Iced Coffee Recipes for Summer

During the summer months, we don’t always fancy a piping hot cup of coffee, instead preferring a cooler sip or ice lolly to keep us feeling refreshed.

However, you can’t ignore your coffee cravings, so swap out your usual morning mug with one of these iced coffee recipes to help you stay caffeinated, yet cool, this summer.

You can make a refreshing summer sip using both iced coffee and cold brew coffee, so we will share recipes and tips for both!

Tips for Making Iced Coffee

When it comes to making iced coffee, you should approach its creation as you would your standard coffee consumption. Just because the coffee is cold rather than hot should not impact on the quality, so be sure to use your best beans! Iced coffee can be made using either brewed coffee or an espresso shot.

Ice Cubes

As the name suggests, you are going to need some ice cubes to make your iced coffee. Regular sized ice cubes from freezer trays are fine to use for your iced coffee, but you can also use larger wedges of ice to keep your drink cooler for longer.

If you want to avoid your iced coffee becoming too watery as the ice melts, then if you plan ahead, you can make the ice cubes out of coffee.

Syrup

Sugar won’t dissolve as well in cold water, so it is best to create a simple syrup if you like a bit of sweetness in your coffee. You can buy bottles of simple syrup, or flavoured syrup, to be used for your coffee, or it can be made at home very easily.

Simply combine 240ml boiling water with 200g caster sugar, and stir until all of the sugar has been dissolved. This will make about 15 servings worth of syrup, so it can be cooled and stored in the fridge for a few weeks to be used the next time you make an iced coffee.

Vanilla Iced Coffee

To give your iced coffee a vanilla flavour, simply add 1tbsp of vanilla extract to your simple syrup mixture.

Mocha Iced Coffee

To create a sweet and chocolatey flavoured iced coffee, mix 2tbsp of cocoa powder when making your simple syrup, while the water is still warm.

Iced Coffee

The quickest and easiest way to make a cup of iced coffee is to brew coffee using your preferred method, and then pour this coffee over a glass filled to the brim with ice.

The ice should be cold enough that your coffee cools down instantly. Some people prefer to brew their coffee the night before and leave it overnight to cool down for an extra cold sip, but this isn’t always possible when the desire for an iced coffee suddenly hits!

Luckily, espresso and concentrated brews, such as those produced by the AeroPress, will be short enough to pour directly over coffee with no worries about being too warm for the ice. You can then top up the drink with ice cold water to make a full chilled brew, then add milk or cream if you desire.

For added sweetness or flavour, you can add simple syrup as desired, or follow one of the recipe ideas below for a more interesting taste!

Cold Brew

Another way of making a chilled coffee beverage is to make a cold brew. Cold brew takes a bit of forward thinking to create, as many recipes will require the coffee to be left overnight.

Instead of a normally brewed cup of coffee being chilled using ice, cold brew is created by actually brewing the coffee using cold water. Because the water is cold, it takes far longer for the water to extract the flavour of the coffee beans, and so, cold brew needs to be left for around 12-24 hours before being drunk. However, the process is well worth the wait, as it produces an incredibly strong, yet chilled, cup of coffee.

There are a few methods of creating cold brew, dependant on the equipment you own. Coarsely ground coffee and room temperature water can simply be left in a jug for a minimum of 12 hours, before the grounds are strained out using a fine strainer.

You can also use your AeroPress in the inverted position, leaving 30g of coarsely ground beans and 132g room temperature water in your inverted AeroPress for around 24 hours before pressing.

Both of these methods take a lot of time though, so luckily, the PuckPuck attachment is available for the AeroPress to make cold brew. The PuckPuck simply attaches to the AeroPress chamber and drips cold water onto the coffee, creating a cold brew in only a couple of hours. This reduces your wait time from a whole day to only 2 hours! Compact in size, this also means you can enjoy a cold brew coffee on the go.

Viennese Iced Coffee

You will need:

Iced Coffee

Vanilla Flavour Simple Syrup

Ice Cream

Cocoa Powder to serve

Make iced coffee and add the vanilla syrup to your taste. Pop the mixture into the blender and combine until the ice is smooth. Pour the drink into a glass and add in a scoop of ice cream. Serve with a straw and a spoon and top with a sprinkling of cocoa powder if desired. 

Thai Iced Coffee

You Will Need:
Iced Coffee

Sweetened Condensed Milk (75g per person)

Milk (45ml per person)

Make iced coffee, pouring your coffee over a glass full of ice. In a bowl combine the sweetened condensed milk and milk, stirring together until smooth. Pour the milk mixture over the iced coffee and serve.

Whatever type of coffee you want to make, whether it be hot or cold brewed, served black or with a splash of milk, the AeroPress UK is here to ensure that it is good quality every time!