How To Make an Iced Latte at Home

Ok, for all of you coffee lovers out there, here is a way to save some money and still enjoy those wonderful iced lattes. We do love our local coffee shops, but come on, who likes to spend four to five dollars on lattes everyday? We noticed we were spending way too much money on coffee.

It was time to try to make our own espresso drinks at home!

What is the best espresso machine?

When it comes to buying an espresso machine, you spend a few hundred dollars or a few thousand. And some commercial grade machines can cost more than a car! That’s right. I found one that was over $21k. That is insane.

We knew we didn’t want to dip into the kid’s college fund to feed our coffee addiction, and we didn’t want to get a cheap machine that would break after a few months.

After some research, we learned that getting a super-automatic espresso machine was the way to go. If you’re not familiar with this type of machine, it basically does all the work for you, from grinding the beans to frothing milk for hot drinks.

They are a little bit of an investment upfront, but if you love espresso drinks, they definitely save you money in the long run. They also offer you the convenience to have a latte anytime you want, which can be good and bad.

After reading about a lot of different machines, we went with the Saeco Incanto. And we absolutely love it!

How to make an iced latte

Although your local coffee shop makes it look like a science, I have confidence that if I can do this, you can too.

Here are the steps for making a simple iced latte.

Ice and Milk

First, fill your cup with ice about 3/4 of the way. Then pour milk up to the top of the ice. We really like Horizon 2 percent Organic Milk, but that is just our preference.

Some people like whole milk in their lattes and you can also use almond milk.

Espresso

Now, it’s time for the espresso. If you’ve never used a super-automatic before, you would be amazed at how super simple it is.

In the Saeco, there is a hopper for whole coffee beans and a reservoir for water. The key to good espresso is high quality freshly ground beans.

We use Lavazza beans. We have tried a lot of different beans, and these are the best!

After you turn the power button on, it takes about 30 seconds for it to warm up. There is an Aroma Strength button that allows you to set the strength of your shots. We keep ours turned all the way up. Once the warm-up cycle is complete, all you have to do is press the Espresso button, and it only takes a few seconds to pull the shot.

Pour the shots over your glass of iced milk. Depending on the size of the glass you are using and how strong you like your lattes, you may want to add another shot.

Flavor

If you like to add some sweetness to your iced latte, now is the time to do it. We normally just add 1-2 pumps of Monin Pure Cane Sugar syrup. This will give you a light sweet flavor. 

If you like your lattes super sweet like our daughter, you may want to use 3-4 pumps of the syrup. Some people like flavored syrup and occasionally we’ll use vanilla.

Final Thoughts

The convenience of being able to make an iced latte at home whenever we want has been great! It’s also allowed us to save a lot of money. If you find yourself still waiting in line at your local coffee shop way too often, I think you should give this a try. You won’t regret it!