SOMETIMES IT’S TOUGH TO choke down a steaming cup of coffee, but you may still want – or need – to enjoy your flat white.
You could just throw some ice in your mug, but that leads to lukewarm, watery coffee. Don’t do it! Here are three better ways to create iced coffee, in ascending order of time, effort, and supplies required.
You have: Five minutes
And: a standard coffee maker, ground coffee, water, ice
Do this: Brew your coffee twice as strong as usual. Use the same amount of grounds and half the amount of water. When it’s done, pour it into a mug and load it up with ice. The first cubes will melt, bringing the coffee to room temperature and diluting it. Once you have some cubes that aren’t melting, it’s cold and ready to drink.
You have: A few hours
And: a standard coffee maker, ground coffee, water, ice-cube tray
Do this: Brew a pot of coffee as usual. Pour the coffee into the ice cube tray and freeze. Use these in standard-brewed hot coffee to cool it down without diluting it. Keep in mind that you’ll need quite a few to cool down hot coffee and will end up with more coffee once the cubes have melted.
You have: 12+ hours
And: A Cold Brew Coffee Maker (or try a DIY one, if you’re feeling crafty and adventurous), coarsely ground coffee, water, a measuring cup, milk or water for diluting
Do this: Insert the plug and the reusable filter in the top part of the coffee maker
Add a cup of water and 170g of ground coffee. Using a circular motion, slowly pour three more cups of water onto the grounds. Add another 170g of ground coffee, and wait five minutes. Then, slowly add the last three cups of water, in a circular motion, making sure all the grounds get wet.
Let this mixture sit for about 12 hours, then allow the coffee concentrate to drip into a glass vessel while the grounds will stay up top.
To make iced coffee, mix one part coffee concentrate with two or three parts water or milk. Store what’s left of the concentrate in the fridge – you’ll have enough to last you a few weeks, provided you’re not a serious caffeine addict.
Enjoy!
