As expected, the beginning of winter in Guangdong goes through a process. It cools down for a few days and then returns to the hot "dog days", so the sales of iced coffee are not affected at all. As a popular summer-relieving product in cafes, the special products derived from the iced American style are also very popular. In particular, the "Luxury Ice American Style" that has been shared many times by Front Street has been the most requested item among customers who have recently visited the Front Street store.
Although Front Street does not sell this product, they still know how to make it. After all, the materials it requires are exactly the same as the Ice American style, the only difference lies in the operation. So today Front Street plans to explain in detail how to make American-style quicksand ice, so that everyone can replicate this unique deliciousness at home.
We all know that the preparation of iced Americano is very simple, which is espresso plus an appropriate proportion of water (solid or liquid). Whether it tastes good or not mainly depends on the coffee beans, the quality of espresso and the proportion of water. If you are looking for a unique taste, buy single-origin Italian beans, which is SOE coffee. If you like the floral-flavored American style, your first choice is Front Street Oiran SOE and Front Street Grana Geisha SOE. Both of these coffees can produce a low-bitter, slightly acidic, and refreshing taste in the American style.
If you are just getting started, Front Street Coffee recommends that you use comprehensive coffee beans specially blended for Italian coffee when making iced Americano. The reason is that the cost will be cheaper, and the flavor performance of the blended coffee beans will be more stable than that of single-origin coffee beans. You can choose and buy according to your own needs and taste requirements.
"Front Street Blend Coffee Beans" is suitable for home production, specialty coffee shops, community coffee shops, and small coffee shops. Made from Colombian washed coffee beans + Brazilian semi-dried coffee beans, it has flavors of nuts, dark chocolate, and caramel.
"Front Street Commercial Blend Coffee Beans" is suitable for specialty coffee shops, community coffee shops, small coffee shops, and takeaway/takeaway coffee shops. Made from Robusta washed coffee beans + Colombian washed coffee beans + Brazilian semi-dried coffee, it has the flavor of nuts, cocoa and caramel.
"The Italian coffee beans recommended by many baristas - Front Street Black Cocoa Blend Coffee Beans" are suitable for small coffee shops, milk tea shops and takeaway coffee shops, as well as home use. Made from Yunnan washed arabica coffee beans + Brazilian semi-dried coffee beans, it has a soft acidic, caramel, and nutty flavor.
If you want your coffee to be less bitter, then choose Front Street Strawberry Candy espresso. This is an Italian formula specially launched for those who like floral and fruity aromas. It combines selected products from the three major producing areas of Costa Rica, Colombia, and Ethiopia. It has the aroma of roses, citrus, grapes, and dried blueberries. The American version has a sweet flavor like fruit gum.
What kind of "quicksand" method is Ice American Style?
Quicksand Ice The American "quicksand" refers to the visual effect of quicksand that is created by frothing coffee, like layers of fine sand.
The principle is very simple, just like milk foaming: by blowing air into the liquid, it is wrapped into bubbles under the surface tension of the protein, and then due to the mutual adhesion between the proteins in the coffee, it becomes a dense foam tissue mixed in the liquid.
At first, the coffee liquid and bubbles are almost completely mixed. As the light-colored bubbles continue to rise due to buoyancy, the darker coffee liquid begins to sink, creating the quicksand-like effect we see. In addition to looking good, the entire glass of iced American style has a very dense texture due to the foam. So it is not just a "vase", it also performs equally well as a drink.
How to make American-style quicksand ice?
From the above principles, we can know that there are many ways to make American-style quicksand ice. Because all we need to do is inject air into the coffee to form a dense foam.
Therefore, in addition to the steam wand method commonly used in major stores, we can also use methods such as a French press, a shaker, and a foamer to inject gas into the coffee to make a quicksand ice American style. The ingredients required for making it are just like what Qian Street said, they are the same as iced American style: espresso, ice cubes, water, it’s that simple!
Even if you don’t have a coffee machine at home, it doesn’t matter if you can’t make espresso! For example, whether it is espresso made with a Moka pot or Pour over(V60) coffee, it has the conditions for foam production. Therefore, we do not need to stick to the use of espresso. It is not a bad idea to use other coffee instead.
