Iced Coffee

If you want the caffeinated kick to the head that coffee provides, but you don't want to worry about scorching your tongue, then iced coffee is the way to go. When in the depths of a particularly deep caffeine binge I would opt for the iced stuff because I could drink it so much faster.

With this method, you can make a batch of concentrated coffee to make individual iced cups of coffee for the next several days. It's perfect for when you need a quick fix.

Step 1: Get the Stuff

You'll need:

1/2 pound of coffee ground for a French press
12 cup French press. I'm using Bodum's 12 cup press.

The 12 cups here are really 4-ounce cups. So the 12 "cups" is really the equivalent of 6 cups.

Take out the strainer and drop the grounds in.

If you don't have a French press, simply use any container and a method of straining the grounds out.

Comments

[80$man]

Hi Fungus Amungus (like the MTG Card?)
I think the cold brewing is pretty cool, never seen it before... does the cold brewed coffee 'keep' (stay fresh/drinkable) longer? My coffee usually does not survive more than a day, thus I brew every morning (see below):

How I make Iced Coffee, I make extra (hot) coffee with my French Press in the morning (7:00ish), then after my morning cup(s) I drain the remaining coffee (adding brown sugar), refrigerate (or in summer: freeze) the rest. Then at 14:00ish I make some Iced Coffee.

Alternatively, when I have guests over I make a MochaPot extra strong and chill the hot brew with ice and a cocktail shaker.

[fungus amungus]

I haven't done this one in a little while. When I did, though, it would last in my fridge for a day or two. By that I mean I'd drink it up by then. It was perfectly fine a couple days alter.

Don't know the MTG card, I just like mushrooms. Regular mushrooms, that is.

[80$man]

My bad, it a Magic ((the Gathering) Legacy Deck called: the-fungus-among-us.
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/the-fungus-among-us/

[jakee117]

hmmm might be good, but can you use just instant coffee?

[beehard44]

this tastes different
cold brewing coffee is very different from hot brewed coffee (which is how they brewed instant coffee

[carpe_noctem]

yeah just brew it double strong and pour it over ice

[soeinegaudi]

good one !
can't wait to make one !

[maurice1993]

what is a french press? this couln'd be make without this? (wow, a desire for coffe hit me up;-)

[arhodes18]

 A little more detailed 'ible on the art of the french press: 
www.instructables.com/id/Make-Coffee-Using-the-French-Press/ 
Not to take anything away from this 'ible...

[ClevelandWhiteout]

This is a great iced coffee recipe! I make it this way myself sometimes.

But, if you'd prefer a recipe that doesn't require a french press you may want to try my instructable.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Easy-cold-press-Iced-Coffee/

[maurice1993]

hey, I still need of a french press even using soluble coffe? (sorry, I'm from brasil, and, here I have never heard of this kind of thing)

[carpe_noctem]

i'm in russia right now, and no one drinks real coffee, only the instant kind (soluble as you call it, i think). I found a way to make iced coffee pretty well using it. just brew a cup of coffee hot like you always do, but put double the instant coffee and sugar in(maybe triple sugar) Now find a larger cup, fill it with ice, and (optional) pour some milk?cream in the bottom. Then just pour in your hot coffee. Alot of the ice will melt, hence the double strong brew.

[maurice1993]

yeah, soluble is what I call instant xD and... your way sounds very tasty, but I have one question, in Russia isn't too cold to brink cold coffee? I know russia is not under ice the whole year, but even in the summer, you know, it's not so cold in summer? or spring and etc?

[carpe_noctem]

Many parts of Russia are fairly warm. Also, in summer it can get pretty hot here, maximum maybe 32 or 33 C. The average winter temperatures here in St. Petersburg are around -10 or so, with temperatures occasionally as low as -30(rare). The real pain is how long the winter is. From October there is usually rain everyday to some degree(usually very light but enough to keep things wet). from there the weather transitions to snow, usually at the end of November, and usually doesn't warm up until late march or so. However, for around a month or so in the summer there are "white nights" where it never gets completely dark. Further north in Murmansk i heard you can't tell the difference between 4am and 4 pm...

[carpe_noctem]

This summer got pretty hot. I live in St petersburg, which is about 60 degrees north, but it still got to around 35 degrees celsius pretty often. Usually it stayed around 30. However the winters are long and cold. I lived in Chicago most of my life, and it gets just as cold there, but usually only for a few days. Here in russia it will drop to -20 C and stay there for two weeks...
Also, St. Petersburg is near the Baltic which keeps it relatively warm. Inland is colder, i think.

[piratequeenfaber]

you can check out my instructable easy 2 minute iced coffee for how to make iced coffee with instant coffee

[ClevelandWhiteout]

No problem. The method I describe in my instructable only requires some type of filter. You can use a paper coffee filter, cheese cloth or a metal cone style filter (that is what I use) or even a very fine sieve or kitchen strainer. I'm not sure what you mean by "Soluble coffee". Both this method and my method are for ground coffee beans. I wouldn't use instant coffee for these methods. I hope that helps. :)

[maurice1993]

Soluble coffe it's what we call caffe that don't require filters, just add water and/or milk, and it's ready! (or instant coffe, as you said) :-)

[phenoptix]

Lovely instructable fungus! I tend to make my iced coffee with expresso, adding sugar whilst it's hot, then adding ice and milk on top. Pitty it's freezing in the UK at the moment!

