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The four common types of iced coffee are iced Americano, iced pour-over, cold brew, and ice drip coffee. Some friends may not be very familiar with these four types of iced coffee, so Front Street attempts to explain their characteristics and differences from several aspects.
From the perspective of extraction methods, iced Americano and iced pour-over coffee are both made by rapidly cooling freshly brewed hot coffee with ice; cold brew and ice drip coffee are extracted using cold water throughout the entire process.
Iced Americano is made by extracting espresso using an espresso machine, then adding an appropriate amount of ice water to cool and dilute the coffee. Iced Americano preparation method: Grind 20g of Front Street Sunflower Warm Sun coffee powder, extract 40g of coffee liquid at a 1:2 coffee-to-water ratio in 25–33 seconds, prepare a 300ml glass, add 90g of ice cubes and 180g of drinking water, pour in the extracted espresso, stir, and it's ready to drink.
The iced Americano made from Front Street Warm Sun coffee beans delivers a rich layering from the first sip, with subtle vanilla and berry flavors accompanied by a creamy smoothness—refreshingly cold yet full-bodied, incredibly satisfying to drink in summer.
Iced pour-over is made by first brewing hot coffee using the pour-over method (slightly stronger than normal), then adding ice cubes to cool and dilute it. The detailed preparation method is as follows.Here, Front Street uses the medium-light roasted Front Street Fruit Ding Ding as an example, with high-concentration high-extraction iced pour-over parameters as follows:
Coffee dose: 15g
10x hot water: 150g
5x ice: 75g
Water temperature: 92°C
Grind size: 83% passing rate on No. 20 sieve (EK43s setting 9, C40 setting 22)
Dripper: Hario V60
Technique: Three-stage pour
First, place 75g of ice cubes into the server, then pour 15g of ground coffee into the dripper and gently tap to level it. For the first stage, we use a slow flow of 3ml/s to pour 30g of hot water from the center outward in small circles for a 30-second bloom; after 30 seconds, pour the second stage of 60g of water using the same technique, being careful not to raise the water level too high, which can easily cause underextraction; when the coffee liquid is about to dry up, pour all of the remaining 60g of hot water at a flow rate of 3ml/s, ensuring the total extraction time falls within 1 minute 50 seconds to 2 minutes.
Cold brew coffee is made by soaking coffee grounds in cold water, typically for a relatively long time, then filtering out the coffee grounds before drinking. The preparation method is as follows.
Taking Front Street Strawberry Candy as an example, when making cold brew coffee, a 1L cold brew pitcher is used. Prepare 60g of Strawberry Candy coffee beans and grind them to the size of fine granulated sugar (80% passing rate on China's No. 20 standard sieve). The specific coarseness is as follows. Then, pour the ground coffee into the pitcher, add 600g of drinking water at a 1:10 coffee-to-water ratio, stir well with a long spoon, seal, and refrigerate for 8–12 hours. Once the soaking is complete, remove the cold brew pitcher, stir it thoroughly again with a spoon, then pour it into filter paper to strain out the grounds until all the coffee liquid is filtered clean, and the cold brew is ready.
Ice drip coffee is made by using ice water to drip drop by drop into the coffee grounds layer to extract the coffee liquid. The preparation time is generally quite long, and the drip-filtered coffee liquid needs to be refrigerated before drinking. The specific preparation method is as follows:
The flow rate is similar to pour-over, but the ice drip flow rate is calculated by drops per second. The slower the flow rate, the longer the total time needed, and over-extraction is more likely. Front Street typically uses 7 drops per 10 seconds for extraction, though the flow rate can be adjusted according to personal preference. The coffee-to-water ratio is 1:10. Since Front Street's ice drip coffee is served diluted with ice cubes, a higher concentration is used. If making it at home, you can extract at 1:12–1:14. Front Street makes ice drip by grinding 60g of coffee beans into powder, placing a circular filter paper at the bottom of the powder basket, pouring in the coffee grounds, and finally placing another filter paper on top, then wetting the coffee grounds with water, which can save drip time and avoid uneven extraction. Fill the upper chamber with an ice-water mixture, i.e., ice and water at 1:1, extracting a total of 600g of coffee liquid.
From the perspective of preparation time, iced Americano and iced pour-over coffee are relatively quick, taking only a few minutes to complete; cold brew coffee and ice drip coffee take longer to prepare, with cold brew coffee generally taking about 12 hours and ice drip coffee taking 6–8 hours.
The espresso machine needed for iced Americano and the equipment needed for ice drip coffee are somewhat more expensive.
The characteristics of iced pour-over coffee are a clean and refreshing mouthfeel, easily highlighting the main flavors of the coffee beans, with the liquid appearing clear and bright.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
