4 Tips for Better Iced Coffee

Iced coffee is something that a lot of people tend to exclusively associate with coffee shops and barista style drinks.

But you don’t actually have to spend somewhat ridiculous amounts of money to enjoy a delicious iced coffee.

If you know what you’re doing, you can make one yourself at home. It’s a cheaper alternative that allows you to control the flavour and anything extra you might want to add.

Here’s four tips for making a better cup of iced coffee at home.

1.    Have a Coarse Grind

The grind that you need for a cold brew is going to need to be a little bit different to how you would normally grind your beans.

Usually beans that are too coarse will make for a weaker brew, but in the case of iced coffee it’s actually the opposite.

Over-extracted coffee doesn’t compliment a cold brew very well. Without the heat the flavour tends to be bitter.

To achieve a coarse grind, you could grind it manually yourself or you could get a good grinder that will offer you the option.

A burr grinder would be better for this job than the more commonly used blade grinder choices.

2.    Be Wary of the Ratio

Similar to what I said about the grind, when you make iced coffee it’s not difficult to end up with a bitter brew and the water ratio is another thing that can contribute to that.

You want a ratio that is pretty water heavy. I would say ¾:1 coffee to water would be a good ratio for this.

When you’re making regular coffee, there’s machines that will automatically use the right ratio. See these one’s here from Homegrounds for example.

But it’s not quite as easy with iced coffee and you don’t have so many of this kind of option. You generally have to work these things out yourself.

Personal preference will be a factor here too but remember that a lot of the flavour that comes from coffee is caused by the heat of the brew.

Since you are making iced coffee, you can’t rely on that so you will need less coffee. Too much and it will be too bitter for you to appreciate the iced taste.

3.    Make Coffee Ice Cubes

You are going to have to be putting ice cubes into the coffee anyway, so why not use that as an opportunity to enhance the flavour?

You can make a batch of these ice cubes by pouring coffee leftover from a brew into an ice cube tray and then storing them in your freezer.

They’ll only keep the flavour for a day so you could plan to have iced coffee in advance and make the cubes the night before.

As they melt, they won’t dilute the brew like normal ice cubes would and they also won’t make the coffee any more bitter because they came from a different brew.

4.    Include Homemade Additives

It can be hard to get something that caters exactly to your specific desires when you buy from a coffee shop, but you can do a lot of experimentation by yourself.

If you think about what you would traditionally get from in an iced coffee, there is often some kind of cream or syrup included.

These are also things that you can make at home. There’s a variety of different syrups that you can make to flavour coffee.

You could try orange, caramel, blackberry and several others. You could also try adding vanilla extract or coconut milk.

Deciding to make creative coffee at home opens up a whole world of possibilities. You’ll never run out of ways to experiment.

Conclusion

Don’t forget the most important thing. Making iced coffee at home puts all of the power in your hands.

If some of these things don’t work for you, then try something else. You’ll find the right ice coffee blend for yourself if you look for it.