With this easy recipe, you can make your own iced coffee liquid concentrate from top-quality ground coffee.
With a bottle of this homemade coffee concentrate in the fridge, you can easily make a glass of delicious iced coffee whenever the mood hits!
Care to join me for a glass?
If you remember to make extra coffee in the morning, you can refrigerate it for iced coffee. This requires planning ahead, though, which isn’t always my strong suit.
If you want to enjoy iced coffee whenever you like, you can instead make a cold-brewed concentrate. I learned this technique from The Pioneer Woman’s blog, and it couldn’t be easier.
Ingredients You’ll Need
To make the concentrate, you’ll need just two ingredients:
1 1/3 cups ground coffee (about 1/4 pound). You can use regular or decaf coffee, flavored coffee, or whatever you like best. The finer the grind, the stronger the concentrate will be.
6 2/3 cups cold filtered water
Cooking Equipment
You’ll need:
1 2-quart glass jar or bottle with a tight fitting lid. Make sure it’s very clean.
A wire mesh strainer for the first straining.
A paper coffee filter for the second straining.
Step by Step Directions
I start with a 2-quart recycled glass bottle to make the strong brew, but you can use any size container you like and just adjust the quantities.
To begin, add 1 1/3 cups of finely-ground organic coffee to the bottle. You can use caffeinated or decaf coffee.
Then add about 6 2/3 cups of cold, filtered water (you may not need quite all of the water) and give it a good shake. Let it steep in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours, or up to 24 hours if you want extra-strong concentrate.
The next day, strain out the larger coffee grounds in a fine-mesh strainer:
Then put a coffee filter inside the strainer…
and strain the coffee mixture once again. This makes the concentrate nice and clear.
Wash out the bottle, and pour the strained coffee back in. You can store the cold coffee in the refrigerator for two to three weeks.
How to Serve Homemade Iced Coffee Concentrate
To make a perfect iced coffee, fill a glass with ice cubes and pour some of the strong coffee over it. You can drink it just like that if you’re a purist, or add milk and your favorite sweetener if you like.
Or you can be extra-decadent and stir in a generous spoonful of sweetened condensed milk and top it off with half and half. It’s so, so good…
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Here’s the easy recipe:
Iced Coffee Liquid Concentrate
Equipment
- 2 quart glass jar or lidded container
- wire mesh strainer
- paper coffee filter
Ingredients
- 1 1/3 cups ground coffee (about 1/4 pound)
- 6 2/3 cups cold filtered water
Instructions
- Pour the ground coffee into the bottom of the glass jar or container.
- Add the water (you may not need all of it).
- Put the lid on the bottle and give it a good shake so that the coffee and water are well combined. Place in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours, or up to 24 hours. The longer you steep the coffee, the stronger the concentrate will be.
- Strain the coffee concentrate through a wire mesh strainer into a clean glass container. Press on the coffee grounds to extract the flavor, and compost or discard.
- Tap the grounds out of the strainer and rinse it clean. Place a paper coffee filter inside the strainer, and pour the concentrate through the filter. Double straining it will make it nice and clear, with pure coffee flavor.
- Store the concentrate in a tightly sealed glass bottle or container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
- To make iced coffee, fill a glass with ice cubes and pour the coffee concentrate over. You can also add your favorite creamer, half and half, sweetened condensed milk, chocolate milk, sugar or flavored syrups if you like. Makes about 8 cups of liquid coffee concentrate.
Notes
Nutrition
How about you? Do you enjoy iced coffee, and if so, have you tried making your own? I always love hearing your thoughts and comments.
P.S. If you liked making your own iced coffee, you might also like to try this Sweet Tea Recipe.
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Eliza Cross is the creator of Happy Simple Living, where she shares ideas to help busy people simplify cooking, gardening, holidays, home, and money. She is also the award-winning author of 17 cookbooks, including Small Bites and 101 Things To Do With Bacon.
Nice and simple home cold brew coffee recipe Eliza. My son recently introduced me to this method of brewing. No going back now.
Thanks, Steve, and I enjoyed visiting your website CoolDripCoffee.com.
We drink a lot of iced coffee at our house, especially since summer is still hanging around in Louisiana in September! I’ve found that a piece of cheesecloth works just as well as the strainer. When I started making iced coffee, I didn’t have a strainer that fine, so the cheesecloth substituted perfectly for the first round of straining.
I love the cheesecloth idea, Katherine – especially since you could wash the cheesecloth and re-use it. Thank you for the tip! 🙂
I’m allergic to coffee! On a different note, I nominated you for the One Lovely Blog Award. Check out my blog for instructions if you choose to accept. You are not obligated to.
That was so nice of you – thank you! I’m off to check out your post now…
At work on a hot day I often feel like a pick up mid afternnon. so make a strong cup of coffee mid morning then add milk and stevia. I place it in a plastic bottle and pop into the freezer, turning over at lunchtime. By mid afternoon it has little ice crystals and is super cool, shake well and enjoy. Yummy
Enjoyed this with breakfast this morning and started my day off right! Easy, refreshing and saved me a trip through the drive-thru! Definitely, a new favorite recipe!
Been on a real iced coffee kick lately due to the heat, and this is really hitting the spot! So fun to make at home.
Love this Iced Coffee Liquid Concentrate recipe, especially because my daughter loves to drink it this way. Thanks for sharing 🙂
The iced coffee concentrate is a game-changer! So rich and flavorful, it made for the most delicious coffee-inspired cocktails.
No junk in it and so much more cost effective than buying! Thanks – this will come in handy now that the hot weather is here!
A great start to the day will be making it every day for sure! So rich in flavors!