Cold Coffee Drink Recipes to Make at Home

These cold coffee drink recipes cover everything from a quick iced latte you can stir in two minutes to a blended, cafe-style frappe with a thick crown of foam. The trick behind all of them is the same: start with strong, well-chilled coffee, then build milk, sweetness and ice on top. Learn that base once and every cold coffee recipe below becomes easy to make and easy to riff on.

Think of this page as a hub. Each drink gets a short recipe here, and where there is a deeper guide we link to it so you can go further. If you want the wider picture first, see what cold coffee is and how it differs from hot coffee poured over ice.

The base: how to make cold coffee for any recipe

Before the recipes, here is the part that makes or breaks them. Hot coffee melts ice fast and turns weak and watery, so you want coffee that is both strong and cold to begin with. You have three reliable routes.

• Brew strong, then chill. Make coffee a little stronger than you would drink it hot (it will be diluted by ice and milk), then cool it in the fridge for an hour or pour it over plenty of ice.
• Pull espresso. One or two shots give you a concentrated, intense base that holds up well against cold milk and ice. No machine? A moka pot or strong instant works as a stand-in.
• Use cold brew. Steeped 12 to 24 hours, cold brew is smooth, low in acidity and naturally strong. Follow our cold brew method and keep a jar in the fridge as a ready base.

One more habit that changes everything: freeze leftover coffee into ice cubes. Coffee ice keeps a drink cold without watering it down as it melts.

Cold coffee drink recipes to make at home

Below are seven cafe favourites. Each is built on the chilled base above, so quantities are a starting point, not a rule. Taste as you go and adjust sweetness and milk to your liking.

1. Classic blended cold coffee (cafe style)

The thick, frothy, milkshake-like cold coffee served in many cafes. Blending whips air into the milk so it pours with a creamy head.

You need:

• 1 cup cold milk
• 2 shots espresso or 1/2 cup strong chilled coffee (or 1 to 2 tsp instant)
• 1 to 2 tsp sugar, to taste
• 4 to 5 ice cubes

1. Add milk, coffee, sugar and ice to a blender.
2. Blend 30 to 45 seconds until thick and foamy.
3. Pour into a tall glass and drink right away, while the foam holds.

2. Iced latte

Espresso and cold milk over ice, clean and simple. For the full method and milk choices, see what an iced latte is.

You need: 1 to 2 shots espresso, 3/4 cup cold milk, ice.

1. Fill a glass with ice and pour in the cold milk.
2. Pull the espresso (or use 1/2 cup strong chilled coffee).
3. Pour the espresso over the milk and ice. Stir, and sweeten if you like.

3. Iced americano

Espresso loosened with cold water rather than milk, for a lighter, black cold coffee that keeps the crema.

You need: 1 to 2 shots espresso, 3/4 cup cold water, ice.

1. Fill a glass with ice and add the cold water.
2. Pull the espresso and pour it over the top.
3. Stir gently. Aim for roughly one part espresso to three parts water and adjust to taste.

4. Greek frappe

The foamy, all-instant icon popularised by a happy accident in Thessaloniki, Greece, in 1957, when a Nescafe representative shook instant coffee with cold water instead of hot. Shaking, not blending, builds its dense foam.

You need: 2 tsp instant coffee, 2 tsp sugar (optional), 1/4 cup cold water, plus more cold water or milk to top, ice.

1. Put instant coffee, sugar and the 1/4 cup water in a sealed shaker or jar.
2. Shake hard for 20 to 30 seconds until a thick, pale foam forms.
3. Pour over a glass of ice, then top up with cold water or milk. Drink with a straw.

5. Shaken iced espresso

Shaking espresso with ice aerates it into a light micro-foam and cools it fast without much dilution, the idea behind the Italian shakerato and the Greek freddo.

You need: 2 shots espresso, 1 to 2 tsp sugar or syrup, ice, a splash of milk (optional).

1. Stir the sugar into the warm espresso so it dissolves.
2. Add the espresso and a handful of ice to a cocktail shaker and shake hard for 15 to 20 seconds.
3. Pour, ice and all, into a glass and finish with a splash of cold milk if you want it creamy.

6. Iced mocha

An iced latte with chocolate. Mix the chocolate in while the coffee is warm so it dissolves smoothly.

You need: 1 to 2 shots espresso, 1 to 2 tbsp chocolate syrup or cocoa, 3/4 cup cold milk, ice.

1. Stir the chocolate into the warm espresso until fully blended.
2. Fill a glass with ice and add the cold milk.
3. Pour in the chocolate espresso and stir.

7. Vanilla or caramel iced coffee

The same base with a splash of flavoured syrup. Because cold liquids dissolve sugar slowly, use a liquid syrup or stir it into warm coffee first. For a step-by-step version, see our iced vanilla coffee recipe.

You need: 1/2 cup strong chilled coffee or 1 to 2 shots espresso, 1 to 2 tbsp vanilla or caramel syrup, 1/2 cup cold milk, ice.

1. Stir the syrup into the coffee until dissolved.
2. Fill a glass with ice and add the milk.
3. Pour the sweetened coffee over the top and stir.

Cold coffee recipes at a glance

Drink	Base	How it is served
Blended cold coffee	Espresso or strong coffee	Blended with milk, sugar and ice until frothy
Iced latte	Espresso	Espresso over cold milk and ice
Iced americano	Espresso	Espresso over cold water and ice
Greek frappe	Instant coffee	Shaken to a foam, over ice, topped with water or milk
Shaken iced espresso	Espresso	Shaken with ice, poured with a splash of milk
Iced mocha	Espresso plus chocolate	Chocolate espresso over cold milk and ice
Vanilla or caramel iced coffee	Espresso or strong coffee	Sweetened with syrup, over milk and ice

Quick tips for better cold coffee at home

• Chill, do not just cool with ice. Brew ahead and refrigerate, or build the drink on coffee ice cubes so it stays strong as it melts.
• Sweeten so it dissolves. Granulated sugar barely dissolves in cold liquid. Use a liquid syrup, or stir sugar into the coffee while it is still warm, so it never leaves a gritty layer at the bottom of the glass.
• Froth the milk for body. A quick shake in a jar or a few seconds with a handheld frother gives even a simple iced latte a creamier mouthfeel.
• Make it strong at the start. Cold mutes flavour, so a base that tastes slightly too intense hot will taste just right cold.
• Want it whipped and blended? For the frozen, dessert-style versions, see how to make a frappuccino at home.

A note on caffeine and calories

These are made with real coffee, so they are not caffeine-free. A drink built on a single espresso shot carries roughly 60 to 75 mg of caffeine, and one made with an 8 oz cup of brewed coffee around 80 to 100 mg. If you are watching your intake, a decaf base works in every recipe here. Added syrup, sugar, chocolate and whole milk also add calories, so lighter milk and a smaller pour of syrup keep things in check without losing the flavour.

Where to go next

Cold coffee is one of the easiest places to play in the kitchen: master the chilled base and you can spin out a new drink whenever the weather turns warm. Try the all-instant Greek frappe on a busy morning, the shaken iced espresso when you want a crema-rich pick-me-up, or settle in with a slow batch of cold brew. For more ideas and techniques, browse the coffee guides and keep experimenting.