Five Methods for Making Iced Coffee: Recipes and Tutorials for Iced Americano, Cold Drip, Cold Brew, and Iced Pour-Over Coffee Flavors

When the weather gets hot, a refreshing iced coffee is undoubtedly the ultimate summer cooler. However, there are many types of iced coffee—such as iced pour-over coffee, ice drip coffee, cold brew coffee, and iced Americano—that can leave people confused. In this article, FrontStreet Coffee will briefly explain the differences between these various types of iced coffee.

Iced Pour-Over Coffee

Usually, iced pour-over coffee is also called Japanese-style iced pour-over, which can be simply understood as hot coffee brewed normally and then diluted and cooled with ice cubes. To prevent the ice cubes from diluting the coffee's flavor, iced pour-over coffee uses a lower coffee-to-water ratio during brewing, using less water to obtain a more concentrated coffee liquid, which is then cooled by adding ice cubes.

FrontStreet Coffee's method for making iced pour-over coffee uses 15 grams of coffee powder as an example. The grind size is slightly finer than for hot pour-over—for instance, while light roast coffee might have an 85% pass-through rate on a #20 sieve for hot pour-over, iced pour-over uses 85%. The ratio of coffee powder to water to ice is 1:10:5. The water temperature is the same as for hot pour-over—90-93°C for light roast coffee and 87-89°C for medium-dark roast coffee. After brewing is complete, shake or stir the filter cup to ensure the ice cubes make full contact with the coffee liquid for rapid cooling and consistent concentration.

Iced pour-over coffee essentially extracts the early to middle-stage coffee compounds and then cools and dilutes them with an equal proportion of ice cubes to reach the appropriate temperature and concentration. Therefore, the taste is relatively clean and refreshing, making it easy to highlight the coffee's main flavors.

Ice Drip Coffee

Ice drip coffee is made by having ice water contact coffee powder drop by drop for extraction, taking a relatively long time, generally completing extraction in 6-8 hours. It can be understood as a low-temperature drip coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee's method for making ice drip coffee involves using 60g of coffee powder to extract 600ml of coffee liquid, with a coffee-to-liquid ratio as high as 1:10. For the grind size, choose a setting slightly finer than pour-over coffee—judging by a #20 sieve, the pass-through rate would be around 85%. The ice-water mixture ratio is 1:1, with the throttle valve controlling the flow rate to 7 drops per 10 seconds. The entire extraction process takes approximately 6-8 hours. After extraction is complete, the coffee is bottled and refrigerated for 12 hours before drinking.

Because ice drip coffee is extracted with ice water over a long period, more small molecular compounds (such as floral aromas and acidity) are extracted, while large molecular compounds (like the bitter taste of tannic acid) are harder to extract. Additionally, after production is complete, the coffee undergoes 12 hours of low-temperature fermentation in the bottle, giving it a noticeable fermented flavor and the inherent sweet aroma of coffee beans. The taste is ice-cool and delicious.

Cold Brew Coffee

Cold brew coffee is very simple and convenient—simply put coffee powder into clean water and extract it at low temperature for a long time, then filter it through filter paper to obtain clean coffee liquid.

FrontStreet Coffee's cold brew method uses 50 grams of coffee powder as the standard, with a grind size achieving an 85% pass-through rate on a #20 standard sieve. Put the coffee powder into a glass bottle, then add 400ml of room temperature water and 200 grams of hard ice cubes (totaling 600 grams of ice-water mixture), with a coffee-to-water ratio of 1:12. Then use a stirring rod to mix the coffee powder and water thoroughly, seal it, and place it in a refrigerator.

After 12-24 hours in the refrigerator, use filter paper to filter out the coffee grounds to obtain clean coffee liquid. Then use a clean, sealed bottle to store the coffee liquid and refrigerate for about 4 hours before drinking.

The liquid produced by cold brew coffee is not as clear as ice drip coffee, and a thin layer of oil will float on the surface. In terms of flavor and texture, it's slightly heavier and more balanced compared to ice drip coffee.

Iced Americano

FrontStreet Coffee's stores use their own house-roasted Frontsteet Sunflower Warm Sunshine espresso blend coffee beans, consisting of 60% Frontsteet Honduras Sherry Cask coffee beans mixed with 40% Frontsteet Natural Red Cherry Project Yirgacheffe coffee beans. Among these, Frontsteet Sherry Cask coffee beans provide dark chocolate and whiskey aromas, while Frontsteet Natural Yirgacheffe is responsible for the acidity of the entire coffee and provides more complexity.

Espresso made with Frontsteet Warm Sunshine blend is mixed with a certain amount of ice-water mixture, with a ratio of espresso to ice water of 1:6. The iced Americano tastes more refreshing, leaning toward dark cocoa flavor with bright acidity, creating a balanced and rich experience.

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Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

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