Frosty and satisfying cold coffee is a fantastic beverage treat to enjoy on a warm day. This cold coffee recipe with step-by-by photos and video is a classic for preparing blended ice coffees that are perfectly sweet, creamy and frothy – just like from your favorite cafe!
Table of Contents
About Cold Coffee Recipe
Icy cold coffee is simply the best beverage to enjoy on a hot summer day. Even though I tend to be more of a tea drinker, I do love a good cup of coffee occasionally – and this cafe-style blended coffee drink is my favorite!
Similar to what you find at nearly every local coffee shop, this shake-like cold coffee recipe is made with sugar and milk blended together with ice. It creates a refreshing and rich beverage, with a delightfully frothy layer on top.
The taste is like a lighter Frappuccino or Frappe – but you can add flavored syrups to recreate nearly any blended iced coffee flavors.
I have used instant coffee powder to make this a quick and easy recipe. You could use either the powdered or granular instant coffee.
You can also make delicious cold coffee using traditionally brewed Filter Coffee or espresso. Prepare your drip coffee or espresso per usual, and allow it to cool (at room temperature or in the refrigerator) before using to make icy blended coffee shakes.
How to Make Cold Coffee
Make Coffee Mixture
1. Firstly, add 1 tablespoon of instant coffee to a bowl. If using brewed filter coffee or espresso you can add ¼ cup directly to the blender jar as shown in step 3 below.
2. Add ¼ cup of warm water (not hot) to the instant coffee. Stir and mix very well.
Blend Coffee Concoction
3. Add the coffee solution to a blender jar.
4. Next add 3 to 4 tablespoons of sugar.
5. Blend for a minute or until the coffee solution becomes frothy and the color fades to a lighter shade of brown.
Make Iced Cold Coffee
6. Add 6 or 7 ice cubes. For a thicker blended cold coffee use just 2 to 4 cubes of ice.
7. Then pour in 2 cups of cold or chilled milk. To make this recipe, I used whole milk. See FAQs below for low fat cold coffee tips.
8. Blend once for again just a few seconds, until everything is mixed well and you get a nice frothy and foamy layer on top.
9. Pour into tall glasses and serve cold coffee immediately. The frothy top layer will settle into the beverage as it sits, so it’s best to enjoy blended iced coffee right away.
Expert Tips
- Coffee: Make use your favorite brand of instant coffee. The instant coffee can be finely ground or in granules.
- Sweetener: Add your preferred sweetener. I always add raw sugar but you can experiment with various types of sugar like palm or coconut sugar or sweeteners like maple syrup or honey.
- For a stronger coffee flavor: If you prefer a stronger and slightly bitter taste in your cold coffee, increase the amount of instant coffee to 1.5 or 2 tablespoons.
- Creamy consistency: Include about ¼ cup of light or whipping cream while blending to make your cold coffee rich and creamy. You may need to add some sugar if you include cream. So do check the taste after the coffee is blended and add more sugar as needed.
FAQs
You can swap the ice cubes for a scoop of vanilla ice cream to make a thicker and creamy milkshake-like cold coffee. Here is a full Coffee Milkshake recipe you might want to check out!
Use skimmed milk or your preferred low fat milk. If using skimmed milk or low-fat milk, then just reduce the ¼ cup water to about 2 to 3 tablespoons.
Yes, you can. Substitute your preferred plant milk, such as almond milk, oat milk, or soy milk to make a vegan-friendly blended iced coffee shake.
Do note, however, that your cold coffee will likely not be quite as rich and frothy as versions made with dairy milk.
Feel free to add a 1 ounce shot (2 tablespoons) of your favorite flavored syrup to the recipe. You can make a vanilla, hazelnut, or amaretto coffee shake – whatever you like!
For a chocolate mocha cold coffee, add 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder or chocolate syrup before you blend for a second time.
Yes! As written this recipe yields approximately 2 beverages that are about 8 to 10 oz each. You can double ingredients for larger drinks or more servings.
More Drinks To Try!
World Recipes
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Cold Coffee (Cafe Style Recipe)
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon instant coffee – powder or granules
- ¼ cup warm water
- 3 to 4 tablespoon raw sugar or add as required
- 2 cups whole milk – cold or chilled
- 6 to 8 ice cubes or as needed – optional
Instructions
- In a blender take your instant coffee, raw sugar, add warm water.
- Blend for a minute or until the coffee solution becomes frothy and the brown color lightens a bit.
- Add 6 to 7 ice cubes. For a thick cold coffee, you can reduce the ice cubes from 2 to 4.
- Pour 2 cups cold milk.
- Whole milk gives a slightly thicker consistency and is richer. You can opt to make the cold coffee with skimmed milk or low-fat milk. If you decided to add either, then reduce the ¼ cup water to about 2 to 3 tablespoons.
