I have tried so many homemade iced coffee recipes that always seem to miss the mark. That is until I rediscovered this coffee recipe is the most delicious and the cheapest homemade iced coffee recipe! “Who knew that love could be so caffeinated.”
The problem with making iced coffee at home…
I have never been able to find that just right homemade coffee recipe that accomplished my goal… to keep me from going to coffee shops!
Every time I make cold brew from home it never tastes all that great. I don’t have an espresso machine to make iced espresso, and chilled already brewed coffee makes me shiver. Yuck!
Inevitably, my disappointment with homemade iced coffees would drive me to the Starbucks drive thru and order my favorite drink. Then although I’d enjoy my iced coffee drink, I would be annoyed at succumbing to the $5 price tag. And thus I was stuck in this proverbial loop.
Until the day…. I remembered the best iced coffee drink I ever had, in Greece!
Instant Coffee
Instant coffee is by far the cheapest way to make iced coffee at home! I just discoved this fact this summer, but here is some back story.
My first international experience opened my eyes up to a whole other world. A world without Starbucks or Caribou Coffee, a world without the “large size” option, and the world where beer was served at McDonalds!
I can’t give an account of what it is like in Greece today, but when I was there about 11 years ago, the only way to order coffee was hot “Turkish Coffee” or a “frappe”. Frappes were essentially made of Nescafe Instant Coffee, shaken with milk and sugar (if you ordered it that way) poured over ice.
The first chance I got I ordered a “frappe” or iced coffee (pictured above). It was delicious! And at the time it only cost me 1 euro. Compared to the $5 coffee drinks back at home, I was a happy traveler. I got one every, single, morning!
Fast forward 11 years later, I recall this fact when sitting at home in my frustrated homemade iced coffee situation. Cheap, delicious, iced coffee is what I needed. How can I recreate this drink I had 11 years ago but here in America?
Instant Coffee! We sell it in the grocery stores! Did you know that?
Cheap.
As mentioned the whole point of making something at home is to spend less but for the same enjoyment. All other homemade iced coffees are sure cheaper than $5 a cup, but nothing compares to this price difference! Here is a price comparison for you if you are interested.
The price for a container of Taster Choice NestCafe Instant Coffee is $10.49. This makes about 105 cups of coffee! That is only about 10 cents per cup of coffee.
Let’s say I make a batch of cold brew at home. I buy a bag of the already ground cold brew coffee from Cameron’s Coffee which is $6.99. This whole bag would probably make me about 4 batches of cold brew coffee. Each batch giving me about 4 cups of cold brew coffee (if that). Totalling only 16 cups of iced coffee, meaning I am paying about 50 cents for a each cup.
Now… I will admit. There have been times in my life where I have not wanted to split hairs over a 40 cent difference in a cup of homemade coffee. However, my dissatisfaction with the taste of the more expensive versions of homemade iced coffee lead me to discover just how big of a difference in price and taste I can get with instant coffee!
After adding cream, sweetener, I figure it’s about $0.25 cents a cup!
The Recipe: the cheapest homemade iced coffee (the fall version).
The basic version of this iced coffee recipe has the following:
Instant Coffee
Ice Water
Cream/Milk
Sugar
To expand on this for a fall version I made these changes:
- Swap out the sugar for maple syrup.
- Add cinnamon!
The combination of maple syrup and cinnamon gives the coffee a beautiful fall flavor that will make your mouth sing with joy!
Ingredients and Instructions
1 tbsp of instant coffee (Tasters Choice Nestcafe is my favorite).
2 tsp maple syrup
2-3 tsp creamer/milk
1/4 tsp of ground cinnamon
3/4-1 cup iced water (yes it must be ice water)
- Put coffee, cream, maple syrup, cinnamon, and iced water into a blender or shaker bottle.
- Blend or shake for 15 seconds.
- Pour slowly to behold the beautiful creamy coffee color. Enjoy!
This coffee drink literally has changed my coffee shop habit!
I truly didn’t think there would ever be a day where I would so willingly make iced coffee at home without feeling like I am sacrificing flavor and enjoyment! Well, the day is here. I am not turning back! “Who knew that love could be so caffeinated!”
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Wow! I have never heard of this, defiantly going to try!
This is great. Do you use honey or just regular sugar when you aren’t using maple syrup?
I use honey, but have also used raw sugar (also called Turbinado sugar)!