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How to Make Iced Pour-Over Coffee at Home? When Should You Use the Stirring Method vs. the Single-Stage Method?

Published: 2026-01-27 Author: FrontStreet Coffee

Last Updated: 2026/01/27, Yesterday, a customer who purchased coffee beans asked FrontStreet Coffee about making iced pour-over at home. Having grown accustomed to brewing hot coffee with nearly fixed parameters, they've recently become fascinated with the iced pour-over from our shop and wondered if they could replicate it at home, and what parameters need to be adjusted when transitioning from "hot" to "cold" brewing. Remember! Iced pour-over coffee is not the same as "cold brew coffee"

Yesterday, a customer who had just purchased coffee beans asked FrontStreet Coffee about transitioning from hot pour-over brewing, which they were accustomed to with nearly fixed parameters, to cold pour-over coffee that they had recently become fascinated with at the shop. They wanted to know if they could replicate it at home and what parameters needed adjustment when switching from "hot" to "cold."

Remember! Cold Pour-Over is Not "Pour-Over Coffee Plus Ice"

Cold pour-over is a brewing method that uses ice to rapidly cool the coffee liquid in a short period while appropriately diluting the extraction. Therefore, it's also called "rapid cooling pour-over." It's not only the standard serving method in mainstream independent coffee shops but also a beloved home brewing method for countless pour-over enthusiasts.

FrontStreet Coffee has noticed that in some educational tutorials, they describe cold pour-over as "hot coffee + ice cubes," causing confusion between the two. In reality, a coffee brewed with a preset ratio (such as 1:15) is already within an appropriate concentration range. If you add extra ice cubes at this point, the coffee will likely become "thin as water." Therefore, if you want coffee that's both refreshingly cool and retains rich aromatic layers, we need to adjust parameters based on hot pour-over brewing.

Breaking Down Cold Pour-Over Parameters

When we break down the framework of cold pour-over, we can identify six parameters: coffee amount, water amount, ice amount, grind size, water temperature, and time. Simply put, the coffee amount depends on how large a cup of coffee you want to drink; water temperature depends on the roast level of your beans (86-88°C for medium-dark roasts, 90-93°C for medium-light roasts); time is mainly influenced by technique and flow rate. What remains are the "coffee-ice-water ratio" and "grind size."

Ice and Hot Water: A 4:6 Ratio

Precisely because of the added significant factor—ice—the primary consideration for cold pour-over is the amount and usage of "ice." Here, ice serves two purposes: cooling and dilution. Therefore, the optimal amount of ice should ensure that when it completely melts into water, the coffee liquid reaches an ideal drinking concentration while being sufficiently cold.

To this end, WBC champion James Hoffmann conducted extensive experiments with cold brewing, comparing different ice amounts across multiple batches of coffee and testing the final temperatures. He discovered that when the liquid cooled to around 5°C, the "remaining ice" in all coffees melted slowly, and the temperature gradually stabilized. At this point, no matter how much more ice was added, the coffee couldn't get any "colder." Therefore, the portion of ice that had already melted into water is the "optimal amount" we're looking for.

Of course, the actual amount of ice used should also consider the quality of the ice. James compared coffee brewed with -18°C ice versus -20°C ice, finding that colder ice melts more slowly and has higher cooling efficiency. With the same extraction parameters, high-quality ice can more quickly yield a sufficiently cold pour-over coffee. If your home freezer has good cooling performance and your molds are large enough, the resulting ice will be denser, allowing you to use less ice for brewing. However, if you're using ice from an ice maker or small ice particles that aren't cold enough, you'll need more ice to cool the coffee.

After extensive data analysis, James concluded that this ice-to-water ratio can be controlled at 4:6. For example, FrontStreet Coffee's standard single-serving dose uses 15 grams of coffee (with a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio for hot brewing), corresponding to cold brew parameters of 90 grams of ice + 135 grams of hot water. When the ice temperature is sufficiently low, the ice proportion can be reduced to approximately 80 grams of ice + 150 grams of hot water.

Grind Finer for More Aroma

Regarding cold pour-over, we must acknowledge a fact: when coffee cools, its aromatic intensity diminishes, and flavors like sweetness and complexity also become muted. This is why whenever customers struggle with choosing between hot and cold, FrontStreet Coffee emphasizes that if you want to experience the full flavor profile, it's best to choose hot.

The main reason for grinding coffee finer is to compensate for insufficient extraction time caused by using less water. Additionally, a finer grind helps increase the extraction rate, allowing coffee to release more flavor compounds when brewed with relatively less hot water. For example, with the EK43s grinder that FrontStreet Coffee uses, if a coffee is brewed hot using a setting of 10, the cold brew would be adjusted to 9.5. For hand grinders like the C40, settings 24-26 are suitable for moderate hot pour-over grinding, but when switching to cold pour-over, we can adjust 2-3 settings finer.

Small Water Flow, Take It Slow

As mentioned earlier, cold brew uses less hot water than hot brew. If you use the usual large water flow to rinse the coffee grounds, the brewing time will be significantly reduced, and many flavors that typically release in the middle to late stages won't have time to dissolve before the target water amount is completely poured. This requires us to simulate the hot brew framework and redistribute the hot water to be poured. FrontStreet Coffee typically divides the water into more segments or controls the water flow to extend the time back to around 2 minutes.

If you find these cold brew methods too complicated and can't be bothered, FrontStreet Coffee has a special trick for you: take out your small spoon and stir!

Coffee amount: 15 grams
Water amount: 150 grams
Ice amount: 80 grams (placed in the bottom server)
Water temperature: 93°C
Grind size: Fine grind (EK43s setting 8 or C40 setting 20)
Brewing device: Flat-bottom dripper

After adding the coffee grounds, pour the entire target water amount of 150 grams at once. Immediately after, stir with a small spoon in one direction for about 10 rotations to ensure full contact between coffee and water. Once all the coffee liquid has flowed into the bottom server, remove the dripper, shake the coffee liquid well until the ice completely dissolves, and then you can begin to enjoy it.