Okay, without further ado, let’s start our American-style making of quicksand ice! The material used in Front Street's experiment will be regular espresso. The extraction plan is 20g powder, and it takes 29 seconds to extract 40ml of coffee liquid.
Ice cubes and room temperature water will differ depending on the method used, so they will not be introduced here. So first of all, let’s introduce the first method, which is to use the steam wand of the coffee machine.
1. Coffee machine version of American style Liusha ice
Using the steam wand of a coffee machine to make American style ice cream is the most classic way! The steps are simple, we just need to froth the coffee like frothing milk. To do this, we need to first put the materials into the latte art vat. The material parameters used here in Front Street are: 40ml of coffee liquid and 70g of ice cubes. 50ml of room temperature water. Then prepare a transparent glass and fill it with 100g of ice cubes.
Then follow the same method as frothing milk, first use air to foam, then bury the steam wand downward and adjust the inclination angle of the latte art tank so that the coffee can form a vortex to cut and fluff the large bubbles. We can clearly hear the sound of the ice hitting the latte art vat during the process, which can be used as a good reference point. When the ice cubes melt and there is no more crashing sound, it means that the coffee is finished!
After finishing sending, we immediately poured the coffee liquid into the prepared cup! Then you can start to see the coffee liquid falling slowly like quicksand!
2. Snow Kettle version of American style quicksand ice
This is very simple! Because we don't need to use heated water vapor to generate bubbles, we don't need to take into account the cooling of the coffee and deliberately separate the materials, and just pour them all into the shaker. Because cooling is not required, the ratio of ice to water is adjusted. The materials required for this production are: 40ml of espresso, 120g of ice cubes, and 100ml of room temperature water. Pour them all into the shaker and start shaking!
Shake until the pot is filled with foam and the sound changes from crisp to deep, then stop, pour it out, and a Shake Pot version of the American version of quicksand ice is completed~
3. French Press version of American style quicksand ice
The universal French press! In addition to being used for making coffee, it can also be used for frothing milk, even American smoothies! The most important thing is that it is very! Convenience! should! ! So we need to give a few more shots to Front Street! !
So in terms of production, it is the same as a shaker, you just need to pour all the ingredients in and start whipping directly! So what we will use is still 40ml of coffee liquid, 120g of ice cubes and 100ml of room temperature water, poured in at once!
Then twitch the filter and start whipping!
Let it stop until we can clearly feel the touch of the foam group when we press it! Then pour it into the prepared cup, and you can enjoy the "quicksand" feast brought by the foam!
Because Front Street still uses espresso made by Nuanyang Blend, the three-cup American style of ice cream still has the aroma of whiskey, butter cookies, and sweet and sour berries. But the difference from the regular iced American is that because the coffee is foamed, we can have a dense touch when drinking it ~ it is also a good choice to feel it occasionally.
You can now buy the above coffee beans online at the Taobao store “FrontStreet Coffee” (前街咖啡). FrontStreet Coffee is a long-established specialty coffee roaster in Guangzhou, China, and its Guangzhou retail shop sells coffee beans only. The shop carries dozens of coffee beans from different origins around the world, including carefully selected single-origin beans for V60 pour-over and espresso. Guangzhou’s FrontStreet Coffee shop is recommended by many coffee lovers.
The FrontStreet 2013 Yunnan coffee beans sold in the store come from the Typica variety grown at FrontStreet Coffee’s own plantation in Yunnan. The name comes from the year the brand and the plantation were founded. You can buy these beans from China’s Yunnan origin at the Guangzhou shop and at FrontStreet’s Taobao store.
FrontStreet coffee beans are freshly roasted within 5 days and deliver consistently excellent quality and great value. Orders placed before 17:00 are shipped the same day, and most areas within Guangdong Province receive them the next day.
FrontStreet Coffee Taobao store: https://qianjiecoffee.taobao.com
Or search for “前街咖啡” (FrontStreet Coffee) on Taobao
Important Notice: FrontStreet Coffee has moved to a new address: 315, Donghua East Road, Guangzhou (coffee beans only)
Tel: 020 38364473
