How to Make the Best Iced Gourmet Ground Coffee And Save Money

I'm officially an "iced coffee nut." I'm always seen gripping a plastic cup of iced roasted coffee whenever I'm on the subway, meeting up with friends, or entering the office in the morning. Iced coffee is a little bit decadent and oh so refreshing. But when you buy it from a coffee house, it can be costly.

I recently finished college and got a job as a blogger, making $10 an hour. I realized that on this salary, and with all my student loans begging to be paid, I could no longer afford to support my $16-a-day iced coffee habit. "I'll just limit myself to one or two iced coffees a day," I thought. But that it would be impossible. The only solution I could see was to MAKE MY OWN iced fresh roasted coffee.

I'd never made my own iced coffee before. But as I assembled my fresh roasted coffee, white sugar, full cream milk and ice cubes for the first time, I realized it made perfect sense. When you make your own iced roasted coffee, you can get it just the way you like it – just the right strength, sweetness or creaminess.

After making my own iced coffee just a couple of times, I hit the jackpot with my iced coffee recipe. Here's how I do it.

1)Put a heaped teaspoon of good quality gourmet ground coffee and a heaped teaspoon of white sugar in a plastic cup, and cover it with just enough boiling water so it dissolves (about an inch). Stir it well.

2)Fill the cup with some cold water and full cream milk – about equal proportions of each. By now, you have a tall, almost full plastic cup of beautiful iced fresh roasted coffee. But something's missing: condensed milk.

3)So, add a dash of condensed milk. When you add a little condensed milk to your iced coffee, your drink will taste sweeter and richer in every way.

4)Add some ice cubes, put a lid on your plastic cup and head out the door, sipping on your wonderful iced coffee through a straw. You can also add a little whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla icecream to be really indulgent.

And there you have it. You can make your own iced roasted coffee in just a matter of minutes for a fraction of what a coffee house would charge you for it. And you don't even need to buy plastic cups, lids and straws – you can simply wash and re-use the cups that you get from coffee houses.

"But what about when I'm at work and want another iced coffee?" I hear you say. It's easy. Just increase the quantities in the above recipe and make a bigger batch of iced coffee. Then, carry a large flask of iced roasted coffee with you when you're on the go, or keep a large jug of iced coffee in the fridge to enjoy at your leisure. Too easy! Join the bandwagon and spread the word about how easy it is to make your own iced coffee and save money!