- 24
- 480 mins
- 480 mins
Ingredients
- 1 pound Ground Coffee (good, Rich Roast)
- 8 quarts Cold Water
- Half-and-half (healthy Splash Per Serving)
- Sweetened Condensed Milk (2-3 Tablespoons Per Serving)
- Note: Can Use Skim Milk, 2% Milk, Whole Milk, Sugar, Artificial Sweeteners, Syrups...adapt To Your Liking!
Preparation
Step 1
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Weekend Mixer Giveaway (Winner...
Iced coffee is a complicated thing, and there are many different approaches. One would think that one could merely pour brewed coffee into a glass full of ice and call it a day…but I find that method extremely flawed. First, no matter how packed with ice the glass is, once the hot coffee hits, some of the ice is bound to melt. This has two disastrous results:
Given the previous set of facts, one would assume that the logical solution would be to brew hot coffee, then transfer the brew to the fridge, allow it to cool, and use it to make iced coffee from there. It’s an okay solution, one I subscribed to for quite awhile…until I picked up an issue of Imbibe Magazine three summers ago. It contained a
Pour in the coffee.
Pour in 8 quarts (2 gallons) cold water.
Give it a stir to make sure all the grounds make contact with the water…
When the time has passed, grab a separate container and place a fine mesh strainer over the top.
Place a couple of layers of cheesecloth inside the strainer…
And slowly pour the steeped coffee through the strainer.
Use a spoon to gently press/force the last of the liquid through. And note: I’ve tried the straining method without the cheesecloth, and stray grounds did make it through the mesh strainer. Definitely try to use cheesecloth (or even paper towels) to filter out the finer pieces.
Now, when you’re ready to make yourself an iced coffee, you can do two things. Start by filling a glass with ice.
Make that naughty, naughty, naughty, bad, bad girl.
Add enough sugar to achieve the level of sweetness you like, or you can drizzle in vanilla or hazelnut syrup if you have those kinds of things lying around.
Stir it all up…
VARIATION: VIETNAMESE ICED COFFEE
This is a variation on classic Vietnamese Iced Coffee (also recommended by Imbibe), which actually does begin with a hot brew…but I’m using the cold stuff.
Drizzle in at least 2 tablespoons for a big glass (I wound up adding three.)
On top of this, add a small splash of milk or half-and-half.
Stir, take a small sip, and add a little more sweetened condensed milk if needed.
I’ve tried all combinations of milk, half-and-half, sugar, artificial sweeteners, flavored syrups, and sweetened condensed milk, and I will tell you that there is no more winning combo than the half-and-half/sweetened condensed milk mixture. It is out-of-this-world creamy and wonderful, and is worth at least a spot in your weekend rotation if you’re not willing to go there daily.
In a large container, mix ground coffee with water. Cover and allow to sit at room temperature eight hours or overnight.
Line a fine mesh strainer with cheesecloth and set over a pitcher or other container. Pour coffee/water mixture through the strainer, allowing all liquid to run through. Discard grounds.
Place coffee liquid in the fridge and allow to cool. Use as needed.
To make iced coffee, pack a glass full of ice cubes. Fill glass 2/3 full with coffee liquid. Add healthy splash of half-and-half. Add 2-3 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk (can use plain sugar instead) and stir to combine. Taste and adjust half-and-half and/or sweetened condensed milk as needed.
To avoid watered down iced coffee…freeze some extra coffee into cubes and add coffee cubes to your drink instead of regular
a bagel place in LA does the frozen coffee cubes. Its amazing! First time I’ve ever seen it done commercially.
Let’s mix it with this iced coffee, OMG!
If you like frappuccinos, freeze some milk (I had some milk about to expire so I put a cup in a sandwich bag, froze flat on a cookie sheet, then put in a gallon freezer bag) thaw at 30% power for 30 seconds then put double strength coffee (add frozen cubes if you want it more frozen) in blender with milk. I like mocha so I add chocolate syrup and a couple pkgs of stevia. I know this is going to save me a lot of money since I now make frapps at home.
