With this hot weather I’ve been swapping my afternoon espresso for an espresso-based variant, ice cold. Nothing too fancy. Anyone have done anything similar? My recipe is: - a glass which can hold approx. 350ml; - put 6 cubes of ice in the glass; - fill the glass almost to the top, with water, sparkling water or tonic water; - brew a double espresso over it; - stir; - enjoy!

@"Del_UK"#p47231 - I forgot about this one! Good call!

Cold coffee drinks?

MediumRoastSteam

With this hot weather I’ve been swapping my afternoon espresso for an espresso-based variant, ice cold. Nothing too fancy. Anyone have done anything similar?

My recipe is:

a glass which can hold approx. 350ml;
put 6 cubes of ice in the glass;
fill the glass almost to the top, with water, sparkling water or tonic water;
brew a double espresso over it;
stir;
enjoy!

LMSC

Like wise - iced Americano during the last few weeks. My wife takes cold flat white / latte!

Dusk

I usually brew an espresso into a glass with a little sweetener in (I use xylitol instead of sugar), once it’s dissolved I add some ice cubes and top up with milk.

I don’t add any sweetener to a latte/ flat white but cold milk isn’t as sweet as hot.

If I’m out then I quite like a frappuccino, I’ve always liked a milkshake and they taste like a coffee flavoured one.

MediumRoastSteam

Dusk I use xylitol instead of sugar

Same in our house. As a family, we don’t use sugar in coffee or tea. But when we want to sweeten something (e.g.: 100% cocoa powder, porridge, etc) then it’s xylitol.

Meldrew

I had an iced coffee from a coffee house the other day, they used a small amount of Carnation milk in the bottom of the glass which sweetened the coffee just enough. Was a nice refreshing drink.

capuchin

Affigato is my go to.

Del_UK

Steam wand ‘nitro’ shots all summer long!

MediumRoastSteam

Del_UK - I forgot about this one! Good call!

Dusk

Del_UK

I’d also forgotten about these, I did one earlier and it worked well.

OldGregg

I’ll pour a shot of espresso into a shaker with ice, pour that over more ice once chilled, and add equal parts oat milk which i find significantly sweeter than normal milk. The ice dilutes the espresso, but it doesn’t quite enter the americano ratio. Stole the concept from Starbucks.

Dusk

Del_UK

I’ll have to try that!

BrewLiam

Del_UK never heard of this one before but I’ve now given it a couple of attempts and I’m sold. Some perfecting still to do.

InfamousTuba

I have been enjoying the tim wendelboe method of making a regular filter, adding a small amount of sugar or sweetener and then either chilling it in the fridge or chilling it in an ice bath

https://timwendelboe.no/brew-guides/how-to-make-iced-coffee/

MWJB

I see the convenience in flash chilling hot coffee, but recently in my comparisons with well extracted cold brewed coffee & chilled/flash chilled hot brew, the cold brew is always less bitter, but still has acidity.

The downside being needing to plan ahead and not being able to make more at minutes notice.

InfamousTuba

What recipe do you use for cold brew? I always find it tastes oxidised. I tend to add sugar to the flash chilled brew to counteract the bitterness, the flash chilling is easy because we usually brew a big batch brew in the morning and then flash chill half of it especially in this heat

MWJB

I have heard this about ‘oxidised’ before (mostly Hoffmann repeating something George Howell said, but I haven’t seen Howell’s cold brew recipe) can you describe a flavour attribute that you know is solely from oxidisation? Are you sure you are getting the same extractions between hot & cold?

I have compared overnight (hot bloom) cold steep with fresh, flash chilled and hot coffee. I can’t detect anything I see as oxidistion, the significant difference is in the bitterness of the hot brew. Extractions are broadly equivalent, which I don’t typically see people do (most set out to make different coffees, which would still be different if both were hot, r cold).

Clever Dripper small - 13-14g of coffee around 70g/L, V60 grind, coffee in first, hot bloom with 30g water for 30s, then another 30g hot. At 1 min add remaining cold water and steep for 8 hours or more. I guess you could double up weights for the larger Clever as it holds twice as much in the well, but not tried it yet.

InfamousTuba

MWJB can you describe a flavour attribute that you know is solely from oxidisation? Are you sure you are getting the same extractions between hot & cold?

The extractions were both similar when we measured them with the same coffee. I can’t attribute a taste solely to oxidation, although I do get more perceived bitterness and less perceived acidity in the cold brew along with muted flavours. It is worse in something like a cold brew concentrate because the steep time is generally much longer. But those differences could be down to it how the cold brew was done, it wasn’t hot bloomed but it was paper filtered.

I will have to try your recipe and see how that compares to a flash chilled steep and release brew with the same TDS, I think the hot bloom might be a big part in getting a better flavour from the cold brew.

CoffeePhilE

Not for me, I’m afraid. Cold coffee drinks do not do it for me.

It’s funny (in the strange sense) I guess, but while I love coffee (and having bought all the usual espresso paraphernalia and joined a coffee forum it’d be weird indeed if I didn’t love cofffee) I don’t like coffee-flavoured things. Like, for instance, coffee cake.

My coffee has to be hot. By which I mean, make it at normal temps, let it cool a little but not too much, to let me get maximum coffee flavour, then drink. But iced? /Shudder.

MWJB

InfamousTuba Cold brew concentrate is a very weird thing, people don’t generally make a hot version. It’s not something I aim for when cold brewing.

Steep time needs to be long with cold brew, you can’t over-extract, I did 3 day cold Clever (all cold water, water in 1st) once with almost espresso grind, it was almost a normal extraction.

Del_UK

BrewLiam I think there great and require no/little pre planning. Just need to heat up the Bianca and hope the wife hasn’t used all the ice!