How Much Ice Makes an Authentic Iced Americano? Why Don't Coffee Shop Ice Cubes Melt Easily?

Iced coffee is something that many of us have tried. Generally speaking, as long as the quality of beans is up to standard, with the right extraction parameters and appropriate concentration, adding ice in proper proportions often creates a refreshing chilled coffee experience. However, FrontStreet Coffee often hears some friends expressing confusion about "how to add ice," "how much ice to add," or "whether to add ice before or after brewing."

Today, FrontStreet Coffee continues to discuss everything about ice in coffee

The Main Purpose of Ice

As a supporting element in beverages, although ice seems colorless and tasteless, it plays a significant role in iced coffee, where low temperature creates a stimulating mouthfeel. When used correctly, it enhances the experience; when used improperly, it can quickly turn into "ashtray water."

As more people enter the coffee industry, almost every common coffee variety now has an iced version, with preparation methods becoming increasingly diverse and parameters overwhelming. However, the fundamentals remain unchanged - once we understand the principles behind it, adding ice becomes a simple matter.

1. Rapid Cooling

Looking at coffee shop menus, you'll notice that except for cold brew and cold drip, most iced coffees are extracted using hot water in contact with coffee grounds. Therefore, freshly brewed coffee is most aromatic but also scalding hot. To transform it into a cold beverage, adding ice is undoubtedly the fastest and easiest cooling method.

As we all know, ice achieves cooling by absorbing heat and melting. To avoid all the ice melting into water before the coffee becomes cold, we must leave "room" in concentration for the ice to work its magic. In other words, coffee needs to be strong and flavorful before cooling to withstand the dilution from ice.

2. Locking in Coffee Aroma

If we find coffee too bitter, we can add sugar and milk to reduce the bitterness, but only in small amounts, otherwise it will dilute the coffee or make it excessively sweet. Adding ice not only suppresses bitterness but also locks in coffee aroma through rapid cooling.

3. Maintaining Low Temperature

Research shows that our taste perception is temperature-dependent - the intensity of flavors we experience is affected by temperature. When drinking iced coffee, our tongue's sensitivity to bitterness decreases because the cool temperature neutralizes and reduces bitterness, making coffee more palatable. Additionally, the temporary numbing effect on the tongue reduces sensitivity to bitterness.

However, as iced coffee gradually warms from cold to room temperature, taste buds become more sensitive to bitterness, and the coffee will start to taste bitter or even astringent. Therefore, maintaining a low temperature is crucial for a better coffee drinking experience.

Based on these three points, when determining the usage and amount of ice, we need to ensure it can quickly chill hot coffee while maintaining the beverage at low temperature, without melting too quickly and turning coffee watery. In other words, making good iced coffee requires not only considering the amount of ice but also its quality.

What Matters About Ice?

Currently available ice in the market can be roughly divided into solid and hollow ice. By shape, it can be square, spherical, crescent, snowflake, etc. Many bubble tea shops prefer square and crescent shapes. Square ice is often hollow with small particles, melting relatively quickly; crescent ice is solid, harder, and melts slower in water.

Ice molds used at home are typically spherical and square. Because they use static freezing methods, they're both solid ice. For the same shape, larger volumes melt slower, though corresponding freezing time is longer. Additionally, refrozen ice has higher hardness and provides better cooling effect in coffee compared to newly frozen ice taken directly from molds. (FrontStreet Coffee previously conducted comparative experiments and found minimal difference between adding ice before or after brewing, so this won't be discussed separately here.)

For friends who enjoy iced coffee at home, FrontStreet Coffee recommends purchasing ice trays with slightly larger specifications or individual large spherical molds, as they produce denser ice. If you're using smaller ice trays, you can remove the ice cubes in advance and store them in a clean container to maintain higher hardness.

How Should Different Coffees Be Served with Ice?

Once you understand the purpose of using ice and the factors affecting ice quality, you can determine the appropriate amount of ice based on actual circumstances. For iced coffees that are hot then cooled, FrontStreet Coffee's approach is to ensure both coffee concentration and prolonged low temperature maintenance, so ice occupies a larger proportion, with preference for refrozen large ice cubes;

Iced Americano: 40g espresso + 120ml water + 100g large ice cubes, ice is 2.5 times the coffee liquid;
Iced Latte: 40g espresso + 180ml cold fresh milk + 80g large ice cubes, ice is 2 times the coffee liquid;
Iced Pour-over: 15g coffee grounds / 150ml hot water / 75g ice cubes, ice is 5 times the coffee grounds;

Considering that cold-brewed coffee liquids are already cold and require no additional cooling, but since FrontStreet Coffee习惯 uses slightly higher concentration ratios, a small amount of ice is needed to slightly dilute the coffee liquid:

Cold Brew, Cold Drip: 180ml coffee liquid + 30g large ice cubes, coffee liquid is 6 times the ice.

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