Sara: Thats the first thing I thought of! i read that in a magazine a couple years ago, but they used the coffee ice cubes for homemade blended coffee. It makes an amazing difference! Throw all these ingrediants above in the blender with coffee ice cubes, chocolate and/or caramel syrup, whip up some cream and voila! At home frappuchinos
If you have never heard of white coffee (sometimes called green coffee) then you probably have never been to Washington, Idaho or possibly northern Oregon and checked out one of their millions of coffee stands. Its WONDERFUL. It doesn’t have the bitter taste of black coffee but has twice the caff. Its made in shots for espresso. (can be done with a french press at home) I have made iced coffee by the pitcher using the sweet and condensed milk before and it is similar to a McDonalds iced coffee. Yum. In an effort to create a frape using white coffee I decided to make the ice cubes after making an every increasing batch when I was trying to get it to taste just right. My favorite syrups are salted caramel and Irish Cream. They are so smooth and way good. Anyway long ramble short, check out thomas hammer coffee online and look for white zombie coffee. Its worth the investment! Oh and Torani syrups have the best flavor in my opinion.
Thanks to Sara for the coffee ice cube idea. I tried it and it TOTALLY makes a big difference. I already freeze leftover coffee to use in my chocolate cake recipe so this is just another way to not waste a precious drop! Thanks.
I made a half batch of this brew last night and OH YUM! I don’t drink hot coffee, just foufy coffees with 1/2 & 1/2 and chocolate. I mixed this per Ree’s naughty naughty bad girl directions and 1 packet of raw stevia instead of sugar. I quit buying these drinks because they’re too costly. I just used cheap store brand coffee and it’s wonderful. Since I’m not a hot coffee lover it’s good enough for me cause I guess I don’t know the difference. Blissful ignorance is where I’m coming from here, and it’s working for me. Yee ha!! When I take my daughter out for her b-day girls day out tomorrow I’m meeting her at the door with an iced cuppa this brew. She’s gonna love it!!
I’m going to mix up a complete drink (brew, 1/2 & 1/2 and stevia) and freeze and bag it for future use. That way as it melts it’ll just blend right in. Oh yah!!
Same, coffee gives me the shakes and then I feel so bad I have to go and lie down – defeats the point! But this looks so delicious that I’m almost tempted!
I’m with ya, girls! NOT a coffee drinker. I might, just might, be able to suck this down, though. Glad you’ve got something that makes your mornings a little brighter, Ree!
Don’t despair fellow “can’t drink coffee” people!!!! I make a similar drink with Caffix (a roasted grain beverage) that has almost the same taste without the shakes and tossing and turning at night! I just mix some “faux” coffee in some water, add stevia to taste, and some nonfat powdered milk in a tall glass and then fill with ice cubes. Sometimes I use a package of sugar (14 calories) or half and half (if I’m not watching my weight). When I am, I just use the powdered milk for that creamy taste even though it isn’t as rich… I keep some Caffix in my purse too for when I go to a restaurant. I put some in my water glass–since it usually tastes terrible–and add a pkg of sugar or stevia… If they said anything, I just tell them I can’t drink caffeinated drinks or soda pop, but they never do…
@Amy…just use decaf. No shakes. The older I get the less I can drink regular coffee too. Try decaf, you don’t want to miss out on this bliss. : )
I’ve been cold brewing coffee for years. I use the Toddy Maker. I use it for hot and cold coffee. I love cold brewed coffee. For those with issues with the acidity of coffee. They might want to try cold brewed it cut’s down on the acidity.
My sister-in-law’s grandfather invented cold brew coffee and the Toddy Maker… He WAS Toddy. =) She introduced me to it, and I’m a total addict now! Love the Toddy Maker.
Thanks for the tip about the Toddy Maker! I’d never heard of it before. I just researched it and now I must have one. Heading to Williams Sonoma today to pick one up. Thanks for the info, girls!
i am a summer toddy addict. love it! using cafe du monde coffee and chicory, i never need sugar; it is awesome. it also mixes well with almond milk or coconut milk for us dairy-free sorts. yum!
