Coffee – the only reason why anyone ever gets up in the morning. My morning routine usually finds me reaching for a cup of black coffee to calm my nerves, and lately I have just been looking for a way to make it a little more interesting. Enter iced coffee. My first experience with iced coffee was terrible. I was honestly convinced I would never try it again. It was like 90% water, 5% coffee and 5% sugar. Gross. Needless to say, I haven’t ordered it since.

 

I had all but closed the chapter on iced coffee until I came across this beautiful photo of iced coffee taken by Amy Johnson. I was then convinced that I had to give iced coffee a second chance. I decided to do a few things differently this time, such as freezing brewed coffee to make ice cubes so that I didn’t end up with another situation of super watery coffee-like drink. I decided to shake things up a bit by bringing the salted caramel flavour into the mix. Ain’t no syrup like a homemade syrup.

And guys, I know this looks like a lot of unnecessary work for a drink but I PROMISE that this is worth every minute you spend in the kitchen. That doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to cut corners and just buy a bottle of caramel syrup on your next trip to the grocery store. I’m not at all saying you can’t do that. I’ll even turn away whilst you do it.

I was not at all disappointed when I eventually got round to making this. The flavour pallet is absolutely insane. Rich earthy caffeine undertones. Sharp sweet butterscotch taste. Ice cold and refreshing, this is one of those drinks that hits the back of your throat and you just die internally of happiness.

Salted Caramel Iced Coffee

Ingredients 

Chocolate coffee ice cubes:

1 cup brewed coffee, either instant or French press

2 tbsp cocoa powder

½ tsp vanilla essence

Iced Coffee: 

1 cup ground coffee beans or instant coffee

1 tsp ground cinnamon

a pinch of sea salt

7 cups cold/room temperature water

Salted Caramel Sauce: 

1 cup brown sugar

½ cup fresh cream

4 tbsp butter, cut into cubes

1 tsp vanilla essence

pinch of sea salt

Salted caramel syrup: 

½ cup granulated sugar

½ cup water

3 tbsp salted caramel sauce 

Method

Make the chocolate coffee ice cubes:

Combine all the ingredients for the chocolate coffee cubes in a jug and stir well. Pour into moulds and freeze at least 2 hours.

Make the iced coffee:

Add the ground coffee, cinnamon and salt to a large pitcher and top with the water. Stir well and refrigerate for at least 12 hours or overnight. Strain the coffee into a large jug to remove the grounds from the mixture. If using instant coffee, you won’t need to refrigerate the coffee for as long, 2 hours at the least.

Make the salted caramel sauce:

Add the brown sugar, butter and fresh cream to a saucepan over medium heat and warm together, stirring constantly until combined and is a deep golden colour. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla essence and salt. Store in glass jar and refrigerate until ready to serve. Can be kept sealed airtight in the fridge for up to 2 weeks and reheated in the microwave when needed.

Make the salted caramel syrup: 

Dissolve the sugar in the water and bring to a boil over medium heat. Remove from heat and stir in 3 tablespoons of the caramel sauce you just made. Transfer to a glass jar and let cool in the fridge. Can be stored at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.

*ASSEMBLY:

1. Start by preparing the glasses you’re going to serve this in by drizzling the leftover salted caramel sauce on the inside of the glasses to create a pattern. Freeze the glasses for about 10 minutes for the caramel to set.
2. Once the glasses are ready, add 2-3 of the chocolate coffee ice cubes to the glass and pour the chilled coffee over. Add a tablespoon of the salted caramel syrup and stir with a long handle spoon. Serve immediately, with more salted caramel syrup and milk. You can even add condensed milk or maple syrup if you would like it sweeter.

*If you’re rushing to get to work/school in the morning, there’s no need to decorate anything; you can just add the chocolate coffee ice cubes to a flask before pouring the chilled coffee and caramel syrup over and stirring.

 This is a great way to start any morning.