People tend to drink more sugary, coffee-flavoured beverages as the temperatures rise.
These drinks are great if you like them.
Make sure you choose the right brewing method
There are several ways to make real iced tea. Here are three:
Cold Brew
Espresso
Iced Filter
Each method creates a unique flavour, and each has its pros and cons depending on the type of flavor you are looking for.
Let’s look at each of these methods.
Cold Brew Iced Espresso
Here is a brief overview of cold brew coffee for anyone who is new to it:
Cold brew refers to infusing coffee ground in cold water for at least 24 hours.
Once the coffee has been brewed, you can filter the grounds and keep the liquid concentrate in the refrigerator.
This makes iced coffee very smooth and chocolaty with very low acidity.
It works well with or without milk. You can mix it with many other ingredients and it will keep for up to two weeks in the refrigerator.
The downside?
It takes one full day to make a pot of coffee, so be ready in advance.
People sometimes find cold brew too bland and lack the delicate acidity of hot water.
Espresso Iced Coffee
Iced coffee made from espresso is stronger, more punchy and has a different flavour balance than cold brew.
Espresso can be brewed at your leisure. In fact, you will enjoy it better if you make it right away.
Make an Iced Latte. This is the easiest recipe.
Grab a tall glass, add milk, ice and then a shot (or two) of espresso.
You’ll notice a difference in espresso brewed iced versus hot. It tastes sharper and has more natural sweetness.
This is because the body doesn’t see sweetness as well as at higher temperatures.
It’s possible to make up the difference by adding sugar (we’ll talk about that in a second), but you can also try pulling your espresso shots shorter to make iced coffee (aka a “ristretto” shot).
This will alter the flavour balance and emphasize the sweetness at the serving temperature.
Iced Filter coffee
Iced filter coffee is great when served black. It retains more delicate acidity than cold brew or chilled espresso.
You can make your filter coffee at home. Just chill it in the fridge. It will be sharp and bitter when it is brewed.
You can make your coffee fresh every morning to avoid coffee oxidizing.
To prevent the ice melting down, you will need to use the same amount as usual, but half of water. You will get the same strength of standard filter coffee if the hot coffee melts the Ice.
Use 21g coffee, 150g sugar and 150g water to make a single cup pourover coffee brewer like the v60
You can adapt this recipe for any size brewer by using the following ratio: 1 part coffee to 7 parts hot water: 7 Parts ice.
This method is excellent for preserving delicate flavours in specialty coffees that are lighter roasted, but not for mixing it with milk or other ingredients.
Sweetener secrets
A lot of people like to have a little extra sweetness in their coffee, especially if it’s espresso coffee.
It is important to remember that normal sugar doesn’t dissolve in cold fluids. Therefore, it is better to make simple syrup.
Simple syrup works this way:
1 cup of boiling water
1 cup of raw sugar
Combine them
Once it’s cooled, put it in the fridge. Add a half-shot of this to your iced tea.
The raw sugar I use has a pleasant, neutral taste and balances well with coffee better than the ordinary white sugar.
Another way to sweeten your coffee is to use sweetened condensed coffee.
It’s rich and creamy like melted Ice Cream.
Select the right coffee
As I stated earlier, the body does not perceive sweetness at low temperatures as well as it does at high temperatures.
This means that certain types of coffee can taste great hot, but will become bitter and edgy when they are chilled.
A medium or light roast coffee with lots natural sweetness will produce the best results at lower temperatures. A dark roast coffee, on the other hand, will require more sweetness to keep it from tasting bitter or smoky at lower temperatures.
For specific varieties, I recommend looking for single origin or blended ‘natural’ or “honey” processed coffees. These coffees are best enjoyed cold, as they retain their delicious chocolatey, fruity sweetness.
Some roasters make specific blends that are best served cold (like our cold-brew blend).
However, there are no easy or fast rules. You can enjoy the delicate acidity and flavor of an iced filter coffee.
Ice alternatives
Adding ice cream to coffee is nothing new, think of the classic Affogato.
Ice cream is a great substitute for ice cubes in any kind of iced tea.
I love to make cold brew spiders (or floats, for those not from Australia).
Combine 1 part cold brew concentrate and 1 portion sparkling water (or any tonic) with 1 scoop vanilla ice-cream.
An alternative to plain old ice cubes, is to make some coffee and then freeze it in a tray.
To enhance the flavour of your iced espresso, you can add these cubes
When the ice melts, the coffee will become stronger and not weaker.
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