Save money by making refreshing and delicious iced coffee at home. Get tips on how to sweeten and flavor your iced coffee to make it delicious every single time.

Easy Iced Coffee

There’s nothing I love more on a hot summer morning than a refreshing and caffeinated iced coffee. It just hits the spot. My iced coffee recipe is made with just 4 ingredients and it’s perfect, if I do say so myself.

Iced coffee is made by brewing hot coffee, then cooling it down in the refrigerator. It’s a little different from cold brew coffee, which is made by steeping ground coffee in cold water for hours. If a coffee drink is made with espresso instead of brewed coffee, it’s an iced latte.

The best way to sweeten iced coffee is with simple syrup, which is liquid sugar (half water and half sugar), and this recipe is made using a brown sugar simple syrup.

RELATED: Iced Shaken Espresso

Recipe Summary

• This simple iced coffee recipe is made using just 4 ingredients.
• To make iced coffee, you’ll need strong coffee that has been brewed hot then cooled. Use a coffee machine or a Nespresso capsule that brews a cup of coffee.
• The recipe makes 16 ounces (2 cups) of iced coffee.

RELATED: Iced Pumpkin Spice Latte

Ingredient Notes

• Brewed coffee: Make strong coffee in a drip coffee machine or a Nespresso using a coffee/mug capsule. Strong coffee is key to making great iced coffee so that the ice doesn’t dilute the drink. Chill hot coffee in the refrigerator.
• Brown sugar syrup: I prefer brown sugar, but you can use regular simple syrup or a flavored one like vanilla syrup. Avoid using sugar since stirring it into a cold drink doesn’t do a great job due to the sugar sinking to the bottom.
• Half & half: Half cream and half milk, it’s creamier than regular milk but not as rich as heavy cream. You can also use any milk you prefer including oat or almond.
• Ice: Use filtered water to make ice if possible for a better tasting drink.

For full ingredients and detailed instructions, please see the recipe card at the bottom of the post.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Recipe Notes

Make strong coffee.

Use 2-3 tablespoons of ground coffee and 1 ¼ cups of water to brew strong coffee in a coffee machine. If using a Nespresso, use 1 coffee/mug capsule (not an espresso capsule) to make 1 full cup of coffee.

How to cool down hot coffee.

Don’t pour hot coffee into a cup of ice since the ice will melt too quickly, leaving a drink that’s too watered down. Cool down hot coffee is by putting it in the freezer for 15 minutes or in the refrigerator for an hour.

If you don’t want to wait for hot coffee to cool down in the freezer or refrigerator, put ½ cup of ice and a cup of hot coffee into a cocktail shaker and shake 10 times. Pour cooled down coffee into a cup and add ½ cup of more ice.

Use any kind of coffee.

Any kind of coffee can be used to make iced coffee. You can use light, medium, or dark roast. Just know that the lighter the roast, the more caffeine there is.

Expert Tips

• The pretty swirls in the drink from the cream can only be made using half & half or heavy cream. Using just milk won’t create the swirls like you see in the photo.
• If the iced coffee is too strong, dilute it by adding cold water.
• The coffee and simple syrup are great to make ahead of time and both can be stored in the refrigerator in airtight containers. Make coffee the night or two before and let it chill in the refrigerator. The simple syrup will last 2-3 weeks in the refrigerator.

Serving Suggestions

Flavored syrups
Vanilla syrup, cinnamon syrup, and gingerbread syrup all taste great with iced coffee. They flavor and sweeten at the same time.

Cold foam
Instead of just pouring half & half directly into the drink, make cold foam using a French press.

Related

• Iced Caramel Macchiato
• Iced Chocolate Almondmilk Shaken Espresso
• Iced Brown Sugar Oatmilk Shaken Espresso
• Iced Sugar Cookie Latte
• Iced Protein Coffee

If you tried this Iced Coffee recipe, please leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ star rating and let me know how you like it in the comments below.