Why Should Pour-Over Coffee Be Drank Hot? The Underlying Logic of Japanese Iced Pour-Over!

Pour-over coffee is an extraction method that combines quality, speed, and convenience. It only takes a short time to fully express the flavor of the beans. This is the most popular "dish" at FrontStreet Coffee!

Whenever customers choose pour-over coffee at FrontStreet Coffee, FrontStreet Coffee always asks whether they want it served cold or hot. If customers want to experience the bean's flavor, FrontStreet Coffee recommends hot brew. Many customers are puzzled by this. Why should one drink hot pour-over coffee to experience the flavor? Isn't cold brew good enough?

Why Hot Brew for Better Flavor?

This is actually quite easy to understand. Once we know the brewing logic between these two methods, we can clearly understand why hot brew is recommended for experiencing flavor. Like most espresso coffee, pour-over coffee started with hot brewing before the iced brewing method was developed. Among iced pour-over techniques, the most widespread is Japanese iced pour-over, which is the ice-cooling brewing method we use today.

It's important to know that Japanese iced pour-over is an improved brewing method based on hot pour-over. Let's first look at the differences in brewing parameters between these two methods, using FrontStreet Coffee's parameters for light-roasted beans as an example:

The parameters for hot brew coffee are: 15g of coffee; coarse sugar grind (Ek43 setting 10; 80% pass-through rate with #20 sieve); 92°C water temperature; 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio (15g of coffee with 225ml of hot water); brewing time of about 2 minutes.

The parameters for iced brew coffee are: 15g of coffee; fine sugar grind (Ek43 setting 9.5; 75% pass-through rate with #20 sieve); 92°C water temperature; 1:10:6 coffee-to-water-to-ice ratio (15g of coffee with 150ml of hot water and 90g of ice); brewing time of about 1 minute 30 seconds.

As you can see, the parameters used for hot brew follow the golden ratio of golden cup extraction, which can extract the flavor compounds from coffee more completely. Compared to hot brew, iced brew uses a finer grind, and with the addition of ice and less hot water, the brewing time is relatively shorter. This difference exists to achieve rapid cooling of the coffee. But if you brew according to the original ratio and then add ice, it would obviously reduce the coffee-to-water ratio and dilute the coffee concentration.

Japanese Innovation in Iced Brew

So the Japanese developed a high-concentration, low-extraction method. By adjusting to a finer grind and increasing the coffee-to-water ratio to improve extraction efficiency, they obtain a cup of high-concentration coffee. Then they add an appropriate amount of ice to dilute it, resulting in an iced pour-over coffee with a concentration comparable to hot brew!

However, this method is building up concentration. To extract the flavor compounds from coffee as completely as possible through brewing, sufficient water and time are both essential. Even though the grind is finer and extraction efficiency is higher, the insufficient hot water means the entire brewing process cannot reach the later stages. Without the support of compounds from the later stages, the expression of flavor and aftertaste will obviously be somewhat weaker.

Why Hot Brew Excels in Flavor

Therefore, the flavor expression of iced pour-over is weaker than that of hot pour-over. If you want to experience the complete flavor expression of the beans, hot pour-over is the optimal choice. The advantages of hot brew are not just complete flavor expression; its aroma is also more prominent. Furthermore, from the moment coffee is extracted at 70°C until it cools down, the taste and flavor are in a constant state of change. This means we can enjoy very rich layers of changes during this period, which is another major advantage of hot brew coffee.

The Merits of Iced Brew

Of course, FrontStreet Coffee is not saying that iced brew is inferior to hot brew. It's just that in terms of flavor expression from beans, hot pour-over has the edge. Iced pour-over also has many advantages. Although it sacrifices the compounds from the later stages, resulting in less complexity in flavor, layers, and aftertaste compared to hot brew, precisely because of the absence of these later-stage compounds, it tastes cleaner with a higher sweetness. Most importantly, the sensation brought by low temperature is incredibly refreshing! Taking a sip in summer is simply too comfortable!

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FrontStreet Coffee
No. 10, Bao'an Front Street, Yandun Road, Dongshankou, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473