How to Make Sparkling Americano Iced Coffee? What's the Flavor Profile of Black Gold Americano? Is It Delicious?

Beating the summer heat has always been an essential skill for the cool folks in Guangzhou. Iced watermelon, iced cola, and traditional ice pops are indispensable, and for anyone who loves both soda and coffee, combining the two is the perfect choice.

Sparkling Americano Iced Coffee

The materials and method for making sparkling Americano iced coffee are quite simple. For ingredients, you only need ice cubes, soda water (salt soda works too), and espresso. The brewing method is simply to mix these ingredients properly. Of course, to make a delicious, refreshing, and heat-relieving sparkling Americano, you need to pay attention to several details.

Secrets to Making Delicious Sparkling Americano Iced Coffee

1. Ingredient Selection

For soda water, choose brands with a high carbonation level. Otherwise the bubbles will disappear after pouring into the glass, leaving you with just a plain iced Americano. You can also choose salt soda, since the slight saltiness better highlights the natural sweetness of the coffee. For ice cubes, choose larger ones. The main purpose of ice is to keep the coffee chilled, so larger cubes cool more effectively and dilute the coffee less.

For the espresso, choose beans rich in fruity flavors. A sparkling coffee with sweet fruity aromas is the finest enjoyment of summer.

2. Preparation Details

Since most households rarely have an espresso machine, we will use a pour-over method to prepare the espresso portion. The beans used here are Costa Rica Strawberry Candy (its berry candy flavor is so appealing that FrontStreet Coffee has been obsessed with it lately).

To make a concentrated coffee liquid with pour-over, the key is a high coffee-to-water ratio that extracts a high-concentration liquid. Use 20g of coffee grounds at a 1:4 ratio, meaning we aim to extract 80ml of coffee concentrate. For the grind, choose a particle size similar to fine sugar, with an 80% pass rate through a #20 sieve. Use water at 93°C.

To brew, first pour 40ml of hot water and let it bloom for 2 minutes. During the bloom, keep the kettle insulated to hold 93°C. When the time is up, pour directly from the center outward in circular motions. When the coffee liquid in the filter reaches 80ml, remove the dripper, and the concentrated coffee liquid is ready. Of course, if you have an espresso machine at home, you can extract a shot of espresso directly as the coffee base.

Then prepare a chilled glass, add 100g of hard ice cubes, pour in 200ml of soda water, and finally pour the pre-prepared concentrated coffee liquid into the glass. Do this gently, because if you pour too vigorously the espresso will react with the carbonation in the soda water and create excessive golden foam.

And there you have it: a refreshing sparkling Americano iced coffee, ready to enjoy. Simple, is it not?

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

A sparkling Americano lives or dies by its beans, and a fruity coffee is the best match. FrontStreet Coffee's Costa Rica Strawberry Candy is exactly the bean used above: a blend that pairs Costa Rican honey processing with Panama Geisha, giving dried grape, orange, and ripe blueberry aromas, a rose-like fragrance, and a delicate almond finish. It works in pour-over, cold brew, moka pot, and home espresso machines.

If you want to push the fruit even further, FrontStreet Coffee's Ethiopia Huakui is a natural processed coffee full of strawberry, passion fruit, and jackfruit aromas with very low bitterness and a juicy, smooth body. FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe Gedingding is another option, with jasmine, citrus, and berry notes and a green-tea finish that keeps a sparkling drink clean and bright.

For the concentrate, FrontStreet Coffee suggests 20g of grounds at a 1:4 ratio, a grind similar to fine sugar at 80% pass-through on a #20 sieve, and 93°C water. Bloom with 40ml for 2 minutes, then pour in circles until the coffee reaches 80ml. Pour it gently over 100g of hard ice and 200ml of soda water to keep the bubbles lively.