- Blend for 1 to 2 minutes or until the milk is mixed evenly with the coffee concoction and you see a nice frothy layer on top.
- Pour in glasses and serve cold coffee. The frothy top layer will settle into the beverage as it sits, so it’s best to enjoy blended iced coffee right away.
Video
Notes
Ingredients and Recipe Notes
- Coffee: Use your favorite brand of Instant Coffee. The instant coffee can be finely ground or in granules.
- Sweetener: Use your preferred sweetener. I always add raw sugar but you can experiment with various types of sugar like palm or coconut sugar or sweeteners like maple syrup or honey.
- More coffee: If you prefer a stronger and slightly bitter taste in your cold coffee, increase the amount of instant coffee to 1.5 or 2 tablespoon.
- Scaling: This recipe yields approximately 2 beverages that are about 8 to 10 oz each. You can double ingredients for larger drinks or more servings.
Variations
- Make a rich Coffee Milkshake: You can swap the ice cubes for a scoop of vanilla ice cream to make a thicker and creamy milkshake-like cold coffee. Here is a full Coffee Milkshake recipe you might want to check out!
- Make it rich and creamy: Add about ¼ cup of light or whipping cream while blending to make your cold coffee rich and creamy. You may need to add some sugar if you include cream. So do check the taste after the coffee is blended and add more sugar as needed.
- Make it low fat: Use skimmed milk or your preferred low fat milk. If using skimmed milk or low-fat milk, then just reduce the ¼ cup water to about 2 to 3 tablespoons.
- Make it vegan: Substitute your preferred plant milk, such as almond milk, oat milk, or soy milk to make a vegan-friendly blended iced coffee shake.
- Make flavored blended cold coffee: Feel free to add a 1 ounce (2 tablespoons) shot of your favorite flavored syrup to the recipe. You can make a vanilla, hazelnut, or amaretto coffee shake – whatever you like!
- Make Mocha Cold Coffee: For a chocolate mocha cold coffee, add 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder or chocolate syrup before you blend for a second time.
Nutrition Info (Approximate Values)
This Cold Coffee recipe from the blog archives first published in May 2015 has been updated and republished on April 2023.
Made this and it was so good. Thank you.
Thank you for this feedback.
Very tasteful try once
Just tried it, so good and quick to make, thanks for all the wonderful recipes you post – especially love the video recipes.
thank you aparna for this feedback. yes, this cold coffee is easy and too good. most welcome.
Thanks for this recipe.. Me n My Husband throughly enjoyed it.. It’s a go to bed drink!!
Wonderful…I followed the recipe and it was the best home made cold coffee ever! Thanks.
Welcome Pallavi. Glad to know that you liked this cold coffee recipe.
It’s so yummy
Thank you so much for this recipe. This is probably one of the best cold coffees I have ever had. Bless you!
Welcome Monica. Thanks for your best wishes and positive feedback.
hi mam thank you so much, actually it was the first time I made cold coffee myself and it was really easy and delicious as well, thanks again.
welcome meenal. glad to know this.
Dear Dassana,
Sure. Thanks. Please suggest what kind of food we can offer if one is hungry let’s say at 11am i.e.something like quick and healthy and along with this same way something that we can offer at 6:30pm let’s say when we return from office a light munching hunger is there..
Thanks
Welcome Megha. You can make quick sandwiches, poha, upma, veg or potato stir fry, oats porridge, besan cheela, rava cheela, rava dosa, rava idli, uttapam, pongal. all these recipes are posted on the blog. same recipes can be made in the evening. you can also make smoothies, milkshakes and juices.
Dear Dassana,
Please guide what is the difference between cocoa powder and coffee powder like can we substitute one for the other ? Other than cake where can we use cocoa powder.
megha, cocoa powder is from cocoa beans. coffee powder is from coffee beans. both have different taste, aroma and flavor. for a chocolate based recipe, cocoa powder is used. both cannot be substituted for each other. eg if a recipe calls for 3 tbsp cocoa powder, then 3 tbsp coffee powder cannot be added in it. the resulting dish might become bitter. it also depends on the quantity of other ingredients used in the recipe. may be in some recipes both can be substituted but not in all recipes. hope this helps.
hello mam , today tried this method of cold coffee and it turns out very delicious ….thnku so much for such an easy & quick recipe …mam u teach me a lot of recipes, ur my idol mam
thanks a lot zahiba. good to know. i am humbled.
happy cooking.
Thankuuu mam.. mene aaj hi cold coffee bnayi apke method se ..
Bohtt tasty bni..
thanks for the feedback and rating kulwant. glad to know.
Hi,
I tried yours method, it really works to get a tasty nd frothy cold coffee
I often visit your website for recipes, really very nice website for pure vegetarians. Your recipes method are very easy to understand and make.
