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A while ago, a customer asked, "How do you brew your iced pour-over coffee? Is there a difference between adding ice first and adding ice later?" In this issue, Front Street Coffee will conduct an experiment to compare the two, hoping to give everyone a reference.

Front Street Iced Pour-Over Coffee Parameters
Front Street brews iced pour-over coffee using 15 grams of coffee grounds, with a coffee-to-water ratio of 1:10, meaning 15 grams of coffee grounds are brewed with 150 grams of hot water, plus 100 grams of ice cubes for cooling and dilution (whether to add ice first or later is exactly one of the aspects this article will test).

Here, Front Street has selected a recently launched Kaffa Forest to demonstrate. As the region with the most extensive forest coverage within Ethiopia, the primary forest of the Kaffa Biosphere Reserve is recognized worldwide as the birthplace of coffee and is also the genetic treasure trove of the Arabica coffee we are familiar with today. The "Gesha" in the origin story of Geisha is precisely one of the areas of Kaffa, located in the western zone. Besides its regional representation, this coffee bean adopts a washed process and possesses elegant white floral notes, as well as the juicy mouthfeel of fruits such as sweet orange, dried apricot, peach, green grape, and yellow lemon.

The grind size of the coffee grounds will also be finer than for hot pour-over. Taking the experimental subject of this brewing, Front Street Kaffa Forest, as an example, the setting Front Street uses for hot pour-over is 10 on the EK43s grinder (80% passing through a No. 20 standard sieve), while the setting used for iced pour-over is adjusted one notch finer—EK43s grinder setting 9(85% passing through a No. 20 standard sieve). Regarding water temperature, light-roasted coffee uses 90-91°C, and medium-dark roasted coffee uses 87-89°C.

Experiment Comparison
Ice first: First, place 100 grams of ice into the sharing pitcher, then place the dripper and filter paper on top, then add 15 grams of ground coffee, and tare the electronic scale.

Begin pouring water to brew. For the first stage, first pour 30 grams of hot water for a 30-second bloom, then pour 70 grams of hot water in a circular motion from the center outward. Because the coffee grounds are slightly finer, the coffee bed is immediately raised, and the drainage speed will be slower than for hot pour-over. Wait until the water level drops to 1/2, then continue pouring 50 grams of water. After all the coffee liquid has flowed into the lower pitcher, remove the dripper. The extraction time is 1 minute and 40 seconds. Then swirl the pitcher to let the coffee liquid cool rapidly and become uniform.

Ice later: After the preparation stage is complete, pour in 15 grams of coffee grounds and begin pouring water. For the first stage, first pour 30 grams of hot water for a 30-second bloom, then pour 70 grams of hot water in a circular motion from the center outward. Wait until the water level drops to 1/2, then continue pouring 50 grams of water. After all the coffee liquid has flowed into the lower pitcher, remove the dripper. The extraction time is 1 minute and 40 seconds. After that, add 100 grams of ice cubes into the pitcher and swirl the pitcher to let the coffee liquid cool rapidly and become uniform.

Sensory Comparison
In repeated side-by-side tasting comparisons, when swirled uniformly, these two methods are generally consistent overall. On first try, the coffee with ice added first appears cleaner and more refreshing, with aromas belonging to light floral and fruity notes. The aroma of the coffee with ice added later is more concentrated and intense, and it seems to show more variation when tasting. Of course, the iced coffees made by these two methods are still very close, and without a side-by-side comparison, one might not be able to tell the difference.

As for why adding ice first makes it more refreshing, when we compared the state of the two right after the first swirl, the ice in the ice-first version had clearly melted more than in the ice-later version. The reason is that adding ice first is a continuous cooling process, during which the initial coffee liquid temperature is higher, so more ice dissolves. In contrast, adding ice after brewing means the coffee first undergoes "cooling" at room temperature and is then cooled by ice cubes, so less ice dissolves.

Seeing this result, I believe everyone will no longer struggle over whether to add ice cubes first or later!

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