Today is the first day of summer and nothing says summer’s to me like the switch from hot to iced coffee.
Have you seen the most recent Tim Horton’s™ commercials (the one with the red canoe on the roof of the car parked at Tim’s)? Well that was filmed at my local Tim’s here in Muskoka. I drove by when they were filming it and learned that it takes a whole lot of people and equipment to make a Tim’s commercial!
I spend a lot of time at this particular Tim Horton’s™. I’m a regular in the drive-thru line, picking up a large double cream, 1 sugar in the winter and a large iced coffee in the summer. But I live 10 kms. from that store and sometimes, I just want to have an iced coffee at home without making the drive.
So I set out to figure out how to make Tim Horton’s™ style iced coffee at home. And by gosh, I think I’ve come pretty darned close! Here’s how …
Cook’s Notes: You can play around with the proportions of coffee concentrate and water to taste, as well as the amount of added cream and milk. You may be surprised by the amount of sugar, but trust me, if you’re looking for a clone of TH, you’ll need that much.
Homemade Iced Coffee
Summary: Make iced coffee at home that tastes just like Tims! You can play around with the proportions of coffee concentrate and water to taste, as well as the amount of added cream and milk. You may be surprised by the amount of sugar, but trust me, if you’re looking for a clone of TH, you’ll need that much.
Ingredients
- For the coffee concentrate:
- 32 oz. (4 cups) cold water
- 1 cup ground coffee (good quality coffee, anything you’d brew up to drink hot)
- For the Iced Coffee:
- 1/2 cup coffee concentrate
- 1/2 – 2/3 cup cold water
- 2 heaping teaspoons (from your cutlery drawer, not the measuring kind) instant dissolving sugar (*see note below)
- 1/4 cup half and half (10%) cream
- 1/3 cup milk
- 3-4 ice cubes
Instructions
- Make the coffee concentrate: Combine cold water and coffee grounds in a container. Stir to moisten all the grounds. Cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature to steep for 12-24 hours. Place a coffee filter into a wire strainer and strain, discarding grounds. Transfer coffee concentrate to a glass jar and refrigerate. It will keep for several weeks in the fridge (but it won’t last that long ;)
- To make an iced coffee: In a large glass, combine coffee concentrate, water, sugar, half and half and milk. Stir well. Add ice cubes and enjoy!
- (Note: You can play around with the proportions of coffee concentrate to water, to taste. The 1/2 cup of water makes an iced coffee a little stronger but mellows out nicely as the ice melts. If you prefer it a little lighter, add the 2/3 cup of water or more from the start. The same goes for the added cream and milk. You can use as much or as little of both or either as you like, to your taste).
- *Instant dissolving sugar is available in the sugar section of most grocery stores or at most Bulk Barns and is a special sugar that is made to dissolve easily in cold liquids. (The picture shown is the brand I use.)
- Note that regular sugar will not dissolve in cold liquids, so can’t be substituted as is. If you can’t find instant dissolving, you’ll need to dissolve regular sugar in a bit of boiling water first and then add it to the cold coffee. If you’ll be doing this, be sure to reduce the amount of added water accordingly, so as to not water down the drink too much.
Prep time: 10 min | Cook time: 5 min | Total time: 15M
Number of servings (yield): 8
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