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

Call it typical Guangzhou weather: hitting a high of 20°C at the end of January. Most customers over the past few days have been drinking iced coffee, and yes, FrontStreet Coffee stays open through Spring Festival. Among the iced options, iced Americano still ranks near the top. But this year, unlike usual, many customers ordering one added a request: iced Americano with extra ice and no water.

"An iced Americano without water? How is that different from just ordering an espresso?" some coffee newcomers asked.

They look similar, but these two are quite different. The "iced Americano without water" style didn't appear recently; it became popular years ago, and FrontStreet Coffee has written about it before. "Full-ice Americano" and "burst-ice Americano" both refer to this drink. So what exactly are its advantages? We can work that out from how Americano is made.

As everyone knows, making an Americano could not be simpler: it's just espresso diluted with water, and an iced Americano follows the same logic, with ice added to cool it down. An iced Americano without water simply drops the water that would dilute the coffee, leaving just the espresso and the ice. So removing the water changes the concentration, and those who choose it clearly want a stronger, more concentrated black coffee. But it isn't the same as ordering a straight espresso. Because of the ice, the shot's temperature drops and the bitterness falls off sharply. At the same time, the ice melts on contact with the hot espresso, diluting the concentration slightly as it turns to water. Through that process we get a relatively easy-drinking, high-concentration coffee. And since the espresso isn't overly diluted, the drink has also earned the nickname "iced espresso."

The Art of Making a Full-Ice Americano

From the introductions above, we can see that a full-ice Americano needs only espresso and ice. Just two ingredients, yet the way you put them together matters. Where's the trick? In whether you pour the espresso first or add the ice first. When making an iced Americano without water, it's best to add the ice first, then pour the espresso. That lets the shot meet the ice the instant it's extracted and cool down right away. If you've read the recent article on frozen portafilters, you'll recognize that these two approaches do the same job, cooling the espresso immediately, a technique known as extract chilling.

The speed at which coffee aroma volatilizes depends on temperature. Right after extraction the coffee liquid is fairly hot, so its aroma escapes a little faster. If we cool the coffee directly during extraction, whether with a portafilter or with ice, the liquid temperature drops immediately and the aroma escapes more slowly. Then, in the espresso that follows, we get a more aromatic expression, in other words more aroma retained. At the same time, "ice first, then espresso" cools the liquid faster than "espresso first, then ice," which improves the taste more quickly. So FrontStreet Coffee recommends adding the ice first and pouring the espresso after when making a full-ice Americano. Better still, if we add one extra technique during preparation, we can retain more aroma and drop the temperature even faster. What technique? Shaking.

FrontStreet Coffee mentioned this method before in the article "Three 'Alternative Methods' to Make Americano Coffee Taste Better." When making an iced Americano, use the ice to catch the extracted espresso while shaking the cup by hand. This speeds up the temperature drop, making the coffee's aroma and taste stand out even more. FrontStreet Coffee has confirmed through experiments that it really works. So if you enjoy full-ice Americanos with higher concentration, give it a try. It's best to use a slightly shorter cup, though, or it becomes hard to drink. After all, a full-ice Americano isn't meant for a straw.

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FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

For a full-ice Americano, where the espresso is the whole drink, FrontStreet Classic Blend is a dependable base. Built from Indonesia Mandheling, Brazil Red Bourbon and washed Vietnam beans in a traditional Italian-style recipe, it carries the low-acid, full-bodied, herbal and woody character of Asian coffee alongside the balanced, smooth, creamy quality of the Americas. Extraction brings butter, nut, spice and dark chocolate aromas, and whether you make an Americano or a latte, its wild profile and generous crema are what set it apart.

If you want an Americano with fruit and sweetness rather than roast, FrontStreet Strawberry Candy Espresso Blend is the pick. This medium roast combines single-origin Arabica from Colombia, Costa Rica and Ethiopia, lifted by washed, natural and honey processing. Besides a rose-like aroma, it is low in bitterness with a gentle acidity, and an Americano or latte shows grape, dried blueberry, sweet orange and fruit-candy notes with a distinctive almond finish. For a lighter, floral style, FrontStreet Ethiopia Huakui SOE delivers cream strawberry, guava, dried mango, black tea and citrus.