Homemade Iced Coffee

It's time for iced coffee as the days get longer and hotter.  In our house, we love to have a pitcher of iced coffee in the refrigerator for us and for guests.  It's been turning out really well lately, so I thought I'd share our recipe.


To brew the iced coffee:  
You want extra strong coffee for iced coffee.  The ratio I use is 1 1/3 cup beans and 40 or 42 oz. water.  I use the decaffeinated Columbian beans from BJs.  Costco's beans are roasted by Starbucks, so if you like a dark roast, I'd recommend Costco's beans.  I use a medium grind on my coffee grinder.  


Normally, I use 1 1/3 cup beans for 56 oz. of water for regular coffee.  I brew a strong cup of coffee anyways.  I believe the Starbucks bag says 2 Tbsp. per bag.  One thing to note is that every coffee maker has a different size cup.  It used to all be the same, but Bunn, Krups, and Mr. Coffee all vary.  One is 4 oz, one is 5 oz. and one is 6 oz., though I can't remember right now which is which.  That is why I measure my beans the oz. of water--to make a consistent cup of coffee/iced coffee.


After brewing the coffee, put it in a pitcher in the refrigerator to keep it cold.  I find I can keep it in there for a week and it tastes fine all week long.


Making a cup of iced coffee:
Fill a glass 2/3 full with ice.  Pour iced coffee over the ice cubes up to the top of the cubes.  Add milk to taste.  I add 2-4 Tbsp.  Then, add sweetener.  Granulated sugar doesn't dissolve easily in cold coffee.  So, we keep Torani's cane sugar syrup on hand and a shot glass (again to make it consistent and know how much I should put in).  I would start by adding about 1/2 shot and then add more/less based on how you like it.  Stir and enjoy!


Where I live, there's a few shops that carry Torani syrup.  Normal grocery stores now have small bottles of vanilla, hazelnut, and often chocolate.  For the larger and more economical bottles, you can go to Baltimore Tea and Coffee, Kitchen & Co., or a Starbucks.  If Starbucks has an extra bottle, they will sell it to you for $8 (the same price at the other shops).  I prefer the cane sugar syrup without a flavor.  If you like Vanilla or Caramel or another flavor, Amazon does sell it in packs of 3 for a great price ($17.45!)  But, unfortunately, they don't sell the plain cane sugar syrup which is my favorite.  


I plan on making some tonight, so I'll take a picture and post it soon!  And if you're over at our house this summer and like iced coffee, I'm sure we'll have some on hand!  (though it will probably be decaf).  


Last note, why I make decaf iced coffee--not everyone can have caffeinated coffee, but everyone can have decaf.  A lot of people don't like the taste of decaf, though, so I try to find a good one.  Bj's decaf Columbian is pretty good, it isn't great, but it's okay.  It does really well as iced coffee, though (even better than as a hot cup of coffee).  It runs about $6/lb.  It's is much cheaper than Trader Joe's decaf Columbian at $12/lb., which I love.