How Does a French Press Make Iced Coffee?

A French press can make iced coffee at home by immersion extraction. The method brews a concentrated hot coffee liquid with a small amount of hot water, then pours it over ice to dilute and cool. This follows the Japanese-style iced pour-over idea, but uses the French press instead of a dripper, so no pour-over equipment is needed.

Use 15 grams of coffee at a 1:8 ratio with 94°C water, about 120 grams. A medium-coarse grind, 70% passing a No. 20 sieve, suits the metal filter. Stir after 30 seconds, wait three minutes, then press and pour the concentrate over roughly 105 grams of ice.

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A friend asked: "I don't have pour-over equipment at home, only a French press. Can I make iced coffee?" Front Street Coffee was initially quite surprised, but since a friend asked, in this installment of Barista Growth Diary, we'll share a French press iced coffee method that we've refined through several attempts.

The Idea
The French press works on the principle of immersion extraction. When making hot coffee with the same beans, French press coffee tends to be more balanced and fuller-bodied than pour-over. So we also referenced the Japanese-style iced pour-over method to make French press iced coffee. That is, use a small amount of hot water to immerse the coffee, extract a concentrated hot coffee liquid, then pour it over ice to dilute and cool, forming iced coffee.

Considering that ice is needed to dilute the coffee's concentration, it's not suitable to use light-roast coffee with higher acidity for making iced coffee. One reason is that dilution makes the mouthfeel thin, and another is that immersing light-roast coffee with acidity can easily produce unpleasant flavors like almond and peanut skin.

In the end, we decided to use Front Street Coffee's Strawberry Candy coffee beans, which are characterized by rich floral and fruity notes, with a moderate caramel feel and candied fruit flavors. The aroma is very fresh, making it very suitable for immersion extraction.

 
Extraction Plan
① Preparation stage: prepare a French press, electronic scale, glass cup, hot water, and ice. Use 15 grams of coffee grounds. To get a more concentrated hot coffee liquid, the ratio of coffee grounds to hot water is 1:8, with a water temperature of 94°C. For grind size, since the French press uses a metal filter, it's not recommended to increase extraction yield by making the grind finer. Use a medium-coarse grind (70% passing through a No. 20 standard sieve).

② Grind the coffee grounds, pour them into the French press, and add 120 grams of hot water (and start timing). Pour the water directly into the center.

③ After 30 seconds, use a stirring rod to stir the coffee grounds layer to increase extraction yield, forming three layers: coffee liquid, coffee grounds, and coffee foam.

④ Put on the French press lid, wait until 3 minutes. During this time, you can add 105 grams of ice into the glass cup.

⑤ After 3 minutes, slowly press down the plunger. Let it sit for 1 minute to let the coffee grounds settle.

⑥ At the fourth minute, pick up the French press and pour the coffee liquid into the glass cup with ice.

In this way, a cup of French press iced coffee is complete. Because it's filtered through a metal mesh, the surface still retains good coffee oils. The vanilla flavor of the Sherry coffee beans is well expressed, refreshing yet still full-bodied.

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