How to Make Coffee Ice Cubes at Home: A Step-by-Step Guide. Does Melted Frozen Coffee Taste Good?

When watermelons start appearing on the streets, FrontStreet Coffee knows summer is approaching. As the temperature rises, iced coffee is about to become a hot favorite.

When it comes to the simplest iced coffee, many would say cold brew. With just a few simple steps, you can have a delicious cold beverage. However, for those who prefer a faster pace, the filtering process is time-consuming and troublesome, and the flavor extracted at low temperatures heavily depends on the quality of the beans. Therefore, many are looking for an iced coffee method that's simpler and quicker.

For these friends, FrontStreet Coffee is here to share a lazy method that takes just 1 minute to prepare iced coffee for takeout. Since it often freezes into cube shapes, it's also called "ice brick coffee." The process is simple: freeze the coffee liquid into ice cubes in advance, then take them out when ready to drink and mix with water or milk to create an Americano or latte. This not only eliminates the long waiting time but also requires no complicated steps - truly a blessing for the lazy.

FrontStreet Coffee wants to emphasize that this preparation method is mainly aimed at friends who are rushing to go out. Therefore, compared to freshly ground and extracted versions, the coffee frozen overnight will certainly have lost most of its crema, and the aroma and flavor will also be somewhat diminished. However, there are quite a few advantages: simple, convenient, and most importantly, fast.

To cater to different preferences, FrontStreet Coffee will fulfill three wishes at once, teaching everyone how to use the ice brick method to unlock iced Americano, iced latte, and iced pour-over coffee.

Ice Brick Americano

As we know, iced Americano consists only of three elements: espresso, ice cubes, and water - essentially a lighter version of cold black coffee. When the espresso is pre-frozen into ice cubes, our remaining step is simply adding water, making it faster than buying a cup of coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee typically uses a 300ml glass cup for iced Americanos, adding 90g of ice (3 cubes), 160g of water, and 35-40g of espresso in that order. The ratio of coffee, ice, and water is approximately 1:2.25:4. For ice brick Americanos, FrontStreet Coffee mixes the espresso with room temperature water in equal proportions (1:1), so the coffee melts faster when drinking and tastes more refreshing.

Preparation steps: First, extract the coffee - one shot of espresso for one Americano. Here, FrontStreet Coffee uses 20g of Sunflower Warm Sunshine coffee grounds, extracted for 29-30 seconds to yield 40g of coffee liquid based on that day's calibration parameters. Pour the espresso into a clean container, then add an equal amount of room temperature water (1:1 ratio) and stir well. Carefully pour into ice trays and place in the freezer.

When ready to drink, simply take out the corresponding number of ice bricks, drop them into a glass, add drinking water to cover the cubes, and stir thoroughly with a straw or spoon to let the coffee completely dissolve in the water. A refreshingly cold Americano is ready.

Ice Brick Latte

Compared to the refreshing Americano, when making lattes, we pursue a richer and mellow coffee flavor. Therefore, when making coffee ice bricks, FrontStreet Coffee recommends pouring the pure espresso directly into ice trays for freezing to reduce the dilution from water. The melting effect also blends better with milk.

When FrontStreet Coffee makes iced lattes, we first add 90g of ice to the cup, then pour in 200g of fresh milk and a double shot of espresso (36-40g). The ratio of coffee to milk is approximately 1:5. For ice brick lattes, since the espresso is already frozen, we can simply pour 150-200g of milk directly over the coffee bricks according to personal taste preference.

What surprised FrontStreet Coffee is that because espresso contains water, the coffee liquid at room temperature melts into the milk faster than the ice itself, making the latte taste even richer.

Ice Brick Pour-Over

Theoretically, a "overnight" pour-over coffee cannot match the flavor of freshly extracted coffee. However, to leave home earlier, one of FrontStreet Coffee's customers brews coffee the night before and freezes it into ice bricks, then puts them in a to-go cup the next day, allowing them to slowly melt during the commute. As an office worker, she finds this method not only time-efficient but also allows her to enjoy the fruity acidity of the coffee - killing two birds with one stone.

Based on this experience, FrontStreet Coffee believes that for pre-made iced pour-over, it's best to use a 1:12-1:13 coffee-to-water ratio for brewing to obtain a more concentrated black coffee, which can then be diluted with water after freezing. Here, FrontStreet Coffee will demonstrate with Colombian Big Navel using the following parameters:

Coffee beans: Fenchixian Manor · Big Navel
Coffee amount: 15g
Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:12
Water temperature: 90°C
Grind size: EK43s grinder setting 9.5
Dripper: Hario V60
Pouring technique: Three-stage pour

First stage: gently pour 30g of water for bloom, wait 30 seconds. Second stage: pour 80g of water in small, uniform circles outward. Wait for the coffee liquid to drop until it's about to expose the coffee bed, then use the same technique to pour the final 70g of water. Continue waiting for the coffee to drip into the server, with a total extraction time of about 1 minute 40-50 seconds.

Gently shake the brewed coffee to mix evenly, let it cool naturally at room temperature, then pour into ice trays and freeze overnight. When ready to drink, simply take out the ice cubes and add a small amount of room temperature water to help them dissolve completely, and you'll get a coffee with moderate concentration.

This Big Navel coffee has a moderate concentration, with grape acidity and a subtle nutty milky aroma, plus a lemongrass aftertaste. Although it's certainly not as good as freshly extracted iced pour-over in every aspect, imagine enjoying it after rushing for the bus (or subway) on a hot summer day - it would absolutely be considered a decent cold coffee drink.

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