I use it too! We love our summers with the ToddyMaker!
I have *never* heard of a Toddy maker… but I just looked it up on Amazon… and I might have just stumbled upon the perfect gift for at LEAST three people I know. WOW! Thank god for Grandpa Toddy, Kristen!
Love, love, love the Toddy maker. I couldn’t live without mine! I suffer from acid reflux, and this has helped tremendously. I love that I have concentrate ready to go at any time….may just have to go make me a latte now
When ready, press the grounds down and (Like Ree) pour liquid through a fine mesh sieve lined with a coffee filter. The ground stay in the press and the coffee filter strains out the finer sediment.
Refridgerate and use in a 50/50 mix with cold milk or cold water over a glass full of ice. Can also be used in a 50/50 mix with water and heated for a cup of hot coffee.
My family devours this in the summer so I make two presses at a time, every other day. It’s a much more manageable quantity.
@ Robin – That is such a BRILLIANT idea!!! I tried Ree’s idea, only I poured the grounds/water mixture into a filter in my regular old drip coffee maker. It worked, except for I kept having to dump grounds out and it was going SUUUPER slowly towards the end. Doing the brewing process in a french would take care of the majority of the grounds.
You HAVE to get a Toddy…. they will make this process 100 times easier. We have had ours for YEARS. My MIL has an old school one toddy must have first made. We are crazy addicted we go through 1 bag/batch a week.
I have had my Toddy coffee maker for about 13 years. The flavor, smoothness, and convenience is fantastic. My friends and family always comment on how good my coffee is.
41 years ago I got a Coffee Toddy maker as a wedding gift. Love it! It also works for hot coffee. Just add hot water.
I LOVE my Toddy coffee maker too! I store my coffee syrup in an empty 5# honey bottle. It is great for taking camping. It is delicious with a layer of chocolate syrup in the bottom of the glass, then add 3 or 4 times that amount in coffee syrup and then add milk until it is a golden brown.
Yum, looks delicious! We use the Filtron cold brew system to make our coffee, and love it! (www.filtron.com). Same principle as the container/cheesecloth process, just different parts. Looking forward to trying some iced coffee this summer.
A note about the taste – because you’re not adding hot water the coffee doesn’t develop the same bitter notes that hot coffee (or hot coffee allowed to cool to be served as iced coffee – blech!) can have. So it should have some natural sweetness and the flavors of the coffee can really shine through. It’s so worth it to try this with some good, single-origin fancy-pants coffee if you can get your hands on it. This also means it won’t take as much sugar/syrup to achieve the level of sweetness you like.
I encourage everyone to make cold brew at home, it’ll change your life!
I wonder if you can sweeten the concentrate, and if so, how much sugar would you add? Or is it better to just sweeten it by the glass?
I wonder if you can sweeten the concentrate, and if so, how much sugar would you add? Or is it better to just sweeten it by the glass?
I’m also a former barista and I use this method with Chai Lattes too. Instead of pouring sugar in the coffee/tea in the cup, I make a simple syrup sugar:water (I use 2:1), boil, allow to cool, then pour that in the concetrate.
Maggie is absolutely right; the cold-brewed coffee tastes significantly different (better!) than the hot-brewed then cooled coffee does. For that reason I wouldn’t freeze regular brewed coffee into ice cubes because it will give the cold-brewed coffee a different flavor. I am an only-drink-it-sweet hot coffee girl and I don’t even need or want much sweetner with the cold-brewed. Sally’s idea about making a simple syrup is great because it’s hard to get sugar to dissolve in cold liquid. I make a much smaller quantity of the cold brew concentrate in my french press which lasts me several days. You have to try this!! It is soooo good.
For those of you who don’t use regular sugar, but like sweetened and flavored coffees like Vanilla Lattes and Mochas, at my local grocery and organic foods stores they have small bottles of liquid Stevia concentrate mixed with extracts like Chocolate and Vanila and so on. I love how easy it is to carry in my purse, and I am going to try it in this cold-press coffee version. You can add 5-10 drops -to taste- to your coffee, so the bottle lasts forever. I’m still using one I purchased in March.
