How to make iced latte

It’s hot outside, but your brain is craving a caffeinated kick in the butt? Just trade your usual coffee for a cold and refreshing iced latte! In this article, I’ll show you 3 recipes to help you make your own iced latte quickly and easily at home. And best of all: You won’t even need a blender or whipped cream, making these recipes the perfect everyday solution for long, hot summers.

I don’t remember how many recipes for iced latte I’ve tried. The results were always disappointing: a lot of effort or way too watery.

And I don’t even need the frappé experience! I just want a refreshing alternative to my hot caffe latte in the morning or afternoon.

Quick and easy iced latte

I’m looking for an everyday solution. Plus, I’m not keen on having whipped cream on my coffee twice a day like many recipes suggest. Sure, for special occasions I like to go all out like they do in this recipe.

Yet in the morning, I rarely feel like spending a lot of time making my coffee. So my iced latte has to be just as quick and easy as my usual morning coffee from our fully automatic coffee machine. (Best investment ever, by the way!)

Since I’m usually not very hungry in the morning, all I need is my coffee and maybe one of these homemade fruit bars. And I’m good to go.

Anyway: On my hunt for the perfect iced latte, I developed 3 ways to prepare my cold coffee drink:

#1 Iced latte made from frozen coffee cubes

This first method requires some planning ahead. So if you have a sudden craving for a homemade iced latte, try #2 and #3 for now.

Make coffee
You’ll need a cup of really strong coffee or, even better, a double espresso.
Freeze coffee
Fill coffee or espresso into ice cube molds and then freeze for about 4 hours until completely frozen.
Preparing your iced latte
Place frozen coffee cubes in a large glass or mason jar (pint-sized) and pour over 1/2 – 3/4 cup of milk. I usually recommend organic full-fat milk but you pick whichever milk you like best.
Sweeten
For a sweet iced latte, add 1-2 teaspoons of maple or agave syrup. Or dissolve 1-2 teaspoons of sugar while your coffee is still hot, right before making the frozen coffee cubes.

Extra tip:

This method works best with smaller or mini ice cubes. Usually, large coffee ice cubes melt so slowly that you’ll end up drinking mostly sweetened milk…

#2 How to make iced latte with hot coffee

For a quick iced latte made with hot coffee, follow these steps:

Prepare a cup of extra strong coffee or a double espresso.
Pour coffee or espresso into a large glass or mason jar (pint-sized).
Optional: Add 1-2 teaspoons of maple syrup, agave syrup or sweetener of your choice and stir.
Add a good handful of ice cubes to your glass (about 8 medium ice cubes).
Top up your glass with 1/2 – 3/4 cup of cold milk (your choice) and stir.

Extra tip #1:

This variety of iced latte tastes best when not all ice cubes have melted. Otherwise, it tends to taste rather watery towards the end.

Extra tip #2:

One way to avoid this: Brew your coffee twice as strong as usual, i.e. twice the amount of powder for the same amount of water. This way you take into account the extra water from melting ice cubes. Et voilá, no watery taste!

#3 Iced latte recipe with instant espresso

The third recipe involves instant espresso or coffee. It’s by far the easiest method to prepare iced latte at home. Or to enjoy ready-made iced lattes without carrageenan or other questionable ingredients.

This is what you do:

Empty one stick or a teaspoon of instant espresso or coffee powder into a large, pint-sized glass.
Add one tablespoon of warm water to dissolve the powder.
For a sweetened iced latte, add 1-2 teaspoons of maple syrup, agave syrup or sweetener of your choice and stir.
Add a handful of ice cubes (about 8 medium-sized ones).
Add 1/2 -3/4 cup of cold milk of your choice and stir.

I do love this method because the iced latte is so tasty and not a bit watery. But at the same time, I prefer to brew quality coffee rather than using instant. Complicated first-world problem, I know…

Making your own iced latte at home

These three recipes prove that this summer, you can get caffeinated and refreshed at the same time – and without much effort! If you’re ready for a little decadence, then take these recipes to the next level by adding whipped cream, caramel sauce, chocolate shavings or vanilla ice cream.

You happen to have vanilla milk or cold cocoa in the fridge? Then simply reduce the sweetener and add those instead of regular milk: And there you have your quick and easy iced vanilla or chocolate latte.

You don’t like that much milk in your iced coffee? Just swap things around: Freeze milk in ice cube molds and pour your freshly brewed, hot coffee over frozen milk cubes.

What I don’t recommend

After many experiments, I have yet to come across a homemade frappé recipe that tasted just as amazing as Starbuck’s and friends. Because somehow, they always taste more icy-watery than the original. Or too strong.

So, my guess is that coffee shops use a concentrate so that creating a copycat recipe at home is not as easy. And that is why I recommend: Resist the temptation and don’t throw all the ingredients into your blender.