Should Ice Be Added Before or After Pouring in Iced Pour-Over Coffee? A Detailed Guide to Japanese-Style Iced Pour-Over Parameters

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Recently, a customer asked, "How do you make your iced pour-over coffee? Is there a difference between adding ice before versus after brewing?" In this issue, FrontStreet Coffee will conduct an experiment to compare these methods, hoping to provide everyone with a reference.

FrontStreet Coffee's Iced Pour-Over Parameters

FrontStreet Coffee uses 15 grams of coffee grounds for iced pour-over, with a coffee-to-water ratio of 1:10. This means brewing 15 grams of coffee with 150 grams of hot water, then adding 100 grams of ice to cool and dilute (whether to add ice before or after brewing is exactly what this article aims to test).

For this demonstration, FrontStreet Coffee has selected the recently launched Kaffa Forest. As the region with the most extensive forest coverage in Ethiopia, the primary forests of the Kaffa Biosphere are globally recognized as the birthplace of coffee and the genetic treasury of the Arabica coffee we know today. The "Gesha" in the Geisha origin story is actually one of the regions in Kaffa, located in the western area. Beyond its geographical significance, this coffee bean uses washed processing, featuring delicate white floral notes and juicy fruit flavors including sweet orange, dried apricot, honey peach, green grape, and yellow lemon.

The coffee grind size will also be slightly finer than for hot pour-over. For this experiment's subject, FrontStreet Coffee's Kaffa Forest, the setting used for hot pour-over is 10 on the EK43s grinder (80% passing through a #20 standard sieve), while iced pour-over uses a finer setting of 9 on the EK43s grinder (85% passing through a #20 standard sieve). For water temperature, light roast coffee uses 90-91°C, while medium-dark roast coffee uses 87-89°C.

Experimental Comparison

Ice First Method

First, place 100 grams of ice in the serving pot, then place the filter cup and filter paper on top, followed by 15 grams of ground coffee, and zero the electronic scale.

Begin the pour-over brewing process. First, pour 30 grams of hot water for a 30-second bloom, then pour 70 grams of hot water in circular motions from the center outward. Due to the slightly finer grind, the coffee bed will rise quickly, and the drainage speed will be slower than hot pour-over. When the water level drops to the halfway point, continue pouring 50 grams of water. After all the coffee liquid has flowed into the lower pot, remove the filter cup. The extraction time is 1 minute and 40 seconds. Then swirl the serving pot to rapidly cool and evenly distribute the coffee liquid.

Ice After Method

After completing the preparation phase, add 15 grams of coffee grounds and begin pouring water. First, pour 30 grams of hot water for a 30-second bloom, then pour 70 grams of hot water in circular motions from the center outward. When the water level drops to the halfway point, continue pouring 50 grams of water. After all the coffee liquid has flowed into the lower pot, remove the filter cup. The extraction time is 1 minute and 40 seconds. Then add 100 grams of ice to the pot and swirl to rapidly cool and evenly distribute the coffee liquid.

Sensory Comparison

In side-by-side repeated tasting comparisons, both methods are generally consistent when properly swirled for even distribution. On initial tasting, the coffee made with ice first appears cleaner and more refreshing, with delicate floral and fruit aromas. The coffee made with ice after has more concentrated and intense aromas, showing more complexity during tasting. Of course, both methods produce very similar iced coffee - without a side-by-side comparison, it might be difficult to distinguish between them.

As for why the ice-first method tastes more refreshing, when comparing the state of both methods after the initial swirl, the ice in the ice-first method has clearly melted more than in the ice-after method. This is because the ice-first method involves continuous cooling, where the initial coffee temperature is higher, causing more ice to dissolve. In contrast, adding ice after brewing involves cooling to room temperature first before further cooling with ice, therefore less ice dissolves.

Seeing these results, I believe everyone will no longer debate whether to add ice before or after!

Important Notice :

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