I’ve been doing this for years as well. 2 cups of ground coffee to 9 cups of water. I’ve also found that steeping much longer than 12 hours causes the bitterness of the beans we’re trying to avoid to leech out into the brew, so I’d recommend no more than 12-13 hours. Also, no sense buying an expensive contraption like the Toddy Maker when 2 normal sized pitchers will do the trick. If you like your coffee black as I do, I use a half coffee, half water mixture. Nice to see other people discovering this awesome thing!
I don’t have the storage space at home to make such a large batch, so I use my french press to make a cold-brew cup overnight to be ready in the morning–one cup at a time. . .and no need to strain with a separate strainer. =)
Heather (Heather's Dish)
I love this stuff—make it all summer long.
How do you store the left over sweetened condensed milk? And, for how long is it good after you open it? THANK YOU for this recipe- because I have the same exact problem with iced coffee– and I am going right now to make this concentrate- I can’t WAIT !
You can store sweetened condensed milk in an airtight container in the refrigerator for-what-seems-like-ever. Seems like I always have a little sweetened condensed milk in the fridge, waiting to be included in a new recipe. On the iced coffee front–I am not a coffee drinker, but the lack of bitter notes, and the addition of sweetened condensed milk/half & half might just draw me in. Sounds delicious!
I store the extra condensed milk in an old honey bear, but you could use any squeezy bottle. Makes for easy dispensing into coffee or oatmeal (my fave!)
Neena, why did I never think of this!!! BRILLIANT! I always have a scrotty looking, dribbled on can poking around there at the back of the top shelf where I’ll probably never see it again… now I can just add it to the condiment shelves
love love love vietnamese iced coffee!! i’ve also been freezing leftover coffee in ice cube trays to keep on hand for when i make frappes and iced coffee!
I love, love, love ice coffee! You have just shown me a clever new way to make iced coffee. I was using the left over coffee from when my husband makes his cup of coffee in the morning. will use this method to make frappaccinos. Yearning for a cup now. THANKS A BUNCH
Kathy, it’s definitely 8 quarts/2 gallons of water. This makes a bunch of concentrate, so you can definitely halve the recipe if you’d like.
1 lb of ground coffee is 5 cups dry. Just start halving the recipe, till you find the right size for you to work with. I cut it down to a quart to begin with and it was great. Time to make some more.
crap – i read it as 8 cups of water too!! i added more water but the original batch has been steeping for 8 hours – have i just ruined it by adding the h2o this late in the game?!
I reduced the whole thing to ounces and make the same proportions:
I have a Chemex pot and filters so I pour my mix through a filter into the Chemex and the resulting concentrate fills 1 large mason jar – perfect for me as I don’t have the frig storage space for the amount that Ree makes.
*** I make a cinnamon simple syrup and use that, the concentrate and half and half – major YUM!
I make all my coffee in a french press, for iced coffee I simply brew with half the hot water, then add ice until it’s full. The ice melts, making the brew strength just right, I press out the grounds and pour over more ice. Divine!
You can just add water instead of milk. It is still concentrated without it. You can even add water and *heat* it. It’s so much less bitter and the flavors are amazing.
Cold Press is a concentrate, so you should definitely add some ice water if you’re going to drink it black.
I recently played around with making a frappacino (sp?). I used the coffee ice cubes mentioned above and blended them with cold coffee. The results were okay, but I think I could achieve greatness with your cold coffee, a blender and frozen coffee cubes.
Who knew?! I love this idea. Bur I’ll be using SOY MILK in my iced coffee – I discovered soy lattes several years ago, and was hooked. I don’t make true lattes at home, just strong coffee about half and half with soy milk. You get lots of creaminess from regular soy milk with at least half the calories of half & half.
From a certified coffee addict, thank you for the coffee concentrate instructions! I first had Vietnamese iced coffee a few years ago and just can’t believe I ever did without it.
