When Should Ice Go Into Hand Brewed Coffee?

Hot water still does the extracting in iced pour-over; the ice only cools the finished cup, so its timing changes concentration rather than extraction. Adding ice to the server before brewing lets it melt into the stream and dilute the result, while adding ice after brewing keeps the coffee stronger and lets you control how much meltwater ends up in the cup.

Because ice dilutes the drink and cold suppresses perceived flavor, bean choice matters more here than in hot pour-over. Medium-light roasted coffees with strong aromatics hold up better than subtle ones. If you filter out the unmelted ice afterward, you keep more of the original concentration; leaving it in gives a lighter, more refreshing cup that keeps shifting as the ice melts. For those used to brewing coffee with milk, this iced method offers a different way to enjoy the same beans.

Although autumn has arrived, the summer heat has not yet subsided, and iced pour-over coffee remains a favorite among many enthusiasts. But should the ice be added before brewing or after? And after brewing, should the unmelted ice be filtered out? These details directly affect the concentration and flavor expression of the final cup. This article will start with bean selection, combine it with Front Street Coffee's brewing examples, analyze the impact of adding ice at different stages on the coffee's taste, and discuss the pros and cons of over-icing, helping you consistently make a cup of iced pour-over that is both refreshing and rich, whether at home or in a café.

Autumn has already arrived, and the first cup of milk tea has been finished, but the weather is still unbearably hot! Since the heat refuses to leave, let's continue discussing a topic that has recently drawn a lot of attention: when making iced pour-over, should the ice be added first or later? And if the ice is filtered out, what changes will that bring?

Before we officially begin, let's first talk about the approach to bean selection for iced coffee. Because once ice enters the coffee, the overall concentration of iced pour-over is inherently lower than that of hot pour-over, and low temperatures also suppress our sensitivity to flavor, so when selecting beans, it's best to lean toward types with prominent aroma expression.

If you prefer a refreshing taste, you can prioritize medium-light roasted coffee beans, such as Front Street Coffee's Fruit Dingding and Front Street Coffee's Florals; if you want a fuller fruity aroma, Front Street Coffee's Strawberry Candy and Front Street Coffee's Sidra would be good choices; and if you're after a full-bodied, low-acid, rich style, Front Street Coffee's PWN Golden Mandheling and Front Street Coffee's Queen's Estate are worth trying.

The cooling of iced pour-over relies entirely on ice cubes

It needs to be made clear that iced pour-over is not simply extracting with ice water. Ice water itself lacks sufficient heat to effectively extract the aromatic substances in coffee, so hot water is still used during the brewing stage, while ice cubes take on the main task of cooling the entire cup of coffee.

However, ice cubes also bring a side effect—diluting the coffee. Imagine this: if you follow the common hot pour-over ratio of 1:15 coffee-to-water, and add ice after brewing to cool it down, 15 grams of coffee corresponds to 225 milliliters of water, and 225 milliliters of water requires at least 150 grams of ice to cool. The ice will eventually melt, and once it becomes water, the coffee-to-water ratio changes from 1:15 to greater than 1:15, so the final concentration of this cup of iced coffee will inevitably be significantly lowered.

So before making iced coffee, you need to figure out the appropriate ratio first, so that the ice can fully cool the coffee while also keeping the concentration within the ideal range after it melts.

For example

Front Street Coffee's iced pour-over uses a coffee-to-water-to-ice ratio of 1:10:7. Calculated for 15 grams of coffee, that means 150 milliliters of hot water paired with about 100 grams of ice. Many friends may worry that brewing this way will be too weak, but it actually won't be.

This is because the ice Front Street Coffee uses is large, solid ice at about 25 grams per cube, and one serving of iced pour-over only needs 4 cubes to reach the required 100 grams. After brewing is complete, the ice will not all melt. The actual amount of coffee liquid obtained is about 200 milliliters, plus around 20 grams of remaining ice (some hot water is absorbed by the coffee grounds), and the concentration when drinking is just at a pleasant level.

(The image shows the weight of the pour-over coffee after the ice cubes were picked out following brewing.)

At what stage should the ice be added?

As for the timing of adding ice, there are really only two choices: before brewing or after brewing. Adding ice first is the conventional method; during brewing, the coffee continuously contacts the ice and cools down. Adding ice afterward means that once brewing is finished, the coffee liquid is poured into prepared ice and mixed.

So, is the difference between these two ice-adding times actually significant?

Under the premise that parameters such as grind size and coffee-to-water-to-ice ratio are exactly the same, there is no significant difference between the two. If one must distinguish them, adding ice first produces a cleaner, more refreshing cup; adding ice afterward gives a more concentrated aroma and a more defined flavor. Therefore, either method is fine.

Since continuously melting ice dilutes the coffee, would it taste better to filter out the remaining ice after brewing?

This depends on how much ice remains after brewing. The hardness and size of the ice may vary slightly each time. If little remains, it may already have melted before you have a chance to filter it. If the remaining ice cubes are relatively large, filtering them out is indeed a good approach and can effectively reduce dilution. But note that café service emphasizes consistency, and sometimes straining the ice while sometimes not will cause quality fluctuations, so the trade-off still needs to be decided according to your own circumstances.

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.