[evanwehrer]

its espresso

[xmascarol]

I love the cold brewed with the French press. But our family has been making iced coffee since the Depression era (not to waste a drop, of course) The recipe my grampa used to make is take about a quart or more of left over cool coffee and add 1 can evaporated milk and 1/2 c. sugar (or sweeten to taste) . OMG! Pour over the ice and you'll find yourself drinking it all day long. When we got a Osterizer in the 50's we blended it with the ice. Hmm. seems like that was about 30 years before Starbucks!

[SniperInTheDarkness]

Great method of brewing! My first time I used a pitcher and a reusable coffee filter, and I just remembered that I had a gift card to target and I bought myself a french press! Brewing my second batch as I type! Now I dont have to pay $5.00 a frappichino, because I can simply make my own thanks to you. 5/5

[fungus amungus]

Glad you like it!

[SniperInTheDarkness]

one thing though, last night's batch didnt come out because I think I used too much coffee due to my very inaccurate scale. the batch was so thick that I couldnt even stir it this morning like more of wet coffee grounds and less coffee. I managed to save 1 1/2 cups of my original 3. but for the 8 cup bodum press how much water would you reccommend, also about how many cups is a half a pound of coffee? Thanks!

[fungus amungus]

The cups that Bodum uses is really half a cup. They're 4 ounce "cups." If you're using half a pound of coffee in the 8-cup french press you won't have enough room for the 4 cups of water. It looks like I'm using the same french press in all the photos, but I start with a 12-cup and transfer it to an 8-cup later.

With an 8-cup french press you can do a couple things. Cut the recipe in half (2/3 if you want to maximize it) using 1/4 pound of coffee and 2 cups of water or mix the same recipe in a pitcher and then transfer it to the french press in order to separate them out as a last step.

[SniperInTheDarkness]

yeah, I found that 2/3 works, I used the other cold press coffee guy's coffee mug estimation method with 1 1/2 coffee mugs of coffee to 3 cups of water which is pressable and looks to be the same consistency as your pictures. Hopefully it actually comes out like the first time when I made it in a pitcher. I found my parent's old espresso machine and we had some ground beans that we had gotten recently so I'll try to make some espresso as well tomorrow morning. Thanks for the help!

[brickb]

Thanks! Tried it and it works great. I would never have thought to brew coffee this way. Simple, simple, simple.........

[Bartboy]

Well, it is not that hard to do, but this is a Very Nice Ible!

[marcss]

Nice instructable. I'm definitely Interested and have a few questions: -- Does cold-brewing result in a different taste than hot-brewed coffee? (I believe less bitterness was mentioned, but wasn't sure if that was directly related to the cold brew method.) -- Does doubling the strength and later mixing with water simply allow you to store "more" servings of the concentrated coffee? What I do now for iced coffee is put the leftover hot-brewed coffee in the fridge and drink it later (I typically don't add ice, so more accurately it's cold coffee.) Just wondering if I should give this a shot instead.

[ilovetea]

Adding on to that, does it make it a bit more "boosty" during the process as well? Correct me if im wrong.

[cmzoo]

Cold brewed coffee tastes a lot smoother and you can drink it all day without getting a stomachache. Undiluted, it's also great for making espresso drinks such as frappaccinos.

[JimmyJoe44]

Coffee AddictTried and tested! Lovely :-) Thanks

[Goodhart]

I just love the canned starbuck's Double Shot iced coffee.....since it is hard to find in my area "freshly brewed" (it never got very popular around here), which is why I am glad you did this. I haven't had a decent Fresh cup of I.C. for a long time.

[KaptinScarlet]

Nice one, but perhaps you could do a tea version as i AM a fan of tea and especially iced tea. Mind you if you did this iced coffee and added vanilla ice cream to it then you'd be talking, caffeine hit and dessert all in one!

[fungus amungus]

Funny. I thought was had regular iced tea instructable already. Here are ones that are close enough.

Sun Tea
Sweet Tea

And yes, coffee on ice cream is great. An espresso shot with vanilla is excellent.

[Goodhart]

and there are some very good brands of coffee icecream too

[Doctor What]

So, wait, it's watered down coffee?

[Goodhart]

You make it stronger so that the ice doesn't water it down....or you could take some of the brew and put it into ice cube trays and use them as your ice for the coffee only of course....then it doesn't get watered down :-)

[ilovetea]

Hey nice instructable. A while back I heard of a cold-brew coffee machine that was called a toddie, anyone know anything on that?

[Brennn10]

Nothing beats iced coffee. Nothing beats this Instructable. I love it.