How to Make Iced Coffee at Home

How to Make Iced Coffee at Home

It doesn’t matter if the weather outside is 76 degrees and sunny or 30 degrees with a 100% chance of snowfall: Every morning, I like to drink an iced coffee. Maybe it’s a New England thing.

And while my morning joe is refreshing in the summer, it’s a bit of an occupational hazard in the wintertime, so I try to make my iced coffee at home so I can get my caffeine from the comfort -- and warmth -- of my own home.

For those of you reading who, like me, can’t say no to an iced coffee, try these methods for making an iced coffee at home so you can stay warm a little longer during your commute.

7 Ways to Make Iced Coffee at Home


1. Brew coffee in advance.
Possibly the easiest but also the most time-consuming method, this strategy for making iced coffee at home involves making a pot of coffee in advance, transferring it into a sealable container, and letting it sit in your refrigerator for at least three hours -- or overnight, if you can. If you do this every night before you go to bed, you’ll have iced coffee ready for you when you wake up in the morning.

2. Brew two pots if you’re in a rush.

If you’re in a pinch, you can double-brew two pots of coffee and pour both over ice to make iced coffee in less time. By double-brewing your coffee, its flavor won’t be too diluted when you pour it over ice to cool it off. You’ll go through a lot of coffee this way, though.

3. Make coffee ice cubes.

Whether you’re brewing coffee in advance or the morning of, you can use the leftovers to make coffee ice cubes to keep in your freezer. You can pop them into whatever iced coffee beverage you end up making from this list to chill your drink without diluting the flavor. You can make coffee bean-shaped ice cubes using this mold for $7.69:

4. Make cold brew coffee.

If you need a stronger iced coffee to get your day going, you might consider making iced cold brew coffee at home. Here’s how to do it:

How to Make Cold Brew Coffee
  1. Coarsely grind coffee beans so they resemble the size of raw sugar.
  1. Combine coffee grounds and water in a jar or pitcher with a lid. Incorporate one cup of water per ounce of ground coffee beans.
  1. Stir the water and coffee beans until they’re incorporated, seal the container, and steep the cold brew in the fridge for at least 18 hours or overnight.
  1. Strain the mixture over a cheesecloth or a coffee filter into a clean jar or pitcher.
  1. Combine every ½ cup of cold brew concentrate with ½ cup of water or milk, a cup of ice cubes, and whatever flavorings or sweeteners you enjoy. You concentrate will stay fresh in your fridge for up to two weeks.

You can also buy a cold brew coffee pitcher to do the straining for you, all in one container. The one below is $20.97.

5. Buy cold brew concentrate.

If the process detailed above sounds too labor-intensive, you can buy cold brew concentrate to get straight to the iced coffee making. Keep it in your refrigerator to make whenever the mood strikes you. Mix it up with water or milk in the same proportions described above, and just add ice. You can buy it from Amazon or Trader Joe’s.

6. Make a blended coffee frappe.

Whether you’re making a pot of coffee or cold brew, if you want to make your drink extra-icy, you can make a frappe using your blender. Combine coffee or cold brew concentrate, ice cubes, and water or your milk of choice, and blend it up to get a thick frappe that will make you think you’re treating yourself to a nice milkshake. Add cinnamon or chocolate syrup to make it a sweet treat.

7. Buy an iced coffee maker.

If you have the space for a new device on your countertop or in your fridge, you might consider buying an iced coffee maker to do the work for you. With various models that promise the perfect iced coffee drink in no time, all you have to do is brew or mix the coffee you want to drink, pour it into an iced coffee maker, and wait a couple of minutes. The model below promises to chill hot coffee in 60 seconds without diluting it, so for $29.99, this might be your best bet if you’re an oversleeper like me.

No matter how you get your iced coffee in the morning -- whether it’s from a barista or from your own kitchen -- you can keep your hands warm and dry with an iced coffee sleeve from Java Sok.