Do you think you know how to make Iced Coffee?

Finally! After a long, lingering winter, at last it is 80 degrees and sunny in our wonderful city of Brotherly Love. 

With the impending warmer weather comes some coffee concern; such as-- it's just not nearly as lovely to imbibe a hot cup of coffee when it's hot outside. 

Ingesting burning hot liquid, although delicious and energizing, only serves to raise your core-temperature... which is pretty much the opposite of what you want to do when it is hot outside.

The most elegant solution? Cold coffee. 

Now, creating tasty, cold coffee is is not quite as easy it seems. In order to give you the best working knowledge on the topic, here is a quick crash course on the science behind creating a delectable Iced Coffee, at home:

How to NOT make Iced Coffee

Some common mistakes:

Pouring hot coffee over ice: This just yields weak, watered-down coffee that isn't very cold.

Adding sugar after it's cold: Sugar won't dissolve in cold water, so you get occasional sips full of crunchy sugar granules and otherwise unsweetened coffee.

Adding flavor syrups without adequately mixing: By just dumping in some flavored syrup, your first sip will be sickeningly sweet because it's all syrup, then all subsequent sips are bland.  

How TO make Iced Coffee

Begin with strong coffee: The addition of ice will significantly dilute your final product, so you need to begin with strong coffee to get a good flavor. 

Add sweetener: While the freshly made coffee is still hot, stir in your preferred amount of sweetener. (Sweeten slightly more than usual, per dilution factor described above.)

Chill overnight: Do not add ice, just put the entire batch in the fridge to uniformly cool.

When ready to drink, pour over ice: Serve over a lot of ice, and if you like, you can add some cream. Mix very well.

Wait... then enjoy: Let the coffee and ice [and cream] sit for a minute to allow the ice to chill the coffee further and melt slightly. Then give it a final stir, and enjoy!

So you want MORE flavor?

Unlike sugar, flavored syrups mix just as well in cold liquids as they do in warm liquids. Feel free to experiment with flavored syrups, and add to the above recipe at the same time ice enters the mix. (Flavored syrups can be found in most grocery stores.) 

Please feel free to let us know how your versions turn out, or share any Iced Coffee tips with us!