How to Make Quicksand Iced Americano? How Much Water and Ice Should Be Added to an Iced Americano? Three Different Ways to Make Quicksand Iced Americano Shared!

As expected, Guangdong's "Lidong" (Beginning of Winter) is just a formality. After cooling down for a few days, it returns to the scorching "dog days of summer," so the sales of iced coffee haven't been affected at all. As a popular refreshing item in coffee shops, iced Americano's derived specialty drinks also remain highly popular. Especially the "Quicksand Iced Americano" that FrontStreet Coffee has shared multiple times, which has become the most frequently requested item by customers visiting FrontStreet Coffee's stores recently.

Although FrontStreet Coffee doesn't sell this particular product, they are thoroughly familiar with the preparation method. After all, it requires exactly the same ingredients as a regular iced Americano, with the only difference being in the preparation technique. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee plans to provide a detailed explanation today on how to make Quicksand Iced Americano, so everyone can replicate this unique delicacy at home.

How Does an Iced Americano Create a "Quicksand" Effect?

The "quicksand" in Quicksand Iced Americano refers to the visual effect of fine sand cascading layer by layer, created by aerating the coffee to form bubbles. The principle is quite simple, similar to frothing milk: by injecting air into the liquid, the surface tension of proteins forms numerous bubbles, and due to the mutual adhesion between proteins in coffee, these become a dense foam structure mixed within the liquid.

Initially, the coffee liquid and bubbles are almost completely mixed. As the lighter bubbles continuously rise due to buoyancy, the darker coffee liquid begins to sink, creating the quicksand-like effect we observe. Besides being visually appealing, the foam gives the entire iced Americano a remarkably smooth texture. Therefore, it's not just "eye candy" – its performance as a beverage is equally impressive.

How to Make Quicksand Iced Americano?

From the principles mentioned above, we can understand that there can be many ways to make Quicksand Iced Americano. Because all we need to do is inject air into the coffee to create dense foam. Therefore, besides the commonly used steam wand method in coffee shops, we can also use tools like French press, shaker, or milk frother to incorporate air into the coffee and create Quicksand Iced Americano. As FrontStreet Coffee mentioned, the required ingredients are the same as regular iced Americano: espresso, ice, and water – it's that simple!

Even if you don't have a coffee machine at home and can't make espresso, it's not a problem! Whether it's strong coffee made with a moka pot or pour-over coffee, both have the potential to produce foam. Therefore, we don't need to restrict ourselves to using only espresso – substituting with other types of coffee is perfectly acceptable. Alright, without further ado, let's begin making our Quicksand Iced Americano! FrontStreet Coffee will use regular espresso for this experiment, with an extraction plan of 20g of coffee grounds to extract 40ml of coffee liquid in 29 seconds.

The amounts of ice and room-temperature water will vary depending on the method used, so they won't be specified here. First, FrontStreet Coffee will introduce the first method: using a coffee machine's steam wand.

1. Coffee Machine Version of Quicksand Iced Americano

Making Quicksand Iced Americano with a coffee machine's steam wand is arguably the most classic method! The steps are simple – we only need to froth the coffee just like we would froth milk. For this, we need to first put the ingredients into a pitcher. The ingredient parameters used by FrontStreet Coffee are: 40ml coffee liquid, 70g ice, and 50ml room-temperature water. Then prepare a transparent glass and fill it with 100g of ice as a backup.

Then, just like frothing milk, first introduce air to create foam, then lower the steam wand and adjust the tilt angle of the pitcher to create a vortex that cuts down large bubbles into finer ones. During this process, we can clearly hear the sound of ice hitting the pitcher, which serves as an excellent reference point. When the ice melts and there's no more collision sound, it means the coffee frothing is complete!

After finishing the frothing, immediately pour the coffee liquid into the prepared glass! Then you can start watching the coffee liquid cascading down like quicksand!

2. Shaker Version of Quicksand Iced Americano

This method is quite simple! Since we don't need heated steam to generate bubbles, we don't need to separate the ingredients specifically to cool the coffee – we can simply pour everything into the shaker at once. Also, because cooling isn't necessary, there's an adjustment in the ratio of ice to water. The ingredients needed for this preparation are: 40ml espresso, 120g ice, and 100ml room-temperature water. Pour everything into the shaker and start shaking!

Shake until the shaker is filled with foam and the sound changes from crisp to mellow, then stop. Pour it out, and a shaker version of Quicksand Iced Americano is complete!

3. French Press Version of Quicksand Iced Americano

The versatile French press! Besides being used for coffee brewing, it can also froth milk, and even Quicksand Iced Americano is no exception! The most crucial point is that it's very! affordable! That's why FrontStreet Coffee wants to give it extra attention!

In terms of preparation, it's the same as the shaker method – simply pour all ingredients in and start frothing directly! So we'll still use 40ml coffee liquid, 120g ice, and 100ml room-temperature water, all poured in at once!

Then start pumping the filter to froth!

Stop when you press down and can clearly feel the texture of the foam cluster! Then pour into the prepared glass, and you can enjoy the "quicksand" feast brought by the foam!

Because FrontStreet Coffee still used espresso made with the Warm Sun Blend, all three cups of Quicksand Iced Americano still feature the exciting flavors of whiskey, butter cookies, and sweet and sour berries. However, unlike regular iced Americano, because the coffee has been frothed into foam, we can experience a smooth texture when drinking it. Having this experience occasionally is quite a nice choice.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473