Thank you for sharing this! I’ve really be thinking about how to make iced coffee now that it’s jumped from cold to super hot here on the east coast. This is great! I might have to fiddle with the amounts since I think I’ll only have enough room for a pitcher in my fridge unfortunately.
Yum!!!!!!!! I always mean to start making this at the beginning of every summer, and I always forget. Not this year! It’s the perfect lazy way to start the morning, which is key in my book. We used to make it secretly when I worked at Starbucks. Now, to find room in my fridge….
Nothing beats sipping on sweet iced coffee on a hot day! Mmm condensed milk…
I can’t wait to try this PW. My business partner and I were just the other day talking about why when you try to make iced coffee it doesn’t work…I like an iced latte, I guess it works because the coffee is so much stronger??? Anyway, I will be getting some strong coffee today at the store and we will make it tomorrow! Thanks again
what are your thoughts on adding the condensed milk to the original mixture so that when you pour it, it is ready to go? would that work or would it go bad?
That’s exactly what I came here to ask. Particularly for those of us not making gallons at a time, it seems a lot easier. Then it would be just pour and drink. I don’t drink coffee often, and pretty much never like it hot unless it has a ton of chocolate and sugar in it, but I have found I do enjoy the occasional iced coffee, especially from flavored coffee beans. Drinking one every day is most definitely not on my weight loss plan, however!
I don’t drink iced coffee anymore, but this makes me wish I did!
Skipping the brewing is key to coffee that I consider drinkable! Way less of that bitter awfulness going on with cold press. A friend in college did this to make regular coffee as well. She let it soak for a good 24 hours, though, so it was more like coffee syrup. Just add hot water instead of cold to reach your desired strength, and you’re good to go.
I remember that NYT recipe and the many, many, many coffees I made from it. It was goood. That was when I was going though a massive iced coffee phase and would make the coffee at home AND order Caramel Macchiatos at Starbucks everyday after work. I also remember I had to ditch regular and move on to decaf that year because of the perma shakes! lol.
Thank you so much for sharing! My husband LOVES iced coffee but isn’t so impressed with just putting ice in normal coffee. I’m so excited to make this for him!
You just changed my life. I don’t drink coffee at home because I am the only one that drinks it. Now that I know I can make concentrate and keep it for three weeks….Seriously. I almost bust a tear. Thank you Ree. There is a special place in heaven for you.
We make cold brew in a 1/2 gallon size mason jar and strain in though a melitta cone!
How much coffee do you add for 1/2 gallon?
Mmm. When I lived in Italy I had a caffe shakerato everyday during the summer. You pour a double espresso with a teaspoon of sugar over ice, give it a good shake (cocktail style) and strain it into a glass. Perfect for a post gelato pick-me-up!
Just an update : I did make this last night / this morning. I didn’t have the half and half or condenced milk…. or and milk for that matter (note to self : go to the store! lol) so I added a good amount of Coffee Mate and It tasted heavanly!!!
We brew ours in a 1/2 gallon Mason jar and filter it though a Melitta cone so it doesn’t take up a lot of room but we do have to make it more often to keep with the the demand.
Thank you!!! I have been wondering about this recently as it has been so hot that I don’t want my regular hot coffee! When I tried just adding ice it got too diluted. I am going to try this!!
This is the system I have been using for years – it is basically the same thing that you are already doing, just a little less complicated. I was just thinking if someone else wanted to make there own, this system might be a little bit easier.
I used to use the Toddy, but now I make it this way using this formula:
I LOVE LOVE LOVE iced coffee. Starbucks is by far the best but McD’s will do in a pinch (esp since its only $1)!!! I can’t drink the whole cup so I can make a Venti last me 2 days! YUM!!!!
One thing I would change is instead of using sugar to make simple syrup and add that. I find the sugar take too long to dissolve. Plus thats what they use at Starbucks. Sorry Ree but we have a Starbucks 2 minutes from my house!! The good thing is parking is horrible so it prevents me from going too often!
ditto the simple syrup. when adding sugar to a cold drink, it just doesn’t dissolve period. you just get crystals here and there when your straw hits the bottom of the cup. definitely need to use simple syrup if you want to sweeten it.
