilled coffee over the ice.
  4. Top with some milk or cream, if you’d like. 
  5. Swirl in some sugar, or sugar syrup, as much as you’d like. 
  6. Enjoy your iced coffee. 
how to make iced coffee

2. Cold Brew Your Way To Coffee Bliss 

If you’re looking to up your iced coffee game, the cold brew method can’t be beaten. Cold brew is just what it sounds like: rather than brewing your ground coffee beans using hot water, you brew with cold water. Hence, cold brew. Only, instead of a brewing time of a few minutes, the cold brew method uses a long steep time of 12-24 hours. The result is an incredibly smooth, rich, and highly caffeinated cup of coffee. Here’s how you do it: 

Ingredients & Equipment 

  • 100g coffee beans 
  • 1L fresh water 
  • A 2L glass jar
  • A filtering system, such as a fine-mesh sieve with cheesecloth, or a paper coffee filter. 
  • A pot or clear glass jar to store your filter cold brew after it steeps. 

Method 

  1. Coarsely grind 100g of coffee, as if for a cafetiere . This should look closer in consistency to fine gravel, than say, sand 
  2. Add your ground coffee to a 2L glass jar and cover the coffee with 1L water to create a slurry. Stir to incorporate and ensure the coffee grounds are fully saturated.
  3. Put a lid on the jar and place it in the fridge. Let the coffee steep in the jar for 12-24 hours, stirring it occasionally. 12 hours of steeping will produce a lighter cold brew, and 24 hours of steeping will produce a stronger cold brew. 
  4. When you’re ready to drink the cold brew, run the slurry mixture through some cheesecloth, over a fine-mesh sieve set over a pot or clean jar, or through a paper coffee filter set over a pot or clean jar, so that the grounds are strained out of the liquid.  
  5. Pour the strained cold brew coffee over ice, and add milk, cream, or sugar to your liking. Reserve the remaining cold brew coffee in the fridge for future caffeine and flavour hits. 

For The Cold Brew Fanatic 

If you want to go all-in on this cold brew method, consider picking up a Toddy Cold Brew System, or a Reusable Organic Cotton Cold Brew Coffee Bag. These brewing systems will enhance your cold brew experience and make clean up a breeze. 

3. Aeropress – Your New Coffee Habit 

Sometimes you just have to have an espresso, but you don’t always feel like heading out to the local coffee shop for a pick-me-up. That’s where the Aeropress comes in! Aeropress is a small, portable, manual coffee brewer that makes a lovely single cup of coffee. It works similarly to an espresso machine by forcing pressurized water through finely-ground coffee beans and a filter. The end result is the closest thing one can get to espresso machine coffee, without spending thousands on a fancy home machine. And the genius of an Aeropress is that one can make hot coffee, or pour it over ice, just like an iced espresso (or an Americano, for all you coffee nerds out there). Here’s how it works: 

Ingredients & Equipment 

  • 17g coffee beans 
  • 150ml water 
  • An Aeropress 
  • 1 mug 
  • 1 glass  
  • 85g ice 

Method 

  1. Heat your water to 85C, or bring it to a boil, and let it sit off the heat for a few minutes to come down a bit from the boiling temperature. 
  2. Grind your coffee to a medium-fine grind, like wet sand. 
  3. Invert your Aeropress so that the chamber is facing upward. Fill the chamber with the ground coffee. 
  4. Pour the water over the coffee grounds and stir to saturate. Let the coffee steep for 45-60 seconds.  
  5. Stire one more time, and then place the filter and cap on to the Aeropress. Turn the Aeropress over onto a mug, and gently apply pressure to the plunger, to press the coffee through the filter and into a mug, until the chamber is mostly empty of liquid. This may give your arm a bit of a workout, which is an added bonus! 
  6. Pour the hot coffee over the ice in your glass. Add more ice, milk, cream, or sugar, if you’d like. Enjoy! 
how to make iced coffee

How To Make Iced Coffee: Summing Up 

Iced coffee can be a daily treat if you take some time to make it available in your everyday routine. A glass of iced coffee or cold brew can certainly be enjoyed on a hot summer day, but it can equally be enjoyed on a crisp autumn afternoon among the falling leaves, a chilly winter’s morning by the fire, or a rainy spring day on the couch with a good book. Following our recipes and techniques can give you iced coffee anytime, anywhere.  

Chef and Restaurant Owner Matty Riedel
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