Can You Drink Watermelon Juice and Coffee Together? How to Make Watermelon Sparkling American Cold Brew Coffee at Home?

In hot weather, there is no problem a slice of watermelon cannot solve. If there is, eat two slices. The pairing of summer and iced watermelon has long been universally acknowledged. Recently, FrontStreet Coffee noticed a chain brand launching several watermelon-flavored iced coffees, which sparked an inspiration: we wanted to make one to satisfy our craving.

Searching the keywords "watermelon" and "iced coffee," FrontStreet Coffee found that compared with milk, juicy watermelon pairs better with refreshing black coffee. To satisfy our craving, FrontStreet Coffee put together three different combinations: a Watermelon Sparkling Americano, a Watermelon Cold Brew Coffee, and a Watermelon "Ice" Pour-Over. Without further ado, let's get started.

Watermelon Sparkling Americano

As another summer cooling weapon, chilled carbonated drinks come with lively bubbles. A sip during muggy heat is refreshing and invigorating. The texture is bold but very accommodating to other ingredients, which makes soda especially suitable as a base for creative mixed drinks. Combined with coffee and watermelon juice, it adds a layer of stimulation and further enhances the fresh aroma of watermelon, creating a subtle interaction on the palate.

As the saying goes, choosing the right ingredients makes the job twice as effective with half the effort. First, sweeter fresh watermelon is key, and the more juice, the better. It is best to choose seedless varieties, which not only makes juicing easier but also lets you eat with abandon anytime.

Ingredients: fresh watermelon, a bottle of plain sparkling water, espresso, ice cubes.

Preparation steps

First, cut the watermelon into small cubes and place them in a glass, pressing firmly to extract the juice. Then strain out all the pulp (if you enjoy the chewy texture, you can skip straining). Those with the equipment can use a juicer directly and then strain with a sieve, ensuring not a single drop of juice is wasted.

Next, prepare another glass, add 80g of ice cubes, and pour in all the strained watermelon juice, filling about half the glass.

Then top up with sparkling water to 80% full. Immediately after, extract a double shot of espresso using Nuan Yang blend and drizzle it in to finish. Note that because of the reaction between hot and cold, the sparkling water can react violently, causing splashing and spillage. FrontStreet Coffee suggests slowly drizzling the espresso over the ice cubes.

The finished Watermelon Sparkling Americano should be tasted immediately after stirring. The first sip brings the slight bitterness of the oils and the stimulating sensation of carbonated water; the second reveals the fresh aroma of watermelon along with the espresso's own berry acidity and caramel notes. It is especially suited to sleepy afternoons, refreshing and invigorating.

Watermelon Cold Brew Coffee

Because we always adhere to the principle of simplicity in summer eating, FrontStreet Coffee's intention in unlocking this coffee was the same. As long as you have cold brew at home, going from buying watermelon to tasting takes only a few simple steps, so you can easily make your own version at home.

For the coffee, FrontStreet Coffee used what was already in the refrigerator: a cold brew made with Colombia Rose Valley, which after three days of fermentation takes on a taste reminiscent of peaches and fermented fruit wine. To prepare, simply place 60g of ice cubes in a glass, pour in fresh-squeezed watermelon juice to half the glass, then drizzle in 120g of cold brew coffee liquid, and you are done.

Compared with the previous drink, this Watermelon Cold Brew uses gentler ingredients, so we can more clearly perceive the fermented flavors of the beans along with the sweet fruitiness the iced watermelon juice brings.

Watermelon "Ice" Pour-Over

Those who frequently make iced pour-over know that for this method to taste good, three basic conditions must be met: strong enough, cold enough, and flavorful enough. The principle behind it is high concentration and high extraction. So to perfectly marry the sweet, juicy sensation of watermelon with iced pour-over, we naturally cannot use a splicing method, which would both weaken the coffee flavor and give a watery texture once ice cubes are added.

To avoid diluting the coffee too much, FrontStreet Coffee had a flash of inspiration and remembered the "pre-prepared dish" we had played with before: coffee ice. We freeze watermelon juice into ice cubes in the freezer, replacing the original colorless, tasteless pure ice, which should yield an iced pour-over carrying both coffee and watermelon flavors. (Before brewing, pour fresh watermelon juice into molds, seal them, and place them in the freezer for more than 5 hours. Take them out before brewing.)

For bean selection, FrontStreet Coffee suggests prioritizing medium-light roast types, which will not easily overpower the watermelon flavor and will make the iced coffee richer in layers. Here, FrontStreet Coffee uses Sidamo Elto for iced brewing. This bean comes from the high-altitude regions of Sidamo, Ethiopia, and carries sweet aromas of lychee, rose, and blueberry when brewed, suitable for both hot and cold preparations.

Coffee beans: Sidamo Elto
Powder amount: 15g
Powder-to-water ratio: 1:10
Watermelon ice: 4 cubes (100g)
Water temperature: 92-93°C
Grind size: EK43s setting -9 / C40 hand grinder setting 22

For the pouring technique, FrontStreet Coffee still uses our familiar three-stage method. Place 100g of watermelon juice ice cubes in the lower pot, then pour 15g of ground coffee powder into the filter cup and gently tap it level. For the first stage, use a small water flow of 3-4ml/s to continuously pour in a circular motion from the center outward, injecting 30g of hot water for a 30-second bloom.

After 30 seconds, use the same technique to inject the second 60g of water, being careful not to raise the liquid level too high, which can cause under-extraction. When the coffee liquid is about to dry up, pour all the remaining 60g of hot water in small circular motions with a small flow. Finally, extraction time should fall around 1 minute 50 seconds to 2 minutes. Remove the filter cup, and thoroughly shake the coffee liquid with the watermelon ice before tasting.

The coffee made this way looks like iced watermelon juice accidentally mixed with black coffee: quite cloudy. Tasting it, you get the caramel notes and bitterness of coffee along with the sweetness of watermelon, plus a hint of cucumber flavor. Unfortunately, the textures do not blend well together. It is not undrinkable, but it is not stunning either.

Well, that is all for FrontStreet Coffee's playful experiment today. If you like it, learn it quickly; you might just make your friends look at you with "melon"-gazing admiration.

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FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Cold brew magnifies floral and fruity notes while muting woody and roasty ones, so light-to-medium roasts show their character best. If you like a floral iced coffee, the FrontStreet Huakui is a natural pick: grown in Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee, and sun-dried so the beans absorb plenty of sweet aroma from the fruit and skin, it brews into a cold brew with magnolia, creamy strawberry, dried mango, guava, and black tea notes.

For a juicy, fruit-forward cold brew, the FrontStreet Kenya Little Tomato, from Kenya's Thika region, is a washed bean grown at 1,550-1,750 meters from the classic SL28 and SL34 varieties and processed with the region's distinctive 72-hour double-washed fermentation. Light-roasted, it delivers the bright sweet-and-sour notes of cherry tomato, snow pear, black plum, and smoked plum, with low bitterness, full acidity, and a long-lasting aroma that is especially refreshing over ice. If cost matters, many drinkers blend the fruity, complex FrontStreet Colombia Xizhua with FrontStreet Costa Rica Tarrazu at a 1:2 ratio, keeping the floral and fruit aromas of the Xizhua alongside the crisp citrus acidity of the Tarrazu while stretching the value further.