How To Make Homemade Iced Coffee

Homemade iced coffee is a treat on summer mornings. Next time you want to serve homemade iced coffee to guests, why not go all out to achieve maximum freshness and fascinate the crowd with a show of your DIY spirit? Just be sure to try this at home on your own at least a couple of times first to perfect your coffee-making equivalent of a magic trick.

How To Make Homemade Iced Coffee Recipe

Start with green coffee beans. You can purchase them in bulk groceries or online. Green coffee beans freeze brilliantly and keep forever without losing freshness. Take them out as needed and roast them yourself for the freshest, most delicious coffee that you or anyone else will ever taste anywhere on the planet.

No need to invest in an expensive coffee roaster. If you already own an air popper for popcorn, it should work just as well for coffee beans. If you have to buy one, check reviews for one that roasts coffee well, plus you may want to splurge on a model with a timer. It is up you. If yours doesn’t have a timer, you can always use the one on your oven, or an egg timer.

You will also require:

an aluminum colander for cooling, or one that won’t melt (but aluminum works best)
a large wooded spoon for stirring hot beans
a large mixing bowl for catching bean chaff
an oven mitt or two

Ventilation is paramount. Set up your popper near an open window, preferable one near the sink so you can aim the machine to exude chaff into the basin where you will place your mixing bowl. This set up will save you some time on clean up later. Another good place is under a kitchen hood vent. Have all your required equipment handy.

Pour the same amount of beans in to roast that the model recommends for popcorn, usually 4 ounces or 2/3 of a cup. Turn it on and set your timer for three minutes. Models of air poppers are likely to vary, so only rely on the timer just so much, especially the first time you do this. Keep your senses focused to detect the sound of the first bean cracking, the first sign of fragrant smoke wafting- then you are, metaphorically speaking, at the three minute mark however long it took to get there.

Now remove the butter container/lid and look at the color. Just a shade before the beans get to the color of roast you desire, stop the machine and remove the beans to your colander to cool. Beans continue to roast a bit more until they cool. Use the wooden spoon to stir so the heat escapes evenly. With most air popper, a light roast takes about 4 minutes, a full roast about 5 minutes, and a French roast around 6, with perfect espresso, and burnt recognition not far behind. It may take a little practice to get the hang of your machine and a good sense of the timing. You may want to try for a full roast the first time so that if you go a bit over or under, your roast will still taste delicious.

Next, the beans go into your grinder as soon as they are cool enough to the touch (obviously be careful here!) a couple of minutes should be about right. When your friends are there, this is the point at which you brew extra strong coffee via your favorite method. Pour the hot coffee over ice in a large sturdy glass pitcher, making iced coffee for everyone and voila!