Thank you.
thanks a lot archi. agree this method works for nice frothy cold coffee. thanks again.
Thank you Dassana for this quick recipe ….. whenever I am in need of any recipe I always find it here…. great work!
Welcome Vidya. Thanks for your positive feedback.
Hi Dassana! This recipe is very easy and tastes really good. Thank you very much for the recipe!
welcome chitra and thanks.
Makes excellent cold coffee!!!!!
hi dassanna
Thanks for the recipe . its looks so simple. i even tried aloo paratha, gobi paratha, aloo mutter, dry fruit milkshake from your blog. all of them turned out well.
you are making me fall in love with cooking !
God bless you !!
Welcome Bhargavi. Glad to know that you are liking the recipes. Thanks for your kind words and best wishes.
This is really good. There is this thing called Iced Capp (Cappuccino) we get in Canada that is very similar taste wise. Your recipes always seem to amaze me.
glad neena you liked the cold coffee recipe 🙂 thank you for your kind words.
hi,this is very awesome cold coffee recipie its look beautifull and make a simple way if you want to buy a best organic coffee come my shop to buy a coffee like this thanks for sharing your ideas
welcome and thankyou.
hi,this post gives awesome recipe for cold coffee using coffee powder its more usefull to us am also using this tips in my coffee so once you to try it thanks for sahring your ideas
welcome and thankyou.
Is it safe to consume “Filtered” Coffee (70%) and Chicory(30%) Mixture with Cold Milk, with some Milk Powders like Bournvita and Complan, after Blend without “Boiling” it?
most coffee blends have some amount of chicory in it. so this is fine to use. if the milk is pasteurized, then no need to boil it. but if the milk is raw, then you will need to boil it. bournvita and complan can be used.
Thanks a lot for the recipe.
It is very simple and yum. Jus tried it and it turned out to be awesome. It tasted like cafe frappe of CCD. I used butter scotch ice cream instead of vanilla ice cream. I am going to experiment this recipe with different flavours of ice cream.
I don’t think I will spend much bucks in CCDs and other coffee shops now.
thanks a lot preksha. glad to know.
i just tried this recipe and must say i am in love with it. Thanks for sharing the recipe
welcome and thankyou shivali 🙂
Sry mam have doubt..whether to use raw milk or boiled milk? Pls reply
gayathri if using packet milk the boiled milk which is chilled and if using tetra pack then use raw but chilled. hope this help’s you.
You can use fresh milk
Once when after preparing cold coffee keep inside refrigerator and drink it it will taste better.
hi dasanna
I’ve made this coffee today but instead of two cups of milk I added only one cup and it turned out delicious. This is as good as Starbucks Frappuccino cold coffee drink(which I love so much) and I am trying to find an equivalent recipe since long time. Finally I was satisfied with this recipe(of course every recipe as I am a regular visitor to your site).
thanks and regards
very pleased to know this pavani 🙂 thankyou for your positive and encouraging words.
Amazing.. I did this with bournvita and my kid just loved it!!!
thats nice 🙂 and thanks for sharing.
Hello Ma’m,
I came across your blog only few days ago n it turned out to be so good for me. Your recipes are simple in making yet soo tasty.. You brought out the cook inside me.. Thank you so much for such wonderful blog.. N Yes m a big fan of you now.. Cheers for You!!
very pleased to know this chetan 🙂 wish you all the best in your cooking skills. thankyou for your kind and encouraging words god bless you.
Hey dasara,
I tried cc recipe came out really well.
second time experimented by adding a tsp of cocoa powder and it enhanced the taste.
Thank you for the recipe
welcome millu 🙂 thankyou for your positive words yeah cocoa powder would be a great addition.
So simple and helpful and tasty!!! Thanks much.
welcome preeti 🙂
Thanks for a nice recipe! I want to taste it! I can’t live without cofee and all coffee drings. I think that all must be the best: coffee, french press, cups. Quality of all of them is very important. Now I need a new french press. What french press can you recommend? I read a good review of the best french presses at the topreviews.best but I can’t make my choice. Help me, please
i don’t use a french press. so cannot recommend any brand.
I have tried the recipe given by you of cold coffee and its amazing. Its very simple.
thank you mahima.
Mam, in the ingredients you have mentioned two cups milk means 500 ml but in the instructions 150 ml has written…and one more thing sugar ,warm water and coffee all have to be blend together, no? And if we pour ice cream in the coffee then have we to reduce the quantity of sugar.
thanks shuchi for pointing the error. its a typo on my part. it is 500 ml. yes – sugar, warm water and coffee all have to blended together. if you use ice cream, then you will have to reduce the quantity of sugar.
