How To Make Cold Brewed Iced Coffee

Like most people in today’s busy world, I love my coffee. I have my regular coffee pot, an espresso machine for making homemade lattes (which my wise boyfriend bought me last year), and am saving up for a Keurig. While I sometimes drink lattes (the Starbucks Seasonal Lattes are a weakness of mine), I actually prefer slightly sweetened black iced coffee to anything else. However, it’s a huge pain to make at home. Most iced coffee recipes I found suggested making ice cubes with coffee and adding those to lukewarm cups of brew. But, the end result was still bitter tasting and I ended up with stained ice cube trays too. One day, bored on the internet, I decided to find the best way to make iced coffee.

Site after site recommended learning How To Make Cold Brewed Iced Coffee as the best way to get better tasting iced coffee. This form of brewing doesn’t even require you to turn on the coffee pot. You mix coffee grounds with cold water and let sit for hours to create a concentrated brew. I tried making it for the first time last night and am quite pleased with the results. Here’s the combination that worked best for me.

Ingredients :
1 cup coffee grinds
4 1/2 cups cold water

Mix the grinds into the water in a large glass container. Cover with a lid or foil, and let sit for at least 12 hours. Some recipes suggested putting it in the fridge, but I left mine on the counter since I’m a bit accident prone when it comes to open containers in the fridge. After it’s been allowed to sit, strain the mixture. I took the filter basket out of my coffee pot, set it over a large cup, tossed in a filter, and let that do it’s thing. The end result is a very dark and rich concentrated brew.

Mine turned out a bit bitter, but only because I used espresso beans instead of a medium roast coffee like I probably should have. This brewing method brings out the richer and sweeter undertones in the coffee. I mixed 1 cup of the concentrated brew with 1/2 cup soy creamer and a spoonful of sugar and ended up with a great tasting coffee treat. It would be great black as well, with a little ice to tone it down.