Learn how to make iced coffee at home! Easy to customize with any milk or sweetener, this recipe is just as delicious as iced coffee from a coffee shop.
Iced coffee is my favorite way to start a warm spring or summer day. Sorry, hot coffee—when the temps are high enough, only the iced stuff will do.
In the last few years, iced coffee drinks have exploded in popularity. But I find that people often get them at coffee shops instead of making them at home.
This iced coffee recipe is here to change that! It’s SO simple, you can customize it with your favorite milk or sweetener, and it’s more affordable than ordering iced coffee out. If you’re an iced coffee fan, give it a try. I think you’ll love it!
How to Make Iced Coffee at Home
I love coffee with a rich, strong flavor. The challenge of iced coffee is that as the ice melts, it dilutes the coffee, which can make it taste watery. No thanks!
For great-tasting iced coffee, start with cold or room temp coffee, not hot coffee, which melts the ice quickly.
Coffee Options
Here are two great options:
- Cooled hot coffee – Brew hot coffee using your preferred method, then allow it to cool to room temperature (or make it ahead and chill it in the refrigerator).
- Cold brew – Unlike hot coffee, which is made with boiling water, cold brew is made by steeping ground coffee in cold water for 12 to 24 hours, then straining the coffee grounds out. I absolutely love it. I think it has a richer, smoother flavor than brewed hot coffee!
If you’re shopping for it at the grocery store, you’ll likely see “cold brew coffee” and “cold brew concentrate.” Either will work in this recipe, but if you buy the concentrate, you’ll likely want to dilute it with some water before using it. It has a really intense, concentrated flavor and can taste bitter on its own. You can also make your own cold brew using my cold brew coffee recipe!
To make iced coffee, start by filling a glass with ice cubes. Then, pour the cooled coffee into the glass. Top it off with your milk of choice. You can use any kind—almond milk, oat milk, soy milk, and whole milk, for example, would all work here. You could even add a little cream or your favorite flavored creamer.
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
Sweetener Options
If you like, you can also sweeten your iced coffee to taste. Here are a few sweeteners that work well:
- Sugar – Stir until it dissolves.
- Simple syrup – Make my basic simple syrup recipe for a neutral flavor, or make your own flavored simple syrup. Try mixing it with vanilla extract to make a homemade vanilla syrup or steeping cinnamon sticks or lemon zest in it. Find instructions in the simple syrup blog post!
- Maple syrup or agave nectar – Prefer to sweeten your coffee naturally? These are your best bets.
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
Iced Coffee Recipe Tips
- Strong coffee is best. You’re diluting the coffee with ice and milk in this recipe. So for the best flavor, start with a good strong brew! Cold brew is great for this, and adding water to cold brew coffee concentrate will give you complete control over how strong your coffee is. If you’re using brewed hot coffee, try making it with slightly more coffee grounds than you normally would for a stronger flavor.
- Get ahead. Don’t want to make hot coffee and then wait for it to cool? Make it ahead! It keeps well for up to 4 days in an airtight container in the fridge.
- Make coffee ice cubes. Don’t want the ice cubes to water down your coffee? Make a pot of coffee and let it cool. Pour it into ice cube trays and freeze it. Use in this iced coffee recipe for double-coffee flavor!
More Iced Drinks to Try
If you love this recipe, try one of these delicious iced drinks next:
Easy Iced Coffee
Serves 1
You don’t need to go to a coffee shop to get iced coffee—make this recipe at home for a fraction of the price! For the best flavor, start with chilled or room temperature coffee so that it doesn’t melt the ice right away. (I like to use cooled hot coffee or cold brew—read more about these options in the blog post above!) Customize it with as much of your favorite milk and/or sweetener as you like.
- Ice
- 1 cup brewed coffee, chilled or at room temperature
- Milk of choice, as desired
- Sugar, simple syrup, or sweetener of choice, optional
Prevent your screen from going dark
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Fill a glass with ice. Pour in the coffee and add milk as desired.
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If desired, sweeten to taste with sugar, simple syrup, or another sweetener of your choice.