Do you visit a coffee shop every morning while heading out to work? While buying coffee from a coffee shop is an easy and quick way of getting your favorite hot drink every morning, you’ll eventually spend a lot of money on something you can brew at home. Many coffee enthusiasts assume that iced coffee brewed by baristas is more superior to homemade brews. However, this is not always factual.
There’re various ways through which you can make superior iced coffee at home. Upon learning the tricks involved, you’ll never wish to visit your favorite coffee shop again. Even if your mornings are always busy, you can make several cups to last several days.
However, there’re key tips you should take note of before getting started with the process of making tasty iced coffee. Some of these tips include the main differences between cold brew and iced coffee and how to choose the best coffee beans for tasty coffee brews.
What Makes Freshly Ground Coffee Better?
Coffee made from freshly ground beans has a better taste than that made from pre-ground beans. There’re various reasons that make this view factual. Although the main determining factor is related to taste, the science behind it explains it better.
- Oxidation
Oxidation in coffee starts as soon as you start grinding coffee. It results from coffee compounds mixing with air molecules. If oxidation occurs for several hours before brewing coffee, the aroma and flavor from the grounds get released too early. Thus, you’ll drink coffee with reduced aroma and flavor.
- Carbon dioxide reduction
Oil from ground beans gets transferred to coffee by carbon dioxide (CO2). Grinding the beans long before brewing allows more CO2 to escape. Thus, grinding beans shortly before brewing reduces the escape of CO2.
- Moisture
Air moisture, simply known as humidity, degrades the quality of coffee grounds. The longer the exposure of ground beans to humidity, the more their quality is degraded. That’s why it’s recommended to store coffee in a cool, dark, and dry place.
Due to these three reasons, it’s recommended to grind beans shortly before brewing coffee rather than grinding them for later use or buying pre-ground coffee. Simply put, the aroma and taste of coffee are more superior when making it from freshly ground beans.
Tips for Making Tasty Iced Coffee At Home
Wondering how you can make tasty iced coffee at home? Probably you’ve tried brewing iced brew at home, only to dislike the results and almost giving up with trying again. However, it’s something you can do successfully. All you need to do is apply these tricks for a tasty and strong cup of iced coffee. Here’re the tips to follow:
Tip 1- Preferably, use freshly ground beans for this process. The beans should have been stored properly in a dark, cool, and dry place.
Tip 2- When making iced coffee, consider using medium or slightly dark roast coffee beans. This is because stronger coffee develops a richer taste once iced.
Tip 3- Ground the beans just before brewing coffee. However, you can still enjoy iced coffee with pre-ground beans.
Tip 4- While many coffee brewers mainly consider the kind of coffee beans they use, there’re other important factors that determine the final taste of the brew. For instance, you should use filtered water rather than tap water to make tastier brews. Also, remember that water accounts for the largest volume of a coffee brew.
Tip 5- Some coffee brewers often make the mistake of watering down their iced coffee. When making iced coffee, avoid pouring a hot coffee brew over ice cubes. There’re better ways to do this. Even when making coffee with filtered water and top-quality beans, melted ice compromises the overall taste of the brew, thereby resulting in a poor-tasting homemade coffee.
Tip 6- Want to make tasty iced coffee without watering it down? The trick is to make ice cubes from leftover coffee. In this case, fill your ice cube mold or tray with leftover coffee. Freeze them to form ice cubes. Add the ice cubes to a cup of coffee. That way, you’ll enjoy a cool brew without watering it down.
Tip 7- Avoid ruining your iced brews with undissolved sugar. If you prefer adding sugar to coffee, preferably use simple syrup. You can easily make simple syrup at home. It’s the perfect type of sweetener for adding to iced coffee. The sugary liquid dissolves well in coffee without leaving any undissolved syrup behind. Besides, you can keep excess syrup for later use.
Differences between Iced Coffee and Cold Brew
Iced coffee is a favorite among many caffeine lovers. It has been loved for its cool, rich flavor for many decades. Recently, cold brew is becoming more popular in many coffee shops. It’s also getting stocked in grocery stores. However, you may assume that iced coffee and cold brew are one and the same thing. However, these two types of coffee differ. Here’re more details about these two types of coffee.
- Iced Coffee
- Iced coffee is brewed in any coffee maker. You can brew it in a French press, Keurig, or any other coffee maker of your choice. It’s brewed while hot and allowed to cool down.
- Upon cooling down, ice is added to the coffee to make iced coffee.
- Iced coffee is less tasty than cold brew.
- Cold Brew
- Cold brew shouldn’t be heated. When making cold brew, ground coffee beans are steeped in cool water for at least 18 hours.
- When making cold brew, you make it as a concentrate. Essentially, coffee concentrate has more amount of coffee than regular brews. The concentrate is thereafter added to milk or water to dilute it depending on your preferences.
- Cold brew boasts of being smoother and tastier than regular brews.
How to Make Iced Coffee
Brewing iced coffee doesn’t take a lot of effort. It’s a simple process. In fact, it’s something you can easily do at home with a coffee maker of your choice.
If you make your coffee brews with a Keurig machine, just put a regular K-Cup in place and brew your single-serve coffee.
If you like brewing coffee using the much-loved French press, you’ll brew iced coffee the same you do when brewing regular coffee. Alternatively, you can steep fresh grounds in cold water, but don’t plunge. The French press should be kept in the refrigerator overnight.
Also, you can use the pour-over method to make coffee.
When making iced coffee, you start brewing it like regular coffee. Upon brewing, allow it to set and cool overnight or for several hours. That’s all you’ll need to do. You won’t have to undertake further steps. You only have to brew the coffee for several hours before drinking it.
Upon allowing it to set overnight, pour the cool coffee onto ice cubes. You can proceed to doctor it the way you desire. As you can see, you don’t have to visit a coffee shop all the time for iced coffee brews.
Recipe for Making Iced Coffee At Home
We’ve prepared an easy-to-follow recipe for making iced coffee with utmost perfection. Let’s start with the items you’ll need to make the brew.
Items needed:
- Filtered water
- Glass jar (including the lid)
- Preferred coffee maker
- Fresh ground coffee beans
- Simple syrup to sweeten the brew
Steps:
Step 1- First, gather some high-quality coffee beans, preferable medium or dark roast beans. If possible grind coffee beans whenever you make coffee rather than using pre-ground beans.
Step 2- Brew coffee as you normally do, regardless of the coffee machine you’re using, be it a Keurig, French press, or pour-over.
Step 3- Allow the freshly brewed coffee to settle and cool down overnight or for several hours. Store it in a sealed glass jar. By morning, it’ll be at room temperature.
Step 4- If you want to add sugar to sweeten the brew, simply make some simple syrup. To do this, get water (half cup), sugar (half cup), and vanilla extra (half tablespoon). Next, pour the water and sugar into a saucepan and boil the mixture. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Allow the mixture enough time to cool. Add the vanilla extract and stir.
Step 5- By morning, your brew will have cooled as needed. Add enough ice cubes. Then add enough simple syrup if needed. You can also add creamer or milk as per your preferences.
Perfect Brew for Lovers of Iced Coffee
Upon going through this guide, you’ll emerge as a professional in making iced coffee. Upon realizing how easy and economical it is, you’ll hardly want to visit the coffee shop to buy a drink you can easily make at the comfort of your home.
