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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I spent all this summer drinking Iced Coffee! And I won’t stop this winter! Oh, and I’m Italian, so it’s always pretty strange to come into a coffee shop and ask for an Iced Coffee. Baristas always make grumpy faces at me eheheh.
However, I prefer it black and extra strong. It helps me stay awake 🙂
I love iced coffee but could never get the portions right – It always ended up being a little too diluted. Thanks for this, perfect for the sweltering summer heat right now.
does the coffee need to be extra strong since it will be a bit diluted with ice cubes? Do the coffee beans need to be espresso beans? Thanks!
That’s completely up to you!
I thought simple syrup were equal parts?
Uncontrollable craving for iced coffee was creating a great hole in my pocket. Not anymore.Thanks a lot for the easy recipe.
So I’m a little confused. Is the syrup supposed to be a syrup consistancy? Or does it thicken as it cools?
It’s a syrup consistency.
Seems like now I don’t have to pay for some delicious Iced Coffee. I was just reading a recipe of Mocha so I thought I should share my views over the point where you said that we need cooled coffee power for Iced Coffee. At that blog the writer mentioned that it’s good to ground some extra coffee and freeze it in ice cube and then you can grind it and believe me that’ll surely increase the taste of an Iced Coffee. In fact I’m also going to try it now.
Just found your blog and love it, your are just so talented, you have me really inspired. Silly question, when you say half and half do you mean cream an milk?
Thanks from West Australia
Half and half is also known as single or light cream.
Yes, it is half cream and half milk.
I just like the cold coffee.Your pictures are so nice and seems too tasty.I will try this and hope enjoy a lot to drink.
Love how simple it is to make, compered to the result what you get. Amazing, absolutely love it.
Making your Honey Balsamic Herb Chicken with Vegetables right now…Has another 20 min or so….So I thought I’d have a look around at some more recipes. I spotted this, and was curious as to how you do it. Same as me, except I go ALL the WAY and add the syrup to half and half, or heavy cream, in the container! Hah! I don’t have to pay for the expensive FAKE creamers. I have the real thing, that I ade, and I know what’s in it…(a LOT of sugar!)
P.S. I also add caramel syrup if I have it and/or chocolate syrup as well! Woo Hoo! Don’t care for adding the artificial flavors at all.
Good recipe, but had to half the sugar, American iced coffee is much too sweet for me.
Yum! your picture looks so delicious to me. Really i am impressed. Ice coffee with vanilla looks impressive. I have a wish to try this at my home.
I need to make this!
LEACH | http://www.theleachlife.com
My favorite iced coffee is cold brewed! I feel like it has a much better, richer flavor, and is smoother. 🙂
This is awesome, thanks so much for sharing! I used to make ice coffee all the time but I like it sweet and didn’t know how to get it that way without buying the vanilla syrup from the store. But yay, there is hope with the simple syrup recipe. Pinning this, you’re one of my favorite food bloggers! PS I love your mason jar glass situation…mason jar on a stem?!
You are my new fav blogger!! Thank you.
Chungah your website is abosolutely amazing and love this iced coffee recipe can’t wait to try it!
Love iced coffeeI I like to make coffee ice cubes so they don’t dilute my drink and use sweet and condensed milk for creamy sweetness.
The condensed milk sounds absolutely amazing!
Coffee ice cubes! Genius!
Anazing!!!
Another idea for iced coffee: good quality strong coffee, a good favored creamer (International Delight, etc), sugar if desired and ice. This is for those of us who are lazy! At one time 10 years ago, my live-in friend was drinking as many as 5 double iced expresso’s a day from Starbucks! That was 5 expresso shots per drink! Even then the cost was a killer… about $!5.00 a day. I needed to wean him off of them. He was able to adjust, so now we only get him 3 – 4 a week from Starbucks! Enjoy bog and recipes.