I like the taste of coffee. During the past few summers, I often visited a local non-profit coffee shop to grab a refreshing handmade ice coffee. The baristas there made my drinks to suit my personal tastes. Some of the girls even gave me hugs.
I loved the atmosphere of the place, but the drinks were so ridiculously expensive. And, naturally, I felt obligated to generously tip the loving young baristas. However, I felt ripped off big-time when I discovered that the ice coffee drinks consisted of half ice cubes.
I recently learned to make these indulgences myself for a fraction of the coffee shop price. Even better, I discovered that there was such a thing as an iced coffee bar. I was so excited to have found an iced coffee bars recipe I had to share it.
How Can I Make Iced Coffee Bars?
Since coffee shops don’t always sell iced coffee bars, not everybody knows of their existence or exactly what they are. Well, a coffee bar is basically a brownie ala mode. Coffee ice cream provides the ice coffee taste that coffee lovers enjoy. Here is the recipe I found:
Iced Coffee Bars
Yield: 16 servings
Prep time: 10 minutes
Difficulty level: Easy
What You Need:
- 1 pan cooled baked brownies (store-bought or homemade; 8×8 or 9×13)
- 1/2 gallon softened low-fat vanilla ice cream
- 1/2 gallon softened low-fat coffee ice cream
- 1 or more cans whipped cream
- 1 x 3-ounce chocolate bar, peeled into garnishment curls
- Caramel or chocolate syrup for garnishment
What You Do:
- Bake and cool brownies if you are baking them instead of purchasing pre-made brownies.
- Sit the ice cream out to soften enough to be spread over the brownie crust without damaging it.

If you want a thinner “crust” for your bars and/or you want to double the number of servings, do the following:
- Carefully remove the baked brownies from the pan, uncut if possible.
- Slice through the brownies sideways to make the bar crust half as thick.
- Put the bottom half of the baked brownies back into the pan and find a second pan to put the top half into.
- Spread the softened coffee ice cream over brownies, smoothing it out. Freeze for 15-30 minutes.
- Spread the softened vanilla ice cream over the frozen coffee ice cream, smoothing it out. Freeze for 30 minutes or until you’re ready to serve.
What You Do Just Before Serving:
- Run a peeler along the side of the refrigerated chocolate bar to make pretty chocolate curls for the final garnishment. Set this garnishment aside.
- Take the pan(s) of frozen brownie/ice cream out of the freezer and slice it into square or rectangular bars.
- Squirt whipped cream onto each bar.
- Garnish with the chocolate curls.
- Drizzle caramel or chocolate syrup over the top
- Serve immediately.
How Can I Make a Good Iced Coffee Beverage at Home?
Ice coffee is inexpensive to make. Containing just four ingredients, these purely American concoctions are also quick and easy to make. Yet, people who know how to make these beverages are perceived as all-around gourmet cooks.
There are many ways to add to customize these drinks, but here is a simple recipe that anyone can use to get started making ice coffee:
Ice Coffee
Yield: 1 serving
Prep time: 5 minutes
Difficulty level: Easy
What You Need:
- 1 c. ice cubes (or coffee ice cubes)
- 1 c. coffee, chilled or room temperature
- 2 T cream, milk, or Half & Half
- 1-2 t granulated white sugar (or use a flavored syrup)
What You Do:
- Fill glass with ice cubes.
- Pour in coffee.
- Add the cream, milk, or Half & Half
- Add the sugar or syrup (See simple syrup recipe below)
- Stir
- Enjoy!
Notes:
- Add ice if you want it thinner
- Use nonfat milk or fat-free Half & Half to cut down on milk fat. Alternatively, you could use coconut milk and adjust the sweetening to taste.
- Use a low-calorie or no-calorie sweetener instead of the sugar or syrup if you want to avoid sugar. Or get much of the sweetness from coconut milk, as mentioned.
Simple Syrup
What You Need:
- ½ c. water
- ½ c. granulated white sugar
What You Do:
- Pour the water and the sugar into a small saucepan.
- Bring to a boil.
- Reduce the heat to low.
- Simmer until the sugar is fully dissolved.
- Remove the pan from the heat source and set it aside to cool.
- Chill until you are ready to make ice coffee.
Notes:
- If you want to make a flavored syrup instead of a simple syrup, add/stir in flavoring to taste after the syrup cools down, before or after you chill it.
Can I Use Hot Coffee to Make an Ice Coffee Drink?

Sometimes I forget to put my French press with finely ground coffee beans and water in the refrigerator before I go to bed so that I can quickly make ice coffee the next day. Nobody wants to wait for hot coffee to cool down, but I did just that until a friend taught me a much quicker way. Another alternative is using a cold brew which is much stronger.
I wanted to make one of my killer ice coffee concoctions for my best friend one hot summer day last year. I admit, I wanted to show off my newly-acquired barista skills just a little bit. I opened the refrigerator and realized that I’d forgotten to prepare the night before. That was when my friend showed me a way to cool down hot coffee in just five minutes. It turned out that she already knew how to make ice coffee!
Obviously, ice is involved in the process. Melting ice cubes into the coffee, however, is not involved. Here is my friend’s ingenious way to cool down hot coffee within five minutes of brewing the coffee:
- Brew hot coffee.
- Get out two Pyrex containers or some other heat-proof containers.
- Fill one container with one to two cups of ice.
- Pour the hot coffee into the container that has ice.
- Quickly pour the coffee and ice into the empty container.
- Repeat pouring the coffee and ice back and forth until it has significantly cooled down.
- Put fresh ice into the glass you’ll use for your ice coffee.
- Pour just the cooled coffee (not the used ice) into the glass and proceed making your ice coffee as usual.