Heatwave Recipe: Iced Coffee

In hot weather, sometimes an iced coffee can be just the thing. Here's my recipe (makes about a pint / 550ml).

Needless to say, as with all things coffee, GIGO. Garbage in, garbage out. That's to say: Start with good quality coffee beans. I'd recommend something medium-light roasted. If you roasted yourself, dump no later than the very beginnings of second crack. If you've bought the beans roasted, go for freshly roasted ones without oils showing.

You Will Need

• Some coffee
• Sugar
• A grinder
• Scales
• A kettle
• Cold water
• A cafetiere
• A paper coffee filter

Recipe

• Bring the kettle to about 85°C.
• Warm the cafetiere with some hot water, and dry well. Warm the springs on the cafetiere plunger to ensure a good fit.
• Weigh out 25 grams of coffee, and grind to an even medium-course grind. About the same sized grains as medium sand or granulated sugar.
• Put the freshly ground coffee in the cafetiere, and add 150 ml of warm water. Stir well (for about 10 seconds), with a fork or even better a wooden stirring stick.
• Put the lid on the cafetiere, with the plunger just above the surface of the coffee. Wrap the cafetiere to keep the temperature as even as possible.
• Leave for 4 minutes, then plunge.
• Optional (see below): If you're going to add sugar, pour the coffee into a jug or cup and stir the sugar until dissolved.
• We're now going to filter the coffee. Even a good cafetiere and a good grinder will leave a fair amount of sediment in the finished brew. We don't want this to continue to steep while the brewed coffee chills. A paper filter will remove the sediment, leaving a good clean brew. So pour the coffee through the filter.
• Lastly, add 450ml of cold water. Place in the fridge until chilled to the required temperature.

Notes and Variations

• Sugar. I don't normally take any sugar with coffee, but find that it loses some of its natural sweetness when chilled. This is because the naturally occuring sugars don't transfer to your tongue because they're less soluble at a lower temperature. So, personally, when I make this recipe I add one teaspoon of sugar. That's equivalent to only half a teaspoon per mug, but for me that improves it. That's a personal taste: experiment until you find what's best for you.
• Milk. I don't normally take coffee with milk either. However iced coffee is particularly good with milk, so you may want to add milk to this recipe even if you take hot coffee black. I'd suggest that, for the final stage, you add 150 ml of cold water and 300 ml of cold milk.
• The amount of coffee is another personal factor. For me, this recipe gives what I'm after. Adjust to taste.
• The overall quantity is based on 1 pint being a convenient amount to store in the fridge. A 3-cup cafetiere could hold about 300 ml of water, so you could double the quantities and it would still fit into even the smallest cafetiere in the cupboard. If you wanted.

Over to you

Your turn. If you have a recipe for iced coffee to share, please do so in the comments below.