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The four common types of iced coffee are iced Americano, iced pour-over, cold brew, and ice drip coffee. Some people may not be very familiar with these four types of iced coffee, so Front Street will try to explain their characteristics and differences from several aspects.

Extraction Methods

In terms of extraction methods, both iced Americano and iced pour-over coffee are made by rapidly cooling 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 with 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 Classic Espresso Blend coffee powder, extract 40g of coffee liquid at a 1:2 coffee-to-water ratio in 25-33 seconds. Prepare a 300ml glass, fill it with 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 Classic Espresso beans greets you with a solid roasted nut aroma on the first sip, with chocolate and caramel flavors accompanied by a creamy smoothness—refreshing yet full-bodied, incredibly satisfying to drink.

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:

Dose: 15 grams

10x hot water: 150 grams

5x ice: 75 grams

Water temperature: 92°C

Grind size: 83% pass rate through No. 20 sieve (EK43s setting 9, C40 setting 22)

Dripper: Hario V60

Technique: Three-pour method

First, place 75g of ice cubes into the server, then pour 15g of ground coffee into the dripper and gently tap to level. For the first pour, use a slow stream 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 under-extraction; when the coffee liquid is about to dry up, pour the remaining 60g of hot water at a flow rate of 3ml/s to finish, ensuring the extraction time falls between 1 minute 50 seconds and 2 minutes.

Cold Brew Coffee

Cold brew coffee is made by soaking coffee grounds in cold water, typically for a longer period, then filtering out the coffee grounds before drinking. The preparation method is as follows.

Using 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% pass rate through Chinese No. 20 standard sieve). The specific coarseness is as shown below. Next, pour the ground coffee into the pitcher, add 600g of drinking water at a 1:10 coffee-to-water ratio, stir evenly with a long spoon, seal, and refrigerate for 8-12 hours. Once the soaking is complete, remove the cold brew pitcher, stir thoroughly again with a spoon, then pour into a filter paper to remove the grounds until all the coffee liquid is filtered clean, and the cold brew is ready.

Ice drip coffee uses ice water dripping drop by drop into the coffee grounds layer to extract the coffee liquid. The preparation time is generally longer, and the drip-filtered coffee liquid needs to be refrigerated before drinking. The specific preparation method is as follows:

Similar to the flow rate of pour-over, but the ice drip flow rate is calculated by drops per second. The slower the flow rate, the longer the total time required, and it is also prone to over-extraction. Front Street typically uses 7 drops per 10 seconds for extraction; 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 with ice cubes for dilution, a higher concentration is used. If making it at home, you can use 1:12-1:14 for extraction. Front Street makes ice drip by grinding 60g of coffee beans into powder, placing a round filter paper in the powder cup, pouring in the coffee powder, then laying another filter paper on the surface and moistening the coffee powder with water, which saves dripping time and avoids uneven extraction. Fill the upper chamber with ice-water mixture, i.e., ice and water at 1:1, extracting a total of 600g of coffee liquid.

Preparation Time

In terms of preparation time, iced Americano and iced pour-over coffee are relatively quick, taking only a few minutes to make; cold brew coffee and ice drip coffee take longer to prepare—generally cold brew coffee takes about 12 hours, and ice drip coffee takes 6-8 hours.

Ease of Preparation

For home use, pour-over iced coffee and cold brew coffee are relatively simple to make. Cold brew coffee doesn't have high requirements for equipment—just a sealed bottle will do. The equipment for iced pour-over is also quite accessible, and those who habitually brew coffee at home will generally have pour-over coffee equipment.

The espresso machine needed for iced Americano and the equipment needed for ice drip coffee are slightly more expensive.

Flavor and Taste Differences

Here, Front Street would first like to clarify: whether coffee is sour or bitter, whether it has floral and fruity flavors or nutty and chocolate flavors, mainly depends on what flavor profile the coffee beans have—the extraction method has less of an influence. Different methods produce iced coffees with different style expressions, and these expressions are differences revealed through comparison. Regardless of the preparation method, the resulting flavor cannot stray from the basic flavor profile of the coffee beans.

The flavor characteristics of iced Americano are generally light, with a refreshing mouthfeel, and can typically express the most basic flavors of the coffee beans. The liquid is relatively cloudy.

The characteristics of iced pour-over coffee are a clean and refreshing mouthfeel, easily highlighting the main flavors of the coffee beans, with a clear and bright liquid appearance.

The characteristics of cold brew coffee are less bitterness, balanced flavors, and high sweetness. The mouthfeel is heavier than iced pour-over coffee. The liquid clarity is slightly lower than iced pour-over coffee.

The characteristics of ice drip coffee are rich fermented-type flavors, such as alcoholic notes. With the same beans, ice drip coffee has higher bitterness than the other three iced coffees, and its mouthfeel is also superior to the other three.

You can now purchase Front Street Coffee single-origin coffee beans and espresso blend coffee beans at the Tmall "Front Street Flagship Store." 60 varieties of coffee beans from around the world, freshly roasted, shipped within 24H.

Tmall link: https://qianjieshipin.tmall.com

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