Can Coffee Be Brewed with Ice? How Much Ice and Water Should Be Added for Iced Pour-Over Coffee?

Many coffee enthusiasts visit cafés with a learning mindset, carefully observing the barista's movements and processes while quietly asking about various parameters, hoping to replicate the exact same flavors at home.

For instance, when FrontStreet Coffee was brewing iced coffee behind the bar recently, curious onlookers not only stared intently at the pouring kettle and coffee bed but also asked: How much coffee powder do you use? How much ice and water? Is it better to add ice before or after? What's the water temperature? Do you need special pouring techniques?

When you have the same coffee beans, you don't necessarily 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 master one "universal formula":

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

The Science Behind Iced Coffee Brewing

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

Compared to hot pour-over, iced coffee introduces the crucial element of ice cubes. To ensure the final coffee is sufficiently strong, flavorful, and cold, we must allocate some of the hot water to displace the ice cubes. Following the pour-over principle where extraction is stronger at the beginning and weaker at the end, the less water injected, the more concentrated the coffee liquid will be, preventing it from becoming too diluted when added to ice.

FrontStreet Coffee has tested iced brewing methods for various coffee beans. When the ratio of coffee powder to hot water is controlled at 1:10, the resulting iced coffee has optimal concentration. Adding ice cubes equal to 5 times the coffee powder amount ensures the coffee liquid maintains good flavor characteristics after being diluted and cooled. This is the formula mentioned above by FrontStreet Coffee. For example, with 15g of coffee powder for a single serving, you'd need 150g of hot water (10x) and 75g of ice cubes (5x). For a double serving of 20g, you'd use 200g of hot water and 100g of ice cubes.

However, it's important to note that the less hot water injected, the shorter the entire extraction process becomes. The most common scenario is the time reducing from the original 2 minutes to 1 minute and 20 seconds. This means there's less opportunity for the later-stage flavor compounds to be released, making the entire iced coffee likely under-extracted. In other words, while the concentration might be adequate, the flavor complexity is lacking! Therefore, to restore the proportion of aromatic compounds released, we need to adjust the grind to be finer, which in turn extends the extraction time.

Unlike other specific parameters, the grind size of coffee powder has always been difficult to express precisely in words. Large deviations can easily lead to extraction problems, so FrontStreet Coffee believes that simply adjusting the grind slightly finer than what you normally use for hot brewing is sufficient.

For example, FrontStreet Coffee's shops use EK43s grinders. If a coffee is brewed hot using a setting of 10, then for iced brewing, the setting is adjusted to 9-9.5. When using the C40 hand grinder, if a bean is brewed hot using setting 24, then for iced brewing, it's adjusted finer to setting 22.

Three-Stage Pouring Method

Coffee beans: Tanzania · Kilimanjaro
Coffee powder: 15g
10x hot water: 150g
5x ice cubes: 75g
Water temperature: 93°C
Grind size: EK43s setting 9 (85% pass-through rate on #20 sieve)
Dripper: Hario V60
Technique: Three-stage pouring

Before pouring, first place the ice cubes in the server (adding ice before or after doesn't significantly affect the flavor), and add 15g of coffee powder. Start from the center and pour in small circles with a small water stream, injecting 30g of water for a 30-second bloom. For the second stage, use the same technique to inject 60g of water. When the water in the dripper is about to finish dripping, pour the remaining 60g 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. Enjoy! This Kilimanjaro iced pour-over has a refreshing mouthfeel, bright acidity, and flavors of green grapes, berries, and nuts with subtle floral notes.

One-Pour Iced Method

Reading this, some might think it's still too complicated. Is there a more direct and straightforward iced brewing method that doesn't require special techniques? Don't worry, there is! It's the "One-Pour Iced Pour-over" developed by Mr. Tetsu Kasuya.

First, find a dripper with relatively slow flow rate, such as Kalita wave drippers, Kono drippers, Mugen drippers, or flat-bottom drippers. FrontStreet Coffee will demonstrate using the Mugen Cross Star dripper. Next, prepare a small spoon for stirring. Prepare 20g of coffee powder at once, with a total water volume of 150g, and place 80g of ice cubes in the server in advance.

Coffee beans: Panama · Finca Deborah · Natural Caturra
Powder + water + ice: 20g + 150g + 80g
Water temperature: 93°C
Dripper: Mugen Cross Star Dripper

Grind size: EK-43s setting 7 (approximately 18-19 on C40)

The operation is very simple. After adding all the coffee powder, directly pour 150g of hot water with a large stream, maintaining the pour for about 10 seconds. Then use the small spoon to stir along the dripper wall in one direction for about 10 circles, and wait for the coffee liquid to slowly flow into the server. The entire extraction process takes approximately 1 minute and 43 seconds.

Finally, remove the dripper and shake the server vigorously until all ice cubes have melted into the coffee liquid. Pour into an iced glass and enjoy (if you find it too concentrated, you can add 1-2 more ice cubes according to your taste).

This one-pour extracted iced coffee has a smooth mouthfeel, subtle acidity, and a strong sweet aftertaste, giving this coffee notes of cinnamon, liqueur chocolate, peach, and Darjeeling tea.

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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