Is Oiran Mandheling suitable for ice hand brewing? How many grams of ice and how many grams of water are needed for a cup of iced hand brew? What’s the point of good iced coffee?

Before we begin, let’s first talk about the bean selection direction for iced coffee. Due to the addition of ice cubes, not only is the concentration of ice hand brew inferior to that of hot hand brew, but the stimulation brought by low temperature also reduces our perception of flavor, so it is best to choose beans with outstanding aroma.

If you like a refreshing taste, give priority to medium-light roasted coffee, and recommend Front Street Fruit Ding Ding and Front Street Oiran; if you like iced coffee with a full fruit aroma, buy Front Street Strawberry Candy and Front Street Claw; if you want a mellow taste, low acidity and richness, the first choice is Front Street PWN Golden Mandheling and Front Street Queen's Manor.

The cooling of ice hand brew comes from ice cubes

Unfortunately, ice brewing does not use ice water for brewing. Because ice water does not have enough heat to extract the aromatic substances in coffee, only hot water can be used for brewing. Ice cubes play the main role of cooling method in iced coffee.

And it also has a certain negative effect, which is - "diluted coffee". Just imagine, if we brew hot coffee with a powder-to-water ratio of 1:15, and then add ice cubes to cool it down, you will need 225ml of water for 15g of powder, and then at least 150g of water will be needed to cool 225ml of water. The ice cubes will melt and turn into water, and the powder-to-water ratio will change from 1:15 to 1:15+. In the end, the concentration of the iced coffee you get will definitely be greatly diluted.

Therefore, before making iced coffee, we must first conceive of a suitable ratio to ensure that the ice cubes can cool the coffee and maintain the concentration of the coffee after melting.

For example

Front Street's ice hand brew uses a ratio of powder to water and ice of 1:10:7. For example, 15g of powder is 150ml of hot water plus about 100g of ice. Many friends will think that the final coffee will be very weak, right? Actually not~

Because the ice cubes used in Front Street are large solid ice cubes of about 25g each, each ice hand brew only requires 4 cubes to reach the 100g we need. The ice cubes will not completely melt after brewing. In other words, the actual coffee liquid obtained is about 200ml and 20g of ice cubes (part of the hot water will be absorbed by the coffee powder). The concentration of the coffee is just right when you drink it.

(The picture shows the weight of ​Pour over​(V60) coffee after picking out the ice cubes after brewing)

At what time is the ice added?

Regarding the question of when to add ice cubes, obviously the only two options are before brewing or after brewing! If you add ice cubes first, this is our normal practice. The coffee will continue to contact the ice cubes to cool down during the brewing process; if you add ice cubes later, after brewing, add the prepared ice cubes to the coffee to fuse.

So is there a big difference between these two types of hand brewing with ice cubes added at different times?

When the data are exactly the same (referring to: grinding, powder-to-water-ice ratio), there is not much difference. If we were to break it down into a little difference, it would be that hand brewing with ice cubes first will be cleaner and more refreshing. Then add ice cubes and the aroma will be more concentrated and the flavor will be more concrete. Therefore, there is nothing wrong with either method of adding ice.

If the coffee is diluted by the continuous melting of ice cubes, wouldn’t it taste better if we filter out the ice cubes after brewing?

This depends on the amount of ice cubes after brewing. The hardness and size of the ice cubes will be different each time. If there is little left, it may melt before it is passed; if the remaining ice cubes are large, passing it is indeed a good choice, which can effectively reduce the dilution of the coffee. But it should be noted that if it is a store, the product needs to be stable. Sometimes it goes over the ice and sometimes it doesn't go over the ice, which will cause the product to be unstable. Therefore, the choice between fish and bear's paw depends on you.