How does the Paragon ice ball change coffee extraction?

The Paragon ice ball, debuted at the WBC Brewing Competition, claims to lock in 40 percent of volatile aromatics by cooling the brewed liquid. A comparative brew using Panama Boquete Geisha, one regular and one with the ice ball, found its main effect is lowering the coffee liquid's temperature and reducing sensory obstacles from high heat.

Invented by Sasa Sestic, who placed second at the competition, the brewing system was priced at 4,292 US dollars at the end of 2022 before dropping significantly at release. The test used the Geisha's white jasmine, citrus and honey notes to check whether aroma, acidity and body actually improved.

The Paragon ice ball, which made its debut at the WBC Brewing Competition, claims to lock in 40% of volatile aromatics, making coffee flavor fuller. It preserves aromatic compounds by cooling the brewed liquid, but how effective is it really? Front Street Coffee conducted a comparative brew using Panama Boquete Geisha, one regular and one with the ice ball, tasting from temperature, aroma to acidity one by one. The result showed that the ice ball's main function is actually to lower the coffee liquid's temperature, reducing sensory obstacles caused by high heat. Is it worth buying? This article reveals it for you.

This ice ball was invented by Sasa Sestic and was brought to the competition stage at last year's WBC Brewing Competition, ultimately winning second place. According to Sasa, with the aid of this ice ball during brewing, the resulting coffee liquid has 40% more aroma than regular brewing. This 40% of aroma consists of volatile aromatic substances, which are often already lost by the time regular brewing is completed. The ice ball's role is to directly cool and freeze these substances while hot water is extracting them—that is, locking in the aroma and preventing volatilization, thereby making the finished coffee's flavor fuller.

After the theory was proposed, this ice ball immediately aroused widespread curiosity among coffee enthusiasts. Setting aside the price, everyone wanted to figure out whether it was really as magical as rumored, so they flocked online to find purchase links and get ready to order.

Wait! The price absolutely cannot be set aside! At the end of 2022, this brewing system was priced as high as $4,292! Four digits! US dollars! Who would dare set that aside? Fortunately, when it was officially released, the price dropped significantly. Although still not cheap, many enthusiasts with slightly more budget could still afford it. A couple of days ago, when Front Street wrote the article "How to Make a Hot Dirty," we happened to borrow two ice balls that didn't need to be returned! So today let's verify whether this ice ball really has the rumored effect.

Experiment Section This time we compare through two brews: one regular brew, and one brew with the ice ball added. Beans chosen: Panama · Boquete Geisha, which has very obvious white jasmine floral notes, citrus and honey texture, best matching the needs of this experiment. Coffee-to-water ratio: 1 to 15, 15g beans with 225ml hot water Water temperature: 92°C for both the regular brew and the whole-process ice ball brew, Sasa's brewing temperature is 93°C Grind: Ek43 setting 10, i.e. 70% passing rate on a No. 20 sieve Dripper: uniformly using the Origami dripper First brew a pot of regular Boquete Geisha for tasting:

After extraction, the coffee liquid temperature was 70°C, presenting soft jasmine floral notes, relatively bright citrus acidity, and a creamy honey-like finish, very pleasing. Next is the brew with the ice ball added. Note that the ice ball should be kept as close as possible to the filter paper, but must not touch it, otherwise it will affect extraction.

Also using a three-stage pour, after extraction with the ice ball added, the coffee liquid temperature was 57°C. Due to the lower temperature, it was smoother on entry, and the jasmine floral notes were indeed a bit more obvious. It also had citrus fruit notes, and because the temperature was slightly lower, the acidity was rounder.

But the temperature difference between the two was too large, and the tasting difference might come from temperature. So we directly used the slurping method commonly used in cupping for tasting. Slurping causes the coffee liquid to be quickly sucked into the mouth and instantly atomized—in plain terms, it disperses from a pool of liquid into countless tiny "powder"-like droplets; the total volume stays the same, but the contactable surface area increases greatly.

In this way, the aromatic substances in the coffee liquid can be better captured by the taste buds and olfactory nerves, allowing the truest taste to be experienced, thereby reducing the tasting differences between the two cups caused by temperature. Sip sip sip! After a few sips of each, the comparison seemed to show... no particularly obvious difference... The gap tasted earlier really was brought about by the different temperatures.

It is harder to taste obvious flavors in coffee when it is hot, but once the temperature drops, prominent flavors can also be felt, and the acidity shifts from bright to round. The downside is that some aromatic substances are lost over time. So overall, the ice ball's greater role is to lower the temperature after extraction is completed, reducing the sensory obstacles brought by high heat. If you are just making coffee at home to satisfy a craving, there is little necessity to buy it. But if you cannot resist curiosity and want to experience the flavors more meticulously, you can still buy it to try. As for the ice ball stand... just act according to your wallet~

- END - Front Street Coffee

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