Why does iced coffee cost more

Coffee, hot or cold, is arguably the closest thing to hard evidence that God does, indeed, exist. There are in fact, reasons behind why iced coffee makes a bigger dent in our wallets. What with all the, you know, ice, iced coffee should cost less because it takes less coffee to fill, right? Iced drinks also require plastic cups as opposed to paper , not to mention straws. Iced drinks go hand in hand with condensation, and we all love us a handful of napkins for just one cup.

It's such a contentious issue that an Illinois woman is suing Starbucks for filling her iced coffee cups with too much ice. It's not easy to tell whether iced coffee is more expensive to make, according to former barista Cale Guthrie Weissman and reporter at Fast Company, but the current trend toward "cold brew"—which is not as simple as just brewing hot and throwing it in the fridge--has made the process extremely expensive.

Cold brew coffee , for the uninitiated, is coffee brewed with cold or room-temperature water instead of hot water. Since the lower temperatures mean extraction is slow, it can take hours to make—often half a day—and requires more coffee. A standard water to coffee ratio might be For cold brew, it might be 4.

If you purchase a jug of iced coffee without any creamer or sweeteners, you can add your favorite creamer or sweetener or drink it black over some ice. Another relatively easy way to have iced coffee whenever you want is to brew coffee how you normally would but put it in the fridge overnight. A delicious cup of iced coffee. In the morning, all you have to do is pull the coffee out of the fridge and prepare your drink how you like.

Making iced coffee this way only requires one extra step compared to buying pre-made iced coffee. If you have a newer Keurig model, you may have the option to create iced coffee with it. Commercial ice machines can run into the thousands of dollars, and many coffee shops only really use them a couple of months a year. Otherwise, they take up space and waste energy. Most coffee shops make their iced coffee using a different method than the one they use for hot coffee, and the process is costlier and more time-consuming.

They do this so that the coffee is stronger and won't get diluted when it's iced. Coffee that is brewed cold uses about twice as many beans as hot brew.

And it takes longer to make: Most cold brew needs to steep for between 12 and 24 hours.