Perfect Iced Coffee
This recipe is quick, easy, budget-friendly, and tastes just like the gourmet coffee-shops, if not better!
When you live in California, you have a ton of options for great coffee. But whe you start hitting all the hottest coffee shops around town, it gets to be quite expensive. At one point, I ended up splurging on a $10 latte at Alfred’s Coffee!
But as always, nothing beats the homemade version – taste-wise and money-wise. And with this easy perfect iced coffee recipe, you won’t have to overpay for coffee ever again.
All you have to do is brew your coffee the night before using good-quality coffee beans. That way, it can come to room temperature by the time the morning comes around. Now I have personally never been a fan of pouring hot coffee over ice but if it doesn’t bother you, then you can whip this up in the morning – it’s up to you!
Then you can whip up a batch of simple syrup, but only if you need it. A batch should last you for a few weeks, unless you like to douse your coffee in sugary goodness. No judgment here. Then you can add a splash of milk or half-and-half, although I highly recommend the latter.
Now you can skip the hectic Starbucks line and have quality coffee for a quarter of the price right at home!
Perfect Iced Coffee
Ingredients
- 1 cup coffee, at room temperature
- 2 tablespoons half and half*, or more, to taste
For the simple syrup
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 cup water
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- FOR THE SIMPLE SYRUP: Combine sugar and 1 cup water in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Let cool completely and stir in vanilla extract; set aside in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
- Serve coffee over ice with half and half and simple syrup, adding 1 teaspoon at a time, to taste.
Notes
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Sooooo good! I hate paying the Starbucks price and don’t like all their ingredients. Also it’s pretty common sense you don’t put all that syrup in one cup of coffee? Who in the world puts 1/2c if sugar in a cup of coffee. I did about two spoons of it and added how much half and half I prefer.
how did you store your sugar syrup?
This is absolutely delicious and perfect for quarantine! I also added a dash of cinnamon in mine! YUM! My husband was pretty impressed when I had him try it!
I’m lazy so I just poured the coffee over ice, added a spoonful of sugar, and a few drops of vanilla (instead of making the simple syrup) and it was still so good!!
The perfect stay-at-home treat! So easy and better then most drive-thru iced coffees! I added a little cinnamon to the syrup, mmm I highly recommend trying the recipe that way. So delicious, Go Grab Your Brew!!
Added cinnamon to the syrup, definitely a copy cat cinnamon dolce coffee. Sooooo good!!!!!
Thank god i read the comments for curiosity and see that I shouldn’t add all the syrup, you should clarify in the recipe too bc u make it seem like all those ingredients are for one iced coffee. Anyways, I really liked it pretty good actually
It does say in instructions to add simple syrup to taste
I followed all of the instructions, but my simple syrup is not thickening. It’s still very watery. Help?
Hi Julia, I’ve been making iced coffees and simple syrup for years now. I remember I was helping a friend who was having the same problem- it’s not thickening. Simple syrup isn’t really all that thick. The ratio is what’s important, which is half sugar, have water (my taste is more 1.5:1 ratio, with more sugar so that in the long run it lasts me more because I am using less.) It will not be thick 🙂 it will just be an even consistency. Bring to a boil and it let it cool. Then you will see it thicken just a bit, not like honey or maple syrup. Transfer to your container and store. There should be no problem 🙂
Due to the covid 19 virus, I am home and not leaving my house, ice coffee is my one treat so I tried this recipe …. OMG!! So delicious!!! Better than what I buy!!!! Thank you!
Stay healthy and safe
How long can you keep the sugar/water mixture for in the fridge?
Simple easy cost effective and …good to taste!
Just made this, it’s delicious! Will tell my friends for sure.
I’m gonna give it a try.
-Toni
just made it right now and drinking it while typing this. Absolutely telling my friends this recipe. I love it
I’ll bet, like me at first, you only looked at the ingredient list since that was my initial reaction. Then I realized that the half cup sugar is to make a supply of liquid sweetener that should last “a few weeks in the refrigerator”.
I have not tried this yet, but plan to soon. Based on it’s similarity to another recipe I found, I will give it 5 stars…in anticipation!
Too much sugar beuh 1/2 cup?!?!
I’ll bet, like me at first, you only looked at the ingredient list since that was my initial reaction. Then I realized that the half cup sugar is to make a supply of liquid sweetener that should last “a few weeks in the refrigerator”.
I used 1/4 cup of sugar bc 1/2 is a lot and I didn’t really want to make the simple syrup bc I’m lazy. Turned out really good!
I did one cup milk one cup french vanilla creamer for my half and half, things are cooling now. Can’t wait to try it. Recipe was easy to do. I’m from California but just moved to Washington. Coffee shops here are really expensive this is a life saving allowence tip. Ty happy new year
5/5. It’s amazing.
it really is good i’m in 6th grade and this is a recipe shared by my good friend
Soooo good. I substituted simple syrup with Starbucks brand vanilla syrup (this stuff costs 3 bucks!), and makes it faster for me to make my coffee in the morning!
I made this today and it is so delicious! The only thing i did different was also add a teaspoon of cinnamon to the simple syrop (because I love cinnamon lol).
I love cinnamon in coffee! So good!
Holy shit.
So I used honey and water and mixed the two then added Mexican vanilla along with milk and heavy creamer with cold coffee on ice and its soo good dangg.
Cinnamon makes everything better 🙂
this turned out so good! tastes like i bought it from starbucks. and it’s easy!