Iced Latte vs Iced Coffee: Here’s How They Differ

CoffeeSphere

4 years ago

There are so many coffee drinks out there. We know it’s easy to get confused. So if you’re looking to become a pro at ordering at a cafe and are trying to figure out the difference between iced latte and iced coffee, this will answer your questions.

Though both are iced drinks, iced latte and iced coffee shouldn’t be used interchangeably.

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Let’s uncover the differences between iced latte and iced coffee…

What’s the Difference Between Iced Latte and Iced Coffee?

The main difference between both drinks is the coffee to milk ratio in each. Iced coffee has little to no milk, meanwhile an iced latte is mostly made of milk. As for the coffee, an iced latte has a shot of espresso, meanwhile iced coffee contains brewed coffee.

So even if you added more milk to an iced coffee, it wouldn’t be an iced latte. Let’s go into detail and cover how each is made so you can see the difference.

How to make iced coffee

To make iced coffee, first decide on a method you want to use. For most of our iced coffee recipes that we make at home and have shared here, like our iced cayenne pepper coffee and our iced bubble coffee, we used a French press. But you can also use other brewing tools like a Keurig, drip coffee maker or Chemex. Next, add ice to a tall glass, pour brewed coffee in and add in sugar or any sweeteners. Give it a stir and enjoy immediately. That’s iced coffee!

When we make our iced coffee, we like to let the coffee cool down after brewing and wait for it to be room temperature before adding it to the ice. If not, the ice cubes will dissolve almost immediately and the iced coffee will be super diluted – that’s not what we want to drink!

At times when we do pour in the coffee immediately after brewing due to lack of time or other reasons, we recommend using coffee ice cubes. This just involves freezing coffee (preferably with the same brewed coffee we’re using for the iced coffee we’re preparing) in ice cube trays for a few hours and you can also be creative and use flavored coffee ice cubes.

How to make iced latte

The name caffe latte is coffee with milk in Italian. So a latte is a coffee drink made with milk. The breakdown is typically one part espresso, three parts steamed milk and a layer of milk foam on top, where you might add some latte art. (A regular hot latte involves steamed milk. But does an iced latte use steamed milk? We don’t steam our milk for iced lattes since the milk is going to be cold anyway with the addition of ice.)

We make our iced lattes at home by pulling a shot of espresso with an espresso machine. We then put that shot of espresso in a cocktail shaker along with cold milk, ice and syrup, give the ingredients a shake and pour it into a tall glass. That’s an iced latte!

Even if you don’t have an espresso machine at home, you can still make an iced latte at home. In replacement of an espresso machine, you can also use a moka pot or Aeropress, or brew a concentrated coffee made with a French press.

You also don’t have to use the cocktail shaker method and can just mix all the ingredients in the tall glass immediately. (We just like using it with our barista blend milk alternative, which is formulated to froth so we can have little foam on top of the iced latte.) After pulling the shot of espresso, pour it into a tall glass filled with ice. Add cold milk and any sweeteners and enjoy.

Since the milk is cold, the ice won’t melt immediately but we still like to add coffee ice cubes in place of water based ice cubes so the iced latte doesn’t dilute.

So this is how you make an iced coffee and an iced latte. Did you catch some of the differences?

Iced Latte vs Iced Coffee

The two main differences between iced latte and iced coffee are the brewing method used for the coffee and the coffee to milk ratio. Here’s what we mean:

Brewing Method

Iced coffee uses any type of brewed coffee. The coffee brewed hot and simply poured over ice.

Iced latte is made with a shot of espresso. The espresso is made with an espresso machine, mixed with milk and poured over ice.

Coffee to Milk Ratio

The ratio of coffee to milk is much higher in an iced latte than iced coffee.

Iced coffee doesn’t necessarily need milk, though you can add milk to it. Meanwhile, an iced latte wouldn’t be an iced latte without milk, since iced lattes are one part espresso to three parts milk, resulting in a sort of coffee flavored milk.

Is there something in between?

If you’re looking for a coffee drink that’s somewhere in the middle between an iced coffee and iced latte, you’d be looking at an iced cafe misto (cafe au lait) or a iced cappuccino with cold foam (iced cappuccinos aren’t really a thing since it’s made of ⅓ espresso, ⅓ steamed milk and ⅓ foamed milk. There should be foamed milk on top to call it a cappuccino and hot foamed milk is likely to seep right into the cold beverage, which is why it’s not common to see an iced cappuccino on a menu.)

Same beans, same sweeteners

Though we are discussing differences here, there are similarities. If you’re wondering about the type of coffee beans you should be using for iced lattes and iced coffee that you make at home, you can use the same coffee beans. There isn’t a special iced coffee specific coffee bean or a specific espresso coffee bean for the iced latte. Any of your favorite beans that are freshly ground will work. Also similarly, both can be sweetened in the same way, whether it’s with a coffee syrup, sauce or just sugar.

Again, it’s about using espresso vs brewed coffee and the amount of milk you’re putting in that makes the difference.

Here are some more questions about iced latte vs iced coffee that you may be wondering about:

Does iced latte or iced coffee have more caffeine?

By ounce, espressos contain more caffeine than brewed coffee so it would seem like iced lattes have more caffeine than iced coffee. But this really depends on the size of your drink and assuming you used the same coffee beans.

We’ll use Mayo Clinic’s numbers to help explain. According to them, 8 ounces of brewed coffee contains 96 milligrams of caffeine. A shot of espresso, which is one ounce, contains 64 milligrams of caffeine.

Let’s say you order at a cafe or make an 8 ounce iced coffee and an 8 ounce iced latte at home. The iced coffee would have approximately 96 milligrams of caffeine if you used 8 ounces of brewed coffee. If the iced latte had one shot of espresso, it would contain 64 milligrams of caffeine.

So the iced coffee would have more caffeine. But if you prefer a stronger iced latte and added more shots of espresso like a double shot to the iced latte, then you’d have 64 x 2 = 128 milligrams of caffeine, bringing up the caffeine content of the iced latte.

Is iced latte or iced coffee better for you?

It comes down to what you put in your iced latte or iced coffee, like the type of sweeteners or if you put whipped cream on top. The sweeteners like coffee syrups added to iced coffee will add much more sugar than consuming it as a plain coffee over ice. And if you add whipped cream to a latte, it will add more fat than if it was just the espresso and milk. So as much as we love experimenting with sugars and other creams, we just enjoy it in moderation.

If you are looking for healthier alternatives to flavor your ice coffee, we’ve tested these 5 healthy ways to sweeten cold brew coffee and spice it up too! We also have homemade coffee creamer recipes that you could add to iced coffee.