How to Make Iced Pour-Over Coffee? Grind Size and Water-to-Coffee Ratio Differences from Hot Pour-Over

Summer is here, the weather is scorching, and you have probably already switched to iced coffee. Cold brew and iced drip are lovely, but both take far too long to prepare. FrontStreet Coffee's answer: brew a fresh iced pour-over.

Plenty of café customers watch the barista closely, memorizing every parameter in the hope of recreating the cup at home.

Recently, while FrontStreet was brewing iced coffee at the counter, curious onlookers kept their eyes glued to the kettle and the coffee bed and asked: how much coffee do you use? How much ice and water? Does it matter whether the ice goes in before or after? What water temperature? Any special pouring technique?

With the same beans at home, you do not actually need to copy every parameter. To make iced pour-over that tastes like the shop's, you only need one universal formula:

Iced pour-over = coffee grounds (finer grind) + 10 parts hot water + 5 parts ice.

The Science Behind Iced Pour-Over

Anyone who brews pour-over knows a good cup comes down to hitting the right extraction and concentration, usually by adjusting grind size, water temperature, ratio, pouring technique, and equipment.

Iced pour-over adds one key element: ice. To make the final cup strong, flavorful, and cold all at once, part of the hot water must be replaced with ice. Extraction is strongest early in the brew and weaker later, so the less water you pour, the more concentrated the liquid - and once it hits the ice, dilution will not wash the flavor away.

FrontStreet has tested iced recipes across many beans and found the sweet spot: coffee to hot water at 1:10, then ice at 5 times the coffee weight. The diluted, chilled coffee still shows excellent flavor. For a single serving of 15 g of coffee, use 150 g of hot water and 75 g of ice; for two servings with 20 g of coffee, use 200 g of hot water and 100 g of ice.

One thing to know: less hot water means a shorter brew. Total extraction often shrinks from about 2 minutes to 1'20", leaving the late-stage flavor compounds no time to develop - the cup risks under-extraction. Concentration is fine, but flavor is missing! To compensate, grind finer, which stretches the extraction time back out.

Grind size is notoriously hard to describe in words, and a big deviation wrecks extraction. FrontStreet's advice is simple: set the grind one or two notches finer than your usual hot-brew setting.

For example, on the EK43s used at FrontStreet's shop: if a bean brews hot at setting 10, brew it iced at 9 to 9.5. On the C40 hand grinder: if the hot setting is 24, go finer to 22 for iced.

Tanzania Kilimanjaro Recipe

Coffee: Tanzania · Kilimanjaro, medium-light roast
Dose: 15 g

Hot water (10x): 150 g
Ice (5x): 75 g
Water temperature: 93 degrees C
Grind size: EK43s setting 9 (85% pass on a #20 sieve)
Dripper: Hario V60
Technique: three-pour method

Before pouring, load the server with ice (ice first or coffee first makes no meaningful difference to flavor) and add the 15 g of grounds. Bloom with 30 g of water poured from the center outward in small circles for 30 seconds. Second pour: 60 g of water with the same technique. When the dripper is nearly done dripping, pour the final 60 g of hot water. Total extraction should land between 1'50" and 2'00".

Finally, swirl the server to melt the ice quickly and chill the coffee evenly, then enjoy. This iced Kilimanjaro is refreshing with bright acidity, showing green grape, berries, and nuts on the entry plus a whisper of florals.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Which beans shine over ice? Cold extraction amplifies floral and fruity tones while muting woody and roast flavors, so light-to-medium roasts are the way to go. FrontStreet's natural Yirgacheffe Huakui (Flower Champion) is a top pick for floral iced coffee: grown in Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee, and dried whole in its fruit, the beans absorb enormous sweetness, showing magnolia, strawberry cream, dried mango, guava, and black tea in cold brew.

If you want maximum juice, choose FrontStreet's Kenya "Little Tomato" from the Thika region, grown at 1,550-1,750 meters from SL28 and SL34 varieties and finished with Kenya's signature 72-hour double-washed fermentation. In cold extraction the cherry tomato, snow pear, black plum, and dried plum notes unfold completely, with low bitterness, full acidity, and a long fragrant finish over ice. The Colombia Sidra from Finca La Divisa (1,650-1,800 meters, double anaerobic natural) is another iced-pour-over star - passion fruit, blueberry, grape, and apricot juice with a cool, silky grape-juice texture that ice brings out beautifully.

On a budget, cold brewing's higher coffee consumption makes FrontStreet's washed Yirgacheffe Idido Cooperative the practical choice: bright, clean berries and honey at a friendly price, versatile across pour-over, siphon, French press, and cold brew. And for something festive, FrontStreet's Strawberry Sugar Gesha blend - Panamanian Gesha plus Costa Rica honey process - makes a cold brew of rose, orange, grape, and blueberry that, given a little fermentation time, takes on a wine-like character.