Tips for perfecting iced coffee at home

Iced coffee is an incredibly popular way of consuming coffee for many people, especially with the range of flavours you can get from your local coffee shop. However, not too many iced coffee lovers know where to start when it comes to preparing the drink themselves at home.

That’s why we’ve put together this guide answering the most commonly asked questions when making homemade iced coffee with our top tips to perfecting it. Also, we’ll be adding a recipe for the ideal iced coffee. Why go to Starbucks when you can make a delicious, iced coffee from the comfort of your own home?

What are the best types of coffee to use in an iced coffee?

The best types of coffee to use will depend on your personal preferences and what kind of iced coffee you want to make. For example, if you’re going for an ‘espresso base’ such as an iced latte or an iced mocha, more developed and well-balanced coffees will be better at cutting through the milk. We recommend the creamy smooth body and rounded flavours of Pumphreys New Café Blend for this.

Alternatively, if you’re wanting to make an iced filter or cold brew, single origin coffees can open an entirely new world of flavours when it has been extracted well. More floral and acidic coffees from African regions can make for a fruity iced drink that’s packed with flavour.

If you have a coffee connoisseur in your life who’s interested in making iced filter coffees or cold brews, then our African coffee bean gift set will be the perfect way to get them started. We have three other hand-roasted quality coffee gift sets too if you’re not sure what flavour profile they want yet.

Are there any types of coffee you should avoid for iced coffee?

Not necessarily as it all come downs to your taste preferences. However, coffees that are more acidic and fruitier can sometimes get lost in bigger milk drinks due to being roasted lighter. So, rather than a dark roast, a medium-dark roast will work much nicer with the milk.

What’s the most important tip when making iced coffee?

The clue is in the name but one of the most important tips you should know is using lots of ice. If you’ve ever seen a bartender, put what seems like an excessive amount of ice into a cocktail, you might think it’s because they’re trying to water it down, so they use less ingredients and be more cost effective.

Often though this isn’t the case, a large amount of ice is used to balance the flavours and achieve balance in the drink much quicker. The same is applicable when you’re making iced lattes or iced black coffees.

It is beneficial to always add plenty of ice to the glass first, then add the espresso directly onto the ice, and quickly the milk product is poured in after that. A good stir will be needed to enable the hot espresso and milk product to chill a lot faster, which will make for a more pleasant drinking experience overall.

How can you avoid your drink becoming too watery?

A more concentrated recipe combined with a large amount of ice will cool the drink faster and slow down the dilution process.

How to perfect your own iced coffee at home

Ingredients:

• 25g of medium-dark ground coffee
• 150g of ice
• 125g of hot water from a kettle
• An aeropress

Method:

Step 1- Fill a cup with ice, wet the aeropress and screw on the lid

Step 2- Put the aeropress on top of the cup and add the coffee

Step 3- Quickly add the hot water, making sure the coffee is soaked

Step 4- Leave it to sit for a minute then stir the mixture and grab the plunger

Step 5- Slowly plunge for around 30 seconds until all the water has passed through

Step 6- Stir in milk/sweetener to your taste and any syrups or other flavourings you want to add

Best products to buy to make iced coffee at home

Iced coffee is very versatile that can be made with various different ingredients products depending on the preferences of the maker. However, generally you’ll need your preferred blend of coffee (such as Pumphrey’s Special Blend which is our most popular), an aeropress, milk, and any sugar or syrups you want to add to make a specialty coffee. You can find all of this and more at Pumphrey’s Coffee.

Conclusion

As professional coffee roasters in Newcastle, we understand the importance of creating great coffee, whether you’re preparing it hot or cold. We hope you found our guide for creating the perfect iced coffee at home useful. Contact us today if you have any questions or queries.