Iced Coffee Drinks

Summer is only some months away. Nothing is nicer then spending an afternoon with friends, enjoying iced coffee drinks. The iced coffee drinks are a bit more sophisticated then soft drinks and always make a good impression. In addition to being refreshing, they are festive, and will give you a little more energy (than soft drinks or alcohol) on a hot afternoon.

First of all, before sharing a few unusual recipes, let’s talk about some tips, tricks, and basics regarding iced coffee drinks. To avoid watering-down your iced coffee drinks with plain ice cubes, you should make ice cubes ahead of time with cold coffee. Simply pour the coffee into an ice cube tray and freeze it. If you want the iced coffee cubes to be slightly fancier, add a couple of roasted beans to each before freezing.

Instead of simple stir sticks, use Rock Sugar Swizzle Sticks, which are basically stir sticks covered in rock candy at the end. You can also make syrups and cordials available for your guests to add additional flavor to their drinks if desired. It is important to have some plain syrup available (plain sugar dissolved in water by boiling, and then cooled) for guests who want to sweeten their drink without adding other flavors. Crystal sugar will not dissolve very well in an iced drink. Use the sugar syrup instead.

If you will be serving iced coffee in the afternoon, brew the coffee ahead of time (e.g., in the morning), and cool it down several hours beforehand. Though some iced coffee drinks might need hot coffee to prepare the drink, most do not. So as soon as the coffee reaches the room temperature, pop the coffee into the refrigerator. The drinks will be frostier and more refreshing if the coffee starts very cold.

You can also prepare (or buy) flavored whipped creams. Simply incorporate cocoa powder, or cinnamon, or any flavored extract (like vanilla or almond, or even lemon) into the cream when you whip it. Most of the ice coffee drinks can be topped with whipped cream for added flair.

If you are purchasing cans of whipped cream, we recommend only using real whipped-cream products. Read the labels. Many cans of spray “whipped cream,” are actually petroleum products, or they are mostly corn oil. These will (arguably) taste OK over ice cream, where they will not dissolve. But when products like this dissolve into a drink (which will certainly happen with hot coffee drinks), you will get oily streaks on the top of your drink. Enough said.

You can use a blender to incorporate ice cream to make thick shakes or “freezes.” If you don’t need uniform consistency, or if you don’t need to emulsify solids, you can use a cocktail shaker. You will entertain your guests for sure, and the iced coffee drinks will be extra frothy.

While we are all familiar with making drip coffee, there is also a “cold brew” method for making coffee. (This is exactly like the “sun tea” method of making iced tea.) All you do is to fill a container with coffee grounds and room-temperature water in the same proportions (or a little stronger) that you would use for drip coffee. Leave the coffee grounds to soak overnight, and then strain them out. There will be no possibility of a bitter brew this way since bitterness tends to be brought out by heat.

Here are a few unusual coffee drinks that you’ve likely not seen before, and that you might want to try:

Cinnamon Caramel Iced Coffee

Mix 6 Tablespoons of ground coffee with ½ Tablespoon of ground cinnamon, and use this mixture with 20 ounces of water to brew coffee. While the coffee is still hot, stir in ½ cup of caramel syrup. Chill the brew, and serve over ice. Pour some milk or cream into the glass before you serve it. Top with cinnamon whipped cream if desired.

Coffee Ice Cream Soda

This is a nice bubbly iced-coffee “ice cream soda” drink. Mix 3 cups of strong chilled coffee with 1 cup of half & half and 1 Tablespoon of sugar. Fill 4 tall glasses halfway with this mixture. Drop a scoop of coffee ice cream into each glass, and top the glasses off with club soda (seltzer). Top with plain (or coffee flavored, or cherry flavored) whipped cream, and a Maraschino cherry.

Thai Iced Coffee

This is a refreshing coffee drink with a nice Asian flair. Mix 6 Tablespoons of ground coffee with 1 Tablespoon of ground cardamom, and use this mixture with 20 ounces of water to brew coffee. Dissolve 4 Tablespoons of sugar and 1 Tablespoon of Almond extract into the coffee, and chill. Fill four tall glasses half way with crushed ice. Pour the chilled coffee over the crushed ice, and then pour 1-2 Tablespoons of cream into each drink.

...written by your friends at TheCoffeeBrewers