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 hot! You've probably already started drinking iced coffee! While cold brew and iced drip coffee are delicious, their preparation process takes too long. Is there any solution? FrontStreet Coffee believes that making a fresh iced pour-over is the perfect choice.

Many people who visit coffee shops often adopt a learning mindset, carefully observing the barista's movements and process while quietly asking about various parameters, hoping to replicate the exact same flavor at home.

Recently, when FrontStreet Coffee was brewing iced coffee at the counter, curious onlookers not only kept their eyes fixed on the pouring kettle and coffee bed but also asked: How much coffee do you use here? How much ice and water do you add? Does it taste better to add ice before or after? What's the water temperature? Do you need to pay attention to any specific pouring techniques?

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

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

The Science Behind Iced Pour-over

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

Compared to hot pour-over, iced pour-over adds the key 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 the above goals. According to the principle that pour-over extraction is stronger at the beginning and weaker later, the less water you pour, the more concentrated the coffee liquid will be, and when added to ice cubes, it won't be diluted to become too bland.

FrontStreet Coffee has summarized iced brewing plans for multiple coffee beans. When the amount of coffee and hot water is controlled at a 1:10 ratio, the concentration of iced coffee is optimal, and then adding 5 times the amount of ice in coffee grounds, the coffee liquid can still show excellent flavor after being diluted and cooled. This is the formula mentioned by FrontStreet Coffee above. Taking a single serving of 15 grams of coffee grounds as an example, 10 times hot water requires 150 grams, and 5 times the amount of ice is 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 knowing that the less hot water you pour, the shorter the entire extraction process time will be. The most common situation is changing from the original 2 minutes to 1 minute and 20 seconds. This also means there's no opportunity for the flavor compounds in the later stages to be released, so the entire cup of iced coffee will likely be under-extracted. In other words, although the concentration is sufficient, the flavor is lacking! Therefore to coordinate the release proportion of aromatic compounds, 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 describe precisely in words. Once the deviation is too large, it can easily cause extraction problems. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee believes you only need to adjust slightly finer based on the grind setting usually used for hot brewing.

For example, the grinder used at FrontStreet Coffee's store is the EK43s. If the setting for a coffee when brewing hot is 10, then when brewing iced, adjust the setting to 9 to 9.5; when using the hand grinder C40, if a bean uses setting 24 for hot brewing, then for iced brewing, adjust it finer to setting 22.

Tanzania Kilimanjaro Recipe

Medium-light roast coffee beans: Tanzania · Kilimanjaro
Coffee amount: 15 grams

10x hot water: 150 grams
5x ice amount: 75 grams
Water temperature: 93°C
Grind size: EK43s setting 9 (85% pass-through rate on #20 sieve)
Dripper: Hario V60
Pouring technique: Three-stage method

Before pouring, first place the ice cubes in the server (adding ice before or after doesn't have a significant impact on flavor). Pour in 15 grams of coffee grounds. First, inject 30 grams of water from the center outward in small circles for a 30-second bloom. In the second stage, inject 60 grams of water using the same technique. 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 accelerate the melting of ice cubes while thoroughly mixing and cooling the coffee liquid, then it's ready to enjoy. This brewed Kilimanjaro iced pour-over has a refreshing mouthfeel, bright acidity, with flavors of green grapes, berries, and nuts upon entry, accompanied by some light floral notes.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473