Japanese-Style Iced Pour-Over Coffee Brewing Tutorial—How to Make Iced Pour-Over Coffee

The recent weather has been absolutely scorching, as if it could melt people in minutes. In this kind of weather, anyone who can still happily meet up at a coffee shop must truly be a friend for life! But even in such hot weather, we can't just give up coffee, can we? So if you don't want to go out, can't afford an ice drip brewer, and don't want to wait several hours for cold brew, is there still a quick way to enjoy a refreshing, pleasant iced coffee to keep you going?

Summer's Most Popular Iced Coffee

When it comes to the top iced drinks in coffee shops during summer, besides the perennial "star players" like iced Americano, cold brew, and ice drip that always top the charts, iced pour-over is undoubtedly one of the most popular options. It's not only refreshing and pleasant, with soft acidity and clear sweetness, but the ice cubes also make it even more refreshing and thirst-quenching, making it truly a perfect summer treat.

The Universal Formula for Perfect Iced Pour-over

After getting into pour-over coffee, many friends know that a good pot of coffee requires finding the right extraction rate and concentration, usually achieved by adjusting grind size, water temperature, coffee-to-water ratio, pouring technique, and equipment to work in harmony.

When we have the same coffee beans, we don't actually need to bring all the parameters home. To make iced pour-over that tastes like what you'd get in a coffee shop, you only need to master one "universal formula":

Iced Pour-over = Coffee grounds (fine grind) + 10x hot water + 5x ice cubes.

The Science Behind the Formula

Compared to hot pour-over, iced pour-over has the crucial element of ice cubes. To ensure the final coffee is strong enough, flavorful enough, and cold enough, we must find a way to replace some of the hot water with ice cubes to achieve these goals. According to the principle that pour-over extraction yields stronger flavors at the beginning and weaker ones toward the end, the less water you pour, the more concentrated the coffee liquid will be, so it won't be diluted too much when added to ice cubes.

FrontStreet Coffee has tested ice brewing methods for multiple coffee beans and found that when the ratio of coffee grounds to hot water is controlled at 1:10, the resulting iced coffee has the best concentration. Then, adding ice cubes 5 times the amount of coffee grounds, the coffee liquid still expresses good flavors even after being diluted and cooled. This is the formula mentioned above by FrontStreet Coffee. For a single serving of 15 grams of coffee grounds as an example, 10 times hot water means 150 grams, and 5 times ice means 75 grams. If brewing for two people with 20 grams, you'll need 200 grams of hot water and 100 grams of ice cubes.

However, it's worth noting that the less hot water you pour, the shorter the entire extraction process becomes. The most common scenario is the time reducing from the original 2 minutes to 1 minute 20 seconds. This also means there's no opportunity for the later flavor compounds to be released, so the entire cup of iced coffee will likely be under-extracted. In other words, while the concentration might be sufficient, the flavor isn't there! Therefore, to balance the proportion of aromatic compounds released, we need to adjust the grind finer, which in turn extends the extraction time.

Unlike other clear parameters, the grind size of coffee grounds has always been difficult to express accurately in words. Once the deviation is too large, it easily causes extraction problems. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee believes you only need to adjust slightly finer than the grind setting you typically use for hot brewing.

For example, FrontStreet Coffee uses the EK43s grinder. If a coffee is brewed hot using setting 10, then for iced brewing, adjust the setting to 9 to 9.5. When using the C40 hand grinder, if a bean uses setting 24 for hot brewing, then adjust to setting 22 for iced brewing.

Tanzania Kilimanjaro Recipe

Medium-light roast coffee beans: Tanzania · Kilimanjaro

Coffee grounds: 15 grams

10x hot water: 150 grams

5x ice: 75 grams

Water temperature: 93°C

Grind size: EK43s setting 9 (85% pass-through rate on #20 sieve)

Dripper: Hario V60

Technique: Three-stage pouring

Before pouring, first place the ice cubes in the server (whether you add ice before or after doesn't significantly affect the flavor), and pour in 15 grams of coffee grounds. Start by pouring 30 grams of water in small circular motions from the center outward for a 30-second bloom. In the second stage, use the same technique to pour 60 grams of water. When the water in the dripper is about to finish dripping, pour the remaining 60 grams of hot water. The final extraction time should fall between 1 minute 50 seconds and 2 minutes.

Finally, shake the server to speed up the melting of ice cubes while thoroughly mixing and cooling the coffee liquid, and it's ready to enjoy. This Kilimanjaro iced pour-over has a refreshing taste, bright acidity, and presents flavors of green grapes, berries, and nuts with a hint of light floral fragrance upon entry.

The One-Pour Method

Reading this, some might think it's still too troublesome. Is there a more direct, uncompromising iced brewing method that doesn't require such precise technique? Don't worry, there actually is—it's the "One-Pour Iced Pour-over" developed by Mr. Tetsu Kasuya.

First, find a dripper with relatively slow flow rate, such as Kalita wave dripper, Kono dripper, Mugen dripper, or flat-bottom dripper. FrontStreet Coffee will demonstrate using the Mugen Cross Star dripper. Next, prepare a small spoon for stirring. Prepare 20 grams of coffee grounds at once, with a total water amount of 150 grams, and place 80 grams of ice cubes in the server beforehand.

Coffee beans: Panama · Elida Estate · Natural Caturra

Grounds + water + ice: 20g + 150g + 80g

Water temperature: 93°C

Dripper: Mugen Cross Star dripper

Grind size: EK-43s setting 7 (approximately 18-19 on C40)

The operation is very simple. After pouring all the coffee grounds, directly pour 150 grams of hot water with a large flow, maintaining the pour time for about 10 seconds. Then use a small spoon to stir in one direction along the dripper wall, stirring about 10 circles, and wait for the coffee liquid to slowly flow into the server. The entire extraction process takes about 1 minute 43 seconds.

Finally, remove the dripper and shake the server vigorously until all ice cubes have melted into the coffee liquid, then pour into an ice-filled cup to drink (if you find it too concentrated, you can add 1-2 ice cubes according to your taste).

This one-pour extraction method yields an iced pour-over with a rounded mouthfeel, subtle acidity, and strong sweet aftertaste, giving this coffee aromas of cinnamon, liquor-filled chocolate, peach, and Darjeeling tea.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473