With the summer heat taking its toll outside, there is nothing better to kick start your morning than an iced coffee. It’s my absolute favorite way to wake up, there’s something so refreshing about a big tall glass of slightly sweetened iced coffee, but the same old thing can get boring so I’m here to bring you outside your routine to try a few new spins on everyone’s fave summer drink.

How to make iced coffee (step-by-step)

Here’s how to make iced coffee at home. I’ve broken it down into easy to follow steps:

1. Make your simple syrup and have it chilling for about an hour or so. Skip this step if using store-bought syrups.
2. Brew your espresso or coffee. Again, I recommend espresso as it cools faster when mixed with ice – you have to chill brewed coffee for an hour or so before you can use it for iced coffee.
3. Pour your coffee of choice over a large amount of ice in a tall glass cup.
4. Mix in 1-2 tbsp of simple syrup and as much milk as you’d like. Enjoy!

The Iced Caramel Macchiato

Start with an empty cup full of ice, then add a couple tablespoons of the dulce de leche caramel syrup. Brew your espresso and pour it very delicately over the milk of your choice – I usually go with 2% but whole milk makes this drink extra creamy and over the top. If you don’t have dulce de leche at home (you can usually find it with the jams or in the ice cream isle of your local grocery store), simply boil a can of sweetened condensed milk for 3 hours in a large pot of gently boiling water.

The Iced Vanilla Latte

Make a plain simple syrup by mixing boiling water and sugar together, then add in your flavouring of choice. For this vanilla latte, I used plain old artificial vanilla extract but you could use the more expensive pure extract or opt for the vanilla bean if you can find them. But really, the vanilla latte is the easiest of all to make. Like the machiatto, start with an empty cup full of ice. Brew two espresso shots and pour them over the ice, then stir in 1 cup of milk and add vanilla syrup to your taste. Yum!

 The Iced Mocha

This chocolate iced mocha is made very similarly to the vanilla latte, and you probably already have the main ingredient at home: cocoa powder! Make the simple syrup from the Vanilla recipe above, mix in a tablespoon of cocoa, and you’re good to go. Start with an empty cup full of ice, pour your espresso shots overtop, mix in some milk and some chocolate syrup. Super easy!