The warm summer months are finally upon us! It actually gets quite hot and muggy in southwest Missouri where I live due to the humidity, but I won’t lie—I sort of love it.
And with the hot days ahead, I am in the mood for iced coffee!!!! If you are as fanatical about iced coffee as I am, then I bet you’ll appreciate the following recipes, as they are mostly quick and easy ways to change up your iced coffee routine.
For this post we are working with KitchenAid. I have been a fan of their amazing products for years! I used (and loved!) the KitchenAid® Cold Brew Coffee Maker, and you better believe that it’s going to get some major use at our house for the next few months.
You can also use it to make cold brew tea, which I will show you. Both are SUPER simple. It’s awesome.
Related: How to Make Cold Brew Coffee
Now I love just a plain iced coffee with milk, but there are SO many different ways to use iced coffee (or tea) concentrate. So, I thought it would be fun to not only show you how to make cold brew coffee (and tea), but also five different ways to use the concentrate for delicious summer-friendly drinks. 🙂
So, first you need to make your concentrate. To makecold brew iced tea, add 120 grams of loose tea (black, green, a mix of herbals, etc.) to the steeper, which is the metal part that goes inside the Cold Brew Coffee Maker. Then, pour 1.25 liters of water over the steeper, making sure all the tea leaves get soaked.
Allow that to steep in your refrigerator for 6-12 hours. Then remove the steeper, allow it to drain well, and cover with the lid. The tea concentrate is quite strong, so it’s great to mix it with a 1:7 ratio of milk or water over ice.
To makecold brew coffee, add 250 grams of coarse ground coffee beans to the steeper. Then pour 1 liter of water over the steeper. Allow that to bloom for a minute or two. Then add another 1/4 liter of water, making sure that all the coffee grounds get soaked.
Allow that to steep in the Cold Brew Coffee Maker in your refrigerator for 12-24 hours. Then, remove the steeper, allow it to drain well, and cover with the lid. The coffee concentrate is also quite strong, so it’s great to mix it with a 1:3 ratio of milk or water over ice. Or other things, which I’ll share below. 🙂
Now that we have some delicious coffee and tea concentrate, let’s make some drinks!First is a Steadfast Coffee inspired drink: coffee soda. In a small glass, add ice and fill the glass 1/3 with coffee concentrate, and then fill the remaining 2/3 of the glass with club soda or ginger beer. Garnish with a large orange peel.
The longer this sits, the more the orange will infuse the drink. I personally love this with club soda, but ginger beer adds a sweetness and that fun ginger flavor—so, you do you. 🙂
Second: Thai inspired iced coffee.There’s a couple methods to make this, but I’ll share my favorite first. In a shaker, combine 2 oz. coffee, 2 oz. cold water or milk, 2 oz. sweetened condensed milk, and 1/8 teaspoon of ground ginger, cloves, and cardamon.
Add ice to the shaker and give that just a few good shakes to combine. Pour into a tall glass and garnish with a cinnamon stick.
You can also just combine everything in the glass and give a stir if you don’t want to use or don’t have a co*cktail shaker. I like the shaker method as it really combines the ingredients well so they are well distributed. But both methods will work fine.
Third is a blended Coconut Guillermo. A traditional Guillermo is hot espresso over lime. This version is a blended version with a summer twist.
In a good blender, I used theKitchenAid® Pro Line® Series Blender, combine 3 oz. coffee concentrate, juice from one lime, 2 oz coconut cream, and a few big handfuls of ice.
Blend until well combined. If needed you can add a little milk to help the mixture blend well. Garnish with lime zest. Mmmm!
Here’s a super easy one: herb infused iced tea latte. At the same time you are steeping the tea concentrate, combine a few cups of milk with a handful of fresh herbs. Some great options include rosemary (what I used), mint, basil, or thyme.
When you’re ready to make your drink, fill a glass with ice and fill the glass 2/3 full of herb infused milk, and then top off with an ounce or two of tea concentrate. If you want to use coffee concentrate, you can easily swap that out here, just use a little more so the ratio is closer to 1:3 for coffee and 1:7 for tea.
And the last recipe I wanted to share is a simple chilled coffee mocktail. In a co*cktail shaker, combine ice, 2 oz. coffee concentrate, and 2 teaspoons Luxardo Cherry Syrup.
Shake really well until the shaker becomes very cold in your hand. Just like if you were making a martini or gimlet. Strain into a small coup.
What’s fun about this drink, sometimes called a Shakerato, is it will become quite foamy. If you’ve ever had a co*cktail made with egg white, so the top becomes very foamy, this is similar although obviously no egg white has been added.
Also, you could totally add an ounce or two of your favorite spirit if you want to make this a co*cktail—just strain into a slightly larger coup or a martini glass to serve.
I hope plenty of delicious cold drinks are in your future this summer, friends (like maybe this german chocolate cake iced coffee?)! Thanks for letting me share a few of mine. 🙂 xo. Emma
