Mix together sugar and water in a sauce pan to make this simple syrup that will store on your shelf for months. Use it to sweeten your iced coffee beverage – or any cold drink – instead of table sugar so it blends nicely without needing to dissolve.
If you follow me on Instagram, you already know that we spent this last weekend in Birmingham, Alabama, just for fun. This was our first family trip with no agenda to visit friends or family, or travel for work! It was really nice to just enjoy our kids and each other.
Birmingham is AWESOME! We’ve driven through and stopped for lunch during road trips to North Carolina, but we’ve never spent any real time there before. I’m so glad it’s only less than 4 hours away, making it a great place to visit for the weekend. We definitely plan to go back A LOT! Birmingham actually has a great food scene, too! …more on that later.
Have you been to Birmingham? If so, tell me your favorite places because I’m keeping a Birmingham Pinterest board to bookmark any ideas for future visits!
Whenever we travel, we always treat ourselves to iced coffee, usually at Starbucks since I have gift cards. 😉 Funny enough, though, this weekend we were missing our homemade iced coffee! Weird, I know. I think it’s because when I make it at home, I can make it exactly how I want it. When I order it at a coffee shop, I just quickly say “vanilla iced coffee with cream, please!” and hope the barista just magically knows the ratio I like. Ha!
Everyone has different tastes, but my perfect iced coffee ratio is about 3/4th cold brew coffee concentrate, 1/8th water, 1/8th milk and then about 2-3 Tablespoons of this homemade liquid sugar sweetener. Ben, on the other hand, likes it a little less strong with about a 1:1 ratio of coffee concentrate to water, then adds his favorite International Delight French Vanilla creamer.
When it comes to hot coffee, I stir in raw sugar (my favorite right now is Tate + Lyle – have you tried it?). But, raw sugar – and even regular table sugar – does not dissolve too well into cold coffee. That’s why I keep this liquid sugar on hand. It makes a bunch and I just store it in a air-tight bottle on my countertop, with the rest of my coffee bar items. And, you can use it to sweeten any of your favorite beverages, not just coffee. Or, package it up as a gift!
I have made a pumpkin spiced version of liquid sweetener, and plan to try more varieties in the future. But, right now, I like it simple. How do you drink your iced coffee?
Coffee Syrup (Liquid Sugar for Cold Drinks)
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 cups water
- 3 cups granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
Instructions
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In a medium saucepan, cook and stir the water and sugars over medium-high heat until thickened, about 10-15 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the lemon juice. Cool completely.
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Using a funnel, pour into a bottle with an air-tight lid or pump dispenser. Store on your counter-top up to two months.
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Recipe Source: Paula Deen
Recipe Notes
(The lemon juice is to keep the liquid sugar from crystalizing and does not add lemon flavor.) Add 3 Tablespoons of vanilla extract to make this a vanilla syrup, or try any other favorite flavored extract.
Okay I could go on and on about Birmingham/Tuscaloosa/Montevallo so I will leave you with a few important ones:
Children’s Museum of Tuscaloosa (CHOM) – it is smaller than the one in Jackson but if you want to break up your trip (kids need to get some energy out) – it is a great place to spend a couple of hours – (make sure you don’t go on home game days as there would be nowhere to park) and its right by a ton of “local” Tuscaloosa restaurants.
McWane Science Center (Birmingham) – your kids might be a little young for it now, but we went there several times for field trips – I enjoyed it even in high school
Birmingham Civil Rights Institute – this might be an adults only excursion but it is super-well done and if you go on Sunday afternoon it is free.
Thanks, Karen! Adding to my list!! 🙂
Chez Fonfon in Birmingham is great! I’m not a chocolate lover but their chocolate pot de creme is out of this world good, and they have solid french bistro food that is pretty reasonable.
Thanks, Katelyn! I’ve heard of Chez Fonfon and need to go!
Would you be able to use splenda??
Hi Mandy,
I haven’t tried making this with Splenda, but I believe you can substitute it in using a 1:1 ratio with the water. So, 3 cups Splenda stirred into 3 cups of water. Also, you might not need to cook it as long since it won’t hardly thicken and it dissolves more quickly than water. Should keep for a couple of weeks. Let us know how it turns out! (Maybe start with 1 cup Splenda and 1 cup water)
Hi Nikki,
Greetings from Indonesia.
I noticed that cold brew coffee can be store up to one month, but how about if I blend it first with syrup then store it? Can it be store up to 1 month also?
So every time i want my iced coffee, it’s already has flavor and ready to drink!
Thanks so much!
Deka
Hi Deka,
You can most certainly try that, but something tells me that might not be a great idea for the best optimal taste. I’m not expert on this, but my gut is saying it’s best to blend when ready to drink. 🙂
I see. Well, i’m just gonna give it a try then.
Thanks!
Come back and let us know what you think! 🙂
Iced coffee with sugar won’t last as long as without but you’ll know it’s starting to turn when your iced coffee starts to get a little thick and syrupy. Also not a good idea to store it too long with creamer added … Just give it a good shake and add a little hot water(maybe about a half tablespoon) and that will help it once it’s starting to go syrupy… Though it’s suggested to make smaller batches and keep it 7-10 days in the fridge… Also use coffee ice cubes so yuou don’t water it down( add a little sugar before pouring i nto the trays so u don’t lose your sweetness) … Iced coffee is all I drink and I’ve been making it for the last 15 years or so….
How do you strain yours?
I’ve been stirring this for like twenty minutes and it’s not getting thick.
So I’m just throwing this out there, I had to do mine longer because of elevatuon. And maybe it depends on when you started timing..once it began to bubble or when you first put it on the flame. Also, how high your flame was and how you describe thick…i don’t think it’s suppose to be pancake syrup thick, just a change in the way water stirs and the slight thickness of coffee syrup thick hope that helps and is correct info.
How long does it last for and in what and where should we store it?
Hi May,
Store in an air-tight container on your counter-top for up to two months.
Thanks!
hi can i substitute raw sugar? thanks
We’ve really been getting into drinking cold brewed coffee lately. We tried your recipe for liquid sugar & really liked it, so much that I made a double batch since the shelf life is so long. However, the last bottle started to ferment and it was only 21 days since the liquid sugar was made. Yes, I did say we enjoy cold brewed coffee!! It’s still good but has a slight ” yeasty” taste. What would’ve caused this to happen? All the bottles were stored in the same cool place & in the same type bottle shown on your site. Thanks!
Interesting, Donna! Unfortunately, I’m not sure why that would have happened. I’m hoping another reader might see your comment and have some advice!
Thamk uoi, on mu second batch. So when using raw sugar, do you still use brown sugar ? And why cook so long, the sugar dissolved faster than that.
Sorry for the sp. Errors
Hi Marie,
I have not used raw sugar in this recipe, so I can’t answer that part of your question. Sorry! The syrup is cooked long so that it thickens. Hope this helps!
So I did it with both the raw sugar and the regular sugar and my husband seems to like the regular sugar better