How do lychee iced coffee recipes work with street coffee methods

Three lychee coffee recipes were tested: Lychee Jasmine Iced Americano, Lychee Rice Wine Iced Latte, and Lychee Cold Brew. The Jasmine Americano muddles five peeled lychees with 180ml jasmine tea, strains over 80g ice, then adds espresso. Results varied, with some versions tasting disappointing and others surprisingly good, depending on how the fruit, tea, and coffee were balanced.

The tests come from Front Street Coffee, which also notes that Ethiopian Sidamo Elto beans carry a lychee-like fruity sweetness. Each recipe records ingredient preparation and extraction parameters in detail, so home brewers can adjust ratios. The rice wine latte and cold brew take different paths, using dairy or slow extraction to soften acidity and let the lychee aroma come through.

As midsummer arrives, Lingnan lychees flood the market, their sweet, juicy flesh irresistible. What kind of sparks fly when lychee meets coffee? This time, Front Street Coffee took to the kitchen and personally tested three popular lychee coffee recipes circulating online: Lychee Jasmine Iced Americano, Lychee Rice Wine Iced Latte, and Lychee Cold Brew. Every step, from ingredient preparation to extraction parameters, was recorded in detail. Some results were disappointing, while others turned out surprisingly delicious. If you'd also like to try a different fruity coffee this lychee season, why not follow this tutorial and give it a go—see which one becomes your summer favorite.

As many parts of the country enter "barbecue mode," Lingnan's prized lychees are gradually hitting the market, with plump, vibrant red fruits frequently appearing in people's fruit bowls.

Lychee is an exceptionally sweet fruit—peel away the shell and you're met with white, thick, tender flesh. Bite into it and juice bursts forth, the aroma intense, sweetness laced with a subtle tartness. If you chill it before eating, it's like chewing on a sugar bun. Lychee actually makes appearances in the coffee world too—for instance, the Sidamo Elto that Front Street Coffee launched last month lets you catch a lychee-like fruity sweetness on the sip, leaving a lasting impression.

So what kind of taste collision happens when you pair lychee directly with coffee? Front Street Coffee scoured the internet and found this combo has already spawned quite a few versions. Since there's no harm in trying, today Front Street Coffee will personally taste these lychee coffees dubbed "summer white moonlight" and see whether they're actually worth drinking.

Recipe One: Lychee Jasmine Iced Americano

Ingredients needed: fresh lychees, ice cubes, jasmine tea, espresso

Like the other fruit coffees Front Street Coffee has replicated before, this Lychee Jasmine Iced Americano is all about convenience—easy-to-find ingredients, simple steps, and no strict ratio requirements.

First, peel and pit 5 fresh lychees, put the flesh into a shaker, and muddle to release the juice. Then pour in 180ml of jasmine tea, cover, and shake up and down to fully mix the lychee juice with the tea.

Take a glass larger than 250ml, add 80g of ice cubes, strain the lychee jasmine tea to remove solids, and pour it into the glass.

Then extract a double shot using the parameters Front Street Coffee used today for the Warm Sun blend—that is, 20g of coffee grounds yielding 38g of espresso in 29 seconds—and slowly pour it over the ice. This specialty drink is done.

Although this Lychee Jasmine Iced Americano brings together several refreshing elements, the actual taste is less than ideal—you could even say it's bitter and astringent, with no appeal for a second sip. This reminded Front Street Coffee of a netizen's incisive quip that it has a "well water doesn't intrude on river water" feel—sweet is sweet, bitter is bitter; each flavor is fine on its own, but together they have no cohesion whatsoever.

Recipe Two: Lychee Rice Wine Iced Latte

Ingredients needed: fresh lychees, ice cubes, rice wine (fermented glutinous rice), espresso

This milk coffee was something Front Street Coffee stumbled upon while brainstorming topics last year—quite niche at the time—and recently, with lychee season arriving, it's been dug up again, with many people trying to replicate it at home.

The first step is likewise to peel and pit 5 lychees, crush the flesh firmly, and squeeze out the juice for later use.

Find a glass of about 250ml, add 80g of ice cubes, then pour in 150g of fresh milk, 25g of rice wine, and the freshly squeezed lychee juice (if you want more layered sweetness, you can add 8–10g of syrup), and stir directly until combined.

Finally, extract a double espresso and pour it over—done.

To be honest, while making it, Front Street Coffee was quite nervous, thinking it might be a "dark cuisine" disaster, or at best an ordinary fruit-coffee combo. But after tasting it, it turned out this seemingly "weird" pairing brought an unexpected delight.

After stirring with a straw and taking a big sip, the coffee's aroma, the milk's smoothness, and a hint of fruity acidity interweave in the mouth all at once. You can even chew the rice wine with its grainy texture—soft, chewy, sweet yet not cloying. It adds body to the coffee while just tamping down the bitterness. The only shortcoming is that the lychee flavor is a bit faint.

Recipe Three: Lychee Cold Brew

Ingredients needed: fresh lychees, freshly ground coffee, a cold brew pitcher (any clean container works)

In the article "What Fruit Makes the Best Cold Brew Coffee?", Front Street Coffee mentioned that to make fresh fruit and coffee a well-matched pair, you first need to judge whether the fruit at hand is suitable for long soaking, then consider how to soak it to release good flavor, and finally control the proportions between all elements.

To fully infuse the lychee's fruity aroma into the coffee without letting it steal the show, Front Street Coffee first set the cold brew ratio at 1:8 to increase the coffee's concentration, then added fruit flesh at a water-to-lychee ratio of 10:1.

Coffee beans: Costa Rica Washed Tarrazu

Dose: 35g

Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:8

Grind setting: EK43s setting 9.5 / C40 setting 22

Lychee flesh: 28g (about 3–4 pieces)

Steep time: 6 hours

The first step is, as usual, to crush the flesh with a tool, pour it into the coffee and stir well, then refrigerate. After steeping for a full 6 hours, filter out the fruit flesh and coffee grounds with filter paper, and it's ready to pour and drink.

Compared to the faint lychee flavor of the first two, this long-steeped Lychee Cold Brew has a very pronounced fruity aroma. On the sip, you get both a refreshing sweetness and the coffee's light acidity—icy, smooth, and full of juice. In this lychee coffee showdown, Front Street Coffee thinks this cold brew is the clear winner!

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