My three favourite ways to brew Iced Coffee

When I lived in Japan Iced Coffee was, without exaggeration the most popular coffee. Every second order in the cafes I managed was for iced coffee. They love it! They are so into iced coffee that they sell it in tiny collectable cans in vending machines on every second street corner. But who are we kidding, who doesn’t like a perfectly brewed iced cold coffee? They’re delicious and that’s why so many cultures across the globe have embraced them. We all brew coffee in different ways at home, but today I’d like to show you my three favourite ways to brew Iced Coffee at home and chill out on hot summer nights.

Pour Over

This iced coffee recipe is really simple and can be adjusted to your taste. You can use any pourover brewer. I prefer the kalita wave, but you can also use v60, melita, clever, whatever you have available.

Recipe

• Coffee : 20g – medium grind like raw sugar
• Water : 150g – 94°C
• Ice : 150g

Method

• Boil your water. At home I use a bonavita kettle as it allows me to set the exact temperature.
• Grind your coffee. On our porlex hand mills we are around 4 clicks from fully closed.
• Build ice in a tall glass. Since we’re using 150g of ice we’re going to keep our water to 150g. The result will produce a good rich brew when diluted with the ice.
• Place the brewing device over your glass on a scale and tare.
• Pre wet the coffee and allow it to bloom. Use about 40g of water for this and let it bloom or sit for 45 seconds
• Give the coffee a stir with a spoon or paddle.
• After 45 seconds, pour the remaining 110g of water slowly into the pour over basket.
• When the drips stops, remove the brewer, stir, garnish with a red fruit for that extra pizzazz

Serve, sip and savour. You could even add a dash of pure cream for that Japanese touch.

Cold brew

Cold brew is unique, it was first conceived for people with acid reflux who wanted to enjoy coffee, but could not handle the accentuated acid that is stronger with hot water brewing. Cold brew is very easy to make and brings out different flavours in the coffee. All you need to brew is a pitcher to hold the coffee grounds and water. I use a french press plunger. By the way, I highly recommend buying a french press (you can get one here) as they brew coffee with increased body, which I really appreciate. The best bit about using a french press to brew cold brew is that it has a filter, so you don’t need anything else.

Recipe

• Coffee: 60g – Coarse (as coarse as possible)
• Water: 500g – room temperature

Method

• Place the ground coffee into the french press, add the 500g water and stir, then cover the top with glad wrap.
• Put the plunger in the fridge and let it sit. That’s it!
• You can vary brewing times from 12 to 24 hours. I’ve brewed a 6 day cold brew that was really tasty! The sky's the limit.
• When you're ready to drink, press or filter the cold brew. I would advise decanting, as brewing will continue and the coffee will keep better if you decant into another vessel. I recommend our kalita range server for decanting, it’s awesome. Grab it here.
• You can dilute the cold brew with water after brewing if the flavour is too intense.
• Serve in a rocks style glass with a nice big chunk of ice.

If you have friends over that can’t do black coffee, mix 50% cold milk with 50% cold brew and a big chunk of ice. That’s the version I made today and it tastes wonderful!

Iced Aero

A friend showed me this recently and I think it’s a wonderful expression of iced coffee. If you’ve got an Aeropress, try this one out for sure.

Recipe

• Coffee: 20g – Fine like white table sugar
• Water: 220g – 94°C
• Ice: 200g

Method

• Boil the water and grind your coffee.
• Place your ice into something that can be shaken safely like a jar. A few year ago I was given a nice cocktail shaker, so I use that. But I’ve also used a clean vegemite jar!
• You can brew the aeropress, inverted or upright. Just brew it the way you usually do it.
• Brew this aero into a range sever or you could brew straight into a shaker (like I did). If you forget how to brew aeropress, visit our guide here.
• Once you have both the brewed coffee and the ice in the shaker, close it tight and shake vigorously. And I mean go for it.
• Shake for ten seconds and pour into a highball glass. I prefer to hold back the ice, but if you want to add the ice in there do as you please, it's your coffee!
• There should be a Guinness look to the drink with the same mouthfeel and texture that we associate with Ireland's greatest drink.
  
  

Get the gear

• Kalita Wave
• Kalita Range Server
• Grinder
• Scale
• Bamboo paddle
• French Press
• Aeropress
• And of course a home subscription where we send you our fresh roasted coffee every two weeks