Brewed hot, onto ice
People call this Japanese-style iced coffee, or flash brew. You make a pour over with less hot water and let it drip onto ice. The ice supplies the rest. Counter Culture uses 30 g of coffee, 335 g of water at 200 °F and 165 g of ice. Grind a little finer than for a hot cup. The ice chills the coffee fast, before it can go stale.
| Method | Ready in | You need | Tastes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hot over ice | About 2 to 4 min | Pour over, scale, ice | Bright, crisp |
| Chilled leftover coffee | Once it is cold, keeps 3 to 4 days | Sealed jar, fridge | Goes stale if it cools slowly |
| Cold brew over ice | 12 to 24 h steep | Jar or press, coarse grind | Smooth, low acidity |
| Iced espresso drinks | A few minutes | Espresso machine, moka pot or AeroPress | Strong, milky or long |
Two fixes for watery coffee
Pour hot coffee over a full glass of ice and the ice melts into it. You get a thin drink with less sweetness. The first fix is a stronger brew: twice the coffee for the same water. The melting ice then brings it back to normal strength. For the second, freeze leftover coffee in an ice tray. Those cubes melt into more coffee. Big cubes of any kind melt slower.
Yesterday's coffee, chilled
Leftover coffee makes fine iced coffee with a little care. Let it cool to about room temperature, pour it into a sealed jar and put it in the fridge. It keeps for 3 to 4 days. If you leave it on the counter for hours, it picks up stale, off flavors. You can plan for it, too: brew it stronger the night before. Add milk when you pour.
Cold brew over ice
Cold brew uses no hot water at all. You steep coarse grounds in cold or room-temperature water for 12 to 24 hours, then strain. Most recipes make a concentrate you dilute about 1:1 with water or milk over ice. The cup tastes smoother and less acidic than hot-brewed iced coffee. Our cold brew concentrate guide, coming soon, has the amounts. A jar you make on Sunday keeps for days.
Iced espresso drinks
For an iced latte, pull a double shot, about 2 oz, into a small cup. Fill a 12 oz glass halfway with cold milk, add the espresso, then top up with ice. The milk cools the shot first, so the ice stays solid. An iced americano is espresso and cold water over ice. Without a machine, use a moka pot or AeroPress for a strong base.
