How to make a fast iced-latte - no special equipment required

Do you ever sit at home in the hot weather longing for an iced-latte, but wonder if it's really worth frying in the car on the way to the Coffee Shop.

Perhaps you think that making your own would be just too much trouble.

This very quick an easy recipe will have you back under your parasol in no time at all, and you don't even need any special ingredients or equipment (assuming that you already have a coffee maker).

Yes I did say hot coffee.

Well you can't make it in the machine with cold water now can you?

Add ground coffee to the coffee maker basket in a quantity equivalent to half the total number of cups you require. Then add half the amount of water that corresponds to the amount of coffee you used. By that I mean one quarter of the total amount of liquid that you require for all the cups you'd like to fill.

If you already have sun-stroke you might find this difficult to compute so I'll give you an example.

• You're making 8 cups worth of iced latte (enough for four glasses).
• Add enough ground coffee to the basket for 4 cups of coffee
• Add enough cold water to the coffee machine for 2 cups of coffee
• Switch on the machine

This will make a fairly weak latte so if you like it stronger then add more coffee :-)

Meanwhile prepare the glasses by adding four large ice cubes to each one.

After the coffee has brewed take the coffee pot off the plate and run the bottom of it gently under luke-warm water (not cold water as it may crack).

When the pot is cool enough to touch, pour the coffee over the ice until each glass is half full. Wait for about 2 minutes until the ice has melted.

( If you have a really sweet tooth then add sugar to the hot coffee in a mug before pouring it over the ice, otherwise it won't dissolve properly).

Fill up the remaining space in the glass with cold milk from the fridge, but leave about half an inch at the top (or a cm and a half if you prefer).

Give your lattes a stir and plop in another one of two ice cubes...

If you're feeling decadent, crown it all off with a squirt of that cream you've been keeping for just such an occasion...and if you're lucky you might find a few chocolaty chips hiding somewhere, or you can add a few shavings from the block of chocolate you'd been saving for later.

Then just kick back and enjoy...

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