Hi dassana. I tried this cold coffee recipe. I loved it.l before few months i came across this site. I have tried so many recipe frome here. All were awesome. Specificaly bessan laddu.thanks for sharing sucha nice recipes.
aarti pleased to know this 🙂 glad you liked the besan laddus thankyou so much and you are welcome.
its nice
nice recipes
If u have more recipes mail it to my ID
and thanks
superb blog!!! everything is so perfect
thanks uzma
MahoolMahool i love cold coffe yar i love it
Mahooooll bana tha yar mai to cold coffee ka fan hogaya hu
Dasanna!
Superb nee vantalu… Johar…. I think this is the superb blog to know about veg recipe’s.
Can you pl post some international veg items too pl..
Hi Amit and Dassana
It is a delight to have discovered your blog. I have tried lots of recipies, the latest being masala paniyaram. All of them have turned out really well. I can see that u maintain this blog very well and the recipies are tried and tested meticulously. That is why we get such perfect results:) I need your help to recommend a good mixer grinder. My ‘National’ one just conked off. I suspect it could be due to grinding the idli dosa batter.. What is good for such heavy duty work? I also need something in which I can grind green chutney in small quantity without adding too much water. Also what is a magic bullet? I found the reference a number of times in your blog. Please recommend!
‘
thanks a lot shalini. for heavy grinding, i use preethi mixer grinder. it has 750 watts motor and works very well for grinding coconut pastes, dals and rice. the mixer comes with 4 jars. one for a juicer, 2 for wet and dry grinding, and 1 small jar for chutney grinding. the small jar works good for small amounts of green chutney. even magic bullet is good for making small amounts of chutney and purees. magic bullet is an american brand of mincer, chopper and blender. you can search on google and you will come to their official website.
Its awesome, simply superb, thank u!!!
thanks matha
Hey , I have tried ur recipe for d first tym….it was amazing!!!!!
N from now onwards m not going to miss any of ur recipes….
Thanx for sharing such wonderful dishes….
welcome parakh. glad to know this.
I have been gone thru ur almost reciepes. . All r juz amazing.. I learnt so many things from dis blog.. very innovative ideas.. n very different flavours.. a best blog ever for Indian cooking. .n Thank u so much for being dere..sharing dese wonderful reciepes
welcome shilpa. thanks for sharing positive feedback on blog and recipes.
Hi Dasanna,
Tried Cold Coffee recipe yesterday.
Was really delicious.
Thankyou…..
welcome priya. glad to know this.
Hello dassana. I wanted to ask you if whether it will taste good if we replace auger with milkmaid. In some households it is prepared that way. M glad I came across this site. Your recipes are amazing.
what is auger? do you mean agar agar? and in which recipe?
I think she/he meant to type ‘sugar’. 🙂
i could not figure out this one. thanks ya 🙂
what you are is saying is probably right.
I want to thank you for this great recipe….coz I was not happy with the traditional way of putting everything together in blender and just blend it…that way it was just too much froth separated out from milk, so essentially that froth had no taste. Finally I thought to search online if there is any good recipe and voila! here I was!! It turned out awesome..
I enjoyed to see the coffee being beaten in mixer and changing color. Only lil thing that I noticed is may be water is not required even 1/4 cup (coz then my coffee turned out too watery). SO next I added just few tablespoons (may be like 2-3) and wow it was all awesome after. Thanks once again!
thanks you abbi. i agree i have made coffee by adding everything in the blender. the result was sometimes instant coffee grains not dissolved and a bland tasting froth. we did not have a thin coffee, as the milk i used was a full cream milk. i think if using skimmed milk or a low fat milk, then the amount of water can be reduced. i will update in the post too. 1/4 cup water is about 4 tbsps. so as you mention 2 tbsp should be fine.
Thanks! Love your recipes and the detailing. The food always turn out great! Do you also have recipe for good strong hot coffee? My beau is a coffee lover and I have tried various things buts its never like the cafes…. Wud b happy if u have something!
Keep it up
welcome pooja. i have a recipe for a good strong hot coffee. i will share it soon probably during indian monsoons.
Thanks, its awesome.
welcome neelam
I have tried many recipes from ur blog and all truned awesome everytime.
More than anything I have learned to use right masala only after I started reading ur blog before that there was always something more or less.Am very very thankful for ur blog.
I appreciate ur effort and dedication.
thanks diya for your positive feedback. good to know this.
Sounds delicious… I’m just gonna try it today…
really nice…
Awesome…i just love ur pages!
thanks ankita
Hi dear
Nyc coffee . Wat I did extra was adding Hershey’s chocolate syrup. That gave a rich twist to the cold coffee.. U shud try
Well m beating the heat dis way
Cheers!!!!
thanks himani for your suggestion. i know many people add chocolate syrup. it taste good.
It’s so yummy and tasty coffee. Thank you so much.
thanks sonali and welcome. nice to know you liked the recipe.