Pour-Over Coffee Beginner's Guide: Tips for Brewing Better Iced Pour-Over Single Origin Coffee

Introduction

When the weather gets hot, a glass of iced pour-over coffee can be an absolute lifesaver. Many people ask: "Why does my homemade iced pour-over coffee at home or in the office always seem to be missing something, with a watery taste?" In this article, FrontStreet Coffee will share some important details to pay attention to when making iced pour-over coffee!

Detail 1: Adjust the coffee-to-water ratio

Since making iced pour-over coffee requires ice cubes, the melting process continuously dilutes the coffee concentration. If you're still using the hot pour-over ratio of 1:15 for iced coffee, you'll end up with coffee that's perfectly concentrated before adding ice, but becomes a watered-down beverage with barely perceptible flavors after the ice melts. Therefore, when making iced pour-over coffee, you need to reduce the coffee-to-water ratio to increase the coffee concentration.

Detail 2: Determine the ice-to-coffee ratio

When it comes to how much ice to add to iced pour-over coffee, many people adopt a casual approach, diluting it to their preferred concentration. While this approach works fine, if you want consistent flavor in every batch of iced pour-over coffee, you need to calculate the ratio of coffee grounds to the total weight of (coffee liquid + ice) to maintain a 1:15 ratio.

For example: When making iced pour-over coffee with 15g of coffee grounds, the total weight of coffee liquid after adding ice should reach 225g (15g grounds × 15). FrontStreet Coffee uses a coffee-to-water ratio of 1:10 for iced pour-over, meaning 15g of grounds with 150g of water (15g × 10). During the blooming process, the coffee grounds absorb about 25-30g of water, resulting in approximately 120g-125g of final coffee liquid. Therefore, we subtract the 120g-125g of coffee liquid from the target total weight of 225g, which means we need to add 100-105g of ice.

Detail 3: Adjust the coffee grind size

Due to the reduced coffee-to-water ratio, the overall extraction time will be shorter, so the grind size for iced pour-over coffee needs to be slightly finer than for hot pour-over coffee. FrontStreet Coffee suggests that if your hot pour-over coffee has a grind size with an 80% pass-through rate on a 0.85mm sieve, then for iced pour-over coffee, you should adjust it to an 85% pass-through rate on the same sieve.

Question 1: If you cannot make fine adjustments to the grind size, you need to change the water temperature

If some coffee enthusiasts find it difficult to make fine adjustments to the grind size with their grinder, we can continue using the grind size for hot pour-over coffee and then increase the brewing water temperature to speed up the dissolution of coffee flavor compounds in the water. For example, when FrontStreet Coffee brews our Costa Rica Mozart hot pour-over at 90°C, we would use 92°C when making iced pour-over with the same grind size.

Question 2: If there are many fine particles after grinding, do you still need to increase the water temperature?

No! If your grinder produces a lot of fine particles, you don't need to adjust either the grind size or water temperature. You only need to adjust the coffee-to-water ratio during brewing.

Question 3: With 100g of ice, must you brew with a 1:10 coffee-to-water ratio?

Not necessarily! This is just a recommended brewing ratio. Everyone's taste preferences are different, so a 1:10 ratio may not necessarily be the best tasting option for everyone. If you prefer rich and layered flavors, you can use a 1:10 coffee-to-water ratio. If you prefer balanced flavors or coffee that isn't too cold, you can use a 1:13 ratio. Alternatively, you can make appropriate parameter adjustments based on your personal taste preferences.

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Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

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