The time has come. The weather is cold, the holidays have come and gone, and for many, iced coffee is a distant memory. Since investing in an espresso machine, I’ve been exploring different flavors for my lattes. Unfortunately, I find store-bought syrups to be terribly sweet, so I started making my own. After some trial and error, I’ve found a base simple syrup recipe ratio I am happy with, and I’ll be sharing that with you. You’ll even see three additional flavor variations that I like to use, but feel free to come up with your own, too!

But first: How to store your simple syrup

Before we get into any recipes, it’s important to have a container to store this simple syrup. I like using 12-16oz glass bottles with swing tops like these. If you have a local brewing supply store near you, they typically carry them, too. I highly recommend pouring the syrup into these bottles with a funnel for safety & no mess.

If you don’t want to invest in a couple of bottles, mason jars or other heat-safe sealable containers are also a fine option, but may be a little messy when the time comes to pour syrup into your coffee. Whatever you have, be sure it’s heat safe, as the contents (boiling water and sugar mixture) will initially be very hot.

But what about iced coffee and cold brew?

If even in sub-zero temperatures, you’re committed to your iced coffee, I have good news. You can absolutely put simple syrup in iced coffee and cold brew. I do it because I hate the mouth feel of gritty sugar granules while I’m sucking my coffee down with desperation in the dead of summer. I just find the flavor profiles of these syrups paired with hot lattes to be the perfect way to put me in that cozy, winter mood. There is not much better than curling up with a cozy blanket and cup of coffee while listening to the rain fall.

However you make your coffee - iced, hot, French pressed, percolated, or pulled for espresso - I encourage you to consider spicing it up with homemade syrups. It’s a really easy way to get creative in the kitchen and explore seasonal flavors in your morning cup. Now, onto the recipes - happy brewing!

Base Simple Syrup Recipe

By Bake Gia Bake
This isn't super new or revolutionary. Most simple syrup recipes out there have similar ratios. Intead of 1:1 ratio, I add just slightly more sugar so the base is a little bit thicker (vs a more watery syrup). This base allows for experiemntation in flavors, a few that I've tried I will share below. When refrigerated and sealed well, these syrups are best used within 3 weeks of creation.
Prep time: 5 minutes | Cook time: 5 minutes | Cooling time: 1 hour | Total time: 01:10
Yield: ~ 14 ounces

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups of water
1 3/4 cups of sugar

Instructions

Add water and sugar to sauce pot and turn on heat to medium-low.
Stir so that water and sugar are mixed a bit, then let come to a simmmer. If simmer turns to a rolling boil, drop the heat to low immediately. Keep a damp pastry brush or damp paper towel handy to wipe the sides of the pot to remove any sugar above the water line.
Let simmer until sugar has dissolved. Then take off the heat and set aside for 5 minutes to cool a bit.
After it has cooled a little, use a funnel to carefully pour into your swing top bottle (or other heat-safe container). Your contents will still be on the hotter side, so take your time during this step!
Cool bottle on counter for an hour before storing in the fridge (best enjoyed within 3 weeks).

Variations

Vanilla syrup: Add 2 vanilla beans during simmer. Add beans to the bottle with the final syrup & shake before each use.
Brown sugar syrup: Replace granulated sugar in base recipe with dark brown sugar.
Pumpkin spice syrup: Before simmering, add in 1/4 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice & 1/4 cup of pumpkin puree to base recipe ingredients. Simmer as you would with the base recipe. Strain out any solids before putting in heat-safe container.