How to Make All-Ice Americano? What's the Deal with Extra Ice, No Water in Iced Americano? The Method for Making Iced Espresso!

Should we say this is typical of Guangzhou? Reaching a high of 20°C at the end of January, most customers visiting these past two days have been drinking iced coffee (that's right, FrontStreet Coffee remains open during Spring Festival). Among the various iced coffees, iced Americano still ranks among the top-selling products. But unlike usual, most customers ordering iced Americanos recently have made an additional request: iced Americano with extra ice and no water.

"An iced Americano without water? What's the difference from just ordering espresso?" some friends new to coffee asked.

Although it might seem similar, these two are indeed quite different. The "iced Americano without water" drinking method didn't just emerge recently - it became very popular years ago, so FrontStreet Coffee has shared articles about it before. Terms like "full-ice Americano" and "burst-ice Americano" both refer to this drink. So what exactly are the advantages of this method? Actually, we can understand the reason from how Americano coffee is made.

As everyone knows, making Americano coffee couldn't be simpler - it's just espresso diluted with water. Iced Americano follows the same principle, just adding ice to cool it down. An iced Americano without water simply removes the water that dilutes the coffee concentration, keeping the espresso and ice. So we can understand that removing water from an iced Americano changes the concentration of the Americano, and those who choose this method naturally want to drink a higher concentration of espresso black coffee. But it's different from ordering straight espresso! Because of the ice, the espresso's temperature is reduced, and the bitterness of the coffee significantly decreases. At the same time, the ice will melt when it comes into contact with the hot espresso, slightly diluting the espresso concentration as it turns into water. Through this process, we get a relatively easy-to-drink, high-concentration coffee. And because the espresso itself isn't overly diluted, this drink also has the nickname "iced espresso."

The Art of Making Full-Ice Americano

From the introduction above, we can see that this "full-ice Americano" requires only espresso and ice. Although there are just these two ingredients, the preparation method is quite particular. Where does the particularity lie? It's in whether to pour the espresso first or add the ice first. When making an iced Americano without water, it's best to add ice first, then pour the espresso. This allows the espresso to come into contact with the ice immediately after extraction, thus being directly cooled. I wonder if everyone has read the recent article about frozen portafilters - these two methods actually have the same effect, both aiming to cool the espresso immediately, which is called extract chilling.

The volatilization speed of coffee's aroma is affected by temperature. When coffee is first extracted, the coffee liquid's temperature is relatively high, leading to a slightly faster volatilization speed. However, if we directly cool the coffee during extraction using a portafilter or ice, the liquid temperature is immediately lowered, reducing the aroma volatilization speed. Then, in the subsequent espresso, we can experience more aromatic expression (that is, comparatively more aroma is retained). At the same time, "adding ice first then pouring espresso" cools the coffee liquid faster than "extracting espresso first then adding ice," which helps improve the taste more quickly. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee recommends adding ice first, then pouring espresso when making "full-ice Americano." Not only that, if we add an extra technique during preparation, we can retain even more aroma and lower the temperature even faster! What technique? Shaking.

Previously, FrontStreet Coffee mentioned this method in the article "Three! 'Alternative Methods' to Make Americano Coffee Taste Better"! It's when we use ice to catch the extracted espresso while making iced Americano, simultaneously shaking the cup with our hand. This method can accelerate the temperature drop of the coffee liquid, making the coffee's aroma and taste even more outstanding. FrontStreet Coffee has proven through experiments that this is indeed the case. So if you enjoy full-ice Americanos with higher concentration, you might want to try this method. But it's best to use a slightly shorter coffee cup when making it, otherwise it might be difficult to drink. After all, this full-ice Americano isn't suitable for drinking with a straw~

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