There ya go – a Mickey D’s large iced coffee w/cream and then I buy a container of chocolate milk. Take a good swig of the bitter stuff then add the chocolate milk – love sipping on the iced mocha the rest of the a.m.
Also, at home I warm up a half cup of milk, throw in a teaspon of folgers instant crystals – stir to dissolve, fill with ice and alternating whole milk and chocolate milk. Fast, easy, delicious.
I worked at Starbucks for many years. They brew double strength coffee with a blend they specially came up with for iced coffee called Terrazza. You can also buy Gazebo Blend in the summer months which makes a great iced coffee.
YES to simple syrup. The “chemistry” of making the syrup is the magic. I make cinnamon syrup (simple syrup of 1 cup water, 1 cup sugar, add 4 cinnamon sticks after the sugar is disolved in the water and frig overnight then remove sticks). 1/2 concentrate, 1/2 half and half and cinnamon syrup to taste. That’s my brew :)!
Oh my! This makes me want to drink coffee again. I used to make iced coffee (hot poured over a ton of ice) during the hot summers.
Perfect as we start feeling the summer heat.
to mary who gets the shakes, if you like to drink coffee and don’t because of said problem which i also get, try a decafe…
I’ve been doing this for a few years now and it is truly wonderful-makes a great extract that’s super concentrated, rich and smooth without bitterness. And it can really pack a punch. The ratio I use ( I think it came from a recipe in the NY Times) is 1 lb. course ground coffee to 10 cups water and I let it stand overnight at room temp. before filtering into a decanter for the fridge. Yummy and easy- just like Ree says.
I ordered the Hourglass Coffee maker last week… well, the one offered in the Sky Mall catalog… Same one, but different name (Natural Health Coffee Maker.) After ordering I received an email that it was backordered, just like they are on the hourglasscoffee.com site… soooooooo disappointed. I was also looking forward to better tasting coffee with less acid and less teeth staining!
My Mom used to make iced coffee in the summertime. I remember that she poured cooled coffee into ice-cube trays and froze them so she could ice down her coffee without diluting it. I thought that was genius and I do the same. You can sweeten the coffee ice-cubes, too. Just a thought. You may enjoy. At any rate, it made me think of my mother, which is always a good thing.
I’m excited to try this. I love iced coffee! Starbucks might not like it if I learn to make it at home though.
This looks amazing! I love iced coffee and always want to make it at home but hate the watered down version. This is perfect!
Oh glorious day! Thanks for this one Ree! I’ve been using the hot brew method for iced coffee, because I have a Keurig. I use to make a big pot of coffee when I had a regular coffee maker, about 2 qts worth, then add a can of sweetened condensed milk, mix it all up and put it in the fridge to chill. Now I can try the cold brew method and have an abundance of ice coffee again. Thank you thank you thank you. :0)
They do make cold brew pots – I like the hourglass one. It makes enough coffee extract for me to have 2-3 cups of coffee (hot or iced) for a week and a half or two weeks. I take a jar to work and I keep some at home. It’s really great! I take it on the road when I travel.
Oooh, Iced Coffee…YUMMALUMMA! The only way to make that even better, and more naughty…say it with me…heavy whipping cream! Feel free to pass out and die….
I’ve got to say, I’ve tried it a few times, and am just not an iced coffee kinda girl. The photo, though, with the finished product, red straw, and beautiful bokeh is enough to make me want to try it one more time. The amount in your post is waaay to much for a try, but I’ll just have to stop at Starbucks and get me one on the way to do my errands
I stumbled across the cold brew method as well, and I love it! It makes delicious iced coffee. I don’t make such a huge amount though. I make about 4 cups of it in my french press at a time, and store it in the fridge. It definitely makes the best iced coffee ever!
I make my iced coffee in a very similar fashion. (I’m drinking some right now!) But the thought never occurred to me to make that large of a batch at once. Great idea! It will make it much easier for me in the mornings!!
Heather
That’s what I do too. Freeze extra coffee in trays for added flavor.
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