How to Make Iced Coffee at Home: Coolest Iced Coffee Recipe!

If we know you well (and we think we do), we bet you love large pots of coffee just like us, but can’t resist the temptation of a refreshing iced coffee every once in a while, especially when the weather heats up. Luckily, making iced coffee at home is actually super easy!

Once you learn our iced coffee recipe, you’ll no longer need to be overcharged for it at your local coffee shop.

Cool beans, right?

How to make iced coffee with hot coffee (NOT cold brew)

To make iced coffee with hot coffee, you simply brew coffee the traditional way and mix it with cold milk, ice cubes, and a sweetener of your choice, like vanilla syrup, sugar, or even maple syrup.

Sometimes, iced coffee gets confused with its cool cousin: cold brew coffee. However, they’re actually very different.

Cold brew is made using cold water and requires 12 - 18 hours to extract properly, whereas iced coffee is brewed hot and served cold.

Best iced coffee recipe: make a Glazed Donut Iced Coffee at home like a professional barista

You'll need:

• 7 oz of Donut Shop Coffee (+ more for coffee ice cubes)
• 1.5 oz of cold milk
• 1 teaspoon of sugar
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1. The secret behind the best iced coffee recipe: coffee ice cubes

We love iced coffee, but as you probably already know, we like our coffee strong. Since iced coffee relies on ice cubes, it can get watered down after a while. The solution? Coffee ice cubes, of course!

You can prepare them the night before or even just a few hours ahead of iced coffee o’clock.

Simply brew fresh coffee, let it cool, pour it into an ice tray, and freeze.

2. Brew some hot coffee

How you brew it depends on the coffee maker you have at home and how many people you’re serving.

Our iced coffee recipe makes one drink, so you could use one of our coffee pods or a French press. If you like it extra strong, brew two shots of espresso instead.

Making iced coffee for your entire family or a group of friends? Just multiply the ingredients and brew a larger batch.

If you plan to pour hot coffee directly over ice, make sure to brew the coffee twice as strong. As the ice melts, it balances out the stronger brew and keeps your iced coffee from tasting watered down.

3. Mix all the ingredients

For the best results, let the coffee cool slightly before pouring it over ice. Then fill a glass or jar with your coffee ice cubes, pour the coffee on top, and add the sugar and vanilla extract.

Give it a good stir (no one enjoys crunchy sugar grains in their coffee) and top it off with cold milk.

This recipe works just as well with dairy-free alternatives like oat or soy milk, too.

How to make iced coffee fast

Need iced coffee fast? You can use regular ice cubes from your freezer instead of coffee ice cubes if you don’t mind the drink becoming slightly diluted as the ice melts.

Don’t want to wait for the coffee to cool down either? We get it.

In that case, brew the coffee twice as strong, mix it with the sweetener and cold milk first, then pour it over ice.

Making iced coffee at home is actually a breeze, right? Especially when you start with great-tasting coffee, of course!