NWR: Iced Coffee

Bill Lundstrom

Bill Lundstrom

Bill Lundstrom
Getting pretty hot here in the Philadelphia area, and it's time for me to start drinking iced coffee again.

I generally brew coffee the night before and stick in the fridge for the next morning. Is there a better way?
Are there beans that are better suited to making iced coffee than hot coffee?

And it is iceD coffee and not ice coffee, right?
 
originally posted by Bill Lundstrom:
NWR: Iced CoffeeGetting pretty hot here in the Philadelphia area, and it's time for me to start drinking iced coffee again.

I generally brew coffee the night before and stick in the fridge for the next morning. Is there a better way?
Are there beans that are better suited to making iced coffee than hot coffee?

And it is iceD coffee and not ice coffee, right?
Click to expand...

The NY Times a couple of years ago recommended a process whereby, using something like double the proportion of coffee to water that you would use to make hot coffee, you put cold water in coffee grounds into a refrigerator for 48 to 72 hours. You then use it by just putting it over ice, which will water it back down to regular strength. I have done this. It makes a rich, nutty iced coffee that actually tastes like a good cup of coffee served cold. I haven't tried your method though to know whether it works better. Previously, I used to make a very strong batch of hot coffee, pour it over ice, which the heat would melt and then add ice back to fill. This did get it cold, and if the coffee was sufficiently strong, didn't adulterate it too much, but the results were not as good as the NY Times method by a longshot.
 
originally posted by Bill Lundstrom:
NWR: Iced CoffeeGetting pretty hot here in the Philadelphia area, and it's time for me to start drinking iced coffee again.

I generally brew coffee the night before and stick in the fridge for the next morning. Is there a better way?
Are there beans that are better suited to making iced coffee than hot coffee?

And it is iceD coffee and not ice coffee, right?
Click to expand...

Bill,
This is not intended as a slam at all, but I've never seen the attraction of iced coffee. To me, one of the big appeals of coffee is the aromatics, which is lost when the coffee is chilled (or sits too long). Still, de gustibus and all that.

Mark Lipton
 
originally posted by MLipton:
originally posted by Bill Lundstrom:
NWR: Iced CoffeeGetting pretty hot here in the Philadelphia area, and it's time for me to start drinking iced coffee again.

I generally brew coffee the night before and stick in the fridge for the next morning. Is there a better way?
Are there beans that are better suited to making iced coffee than hot coffee?

And it is iceD coffee and not ice coffee, right?
Click to expand...

Bill,
This is not intended as a slam at all, but I've never seen the attraction of iced coffee. To me, one of the big appeals of coffee is the aromatics, which is lost when the coffee is chilled (or sits too long). Still, de gustibus and all that.

Mark Lipton
Click to expand...

my sicilian friends got me into years ago. they even had cafe fredo (sp?) glasses that enhanced the experience. they would brew very strong coffee, add sugar, and partially freeze it. before serving they would shake the hell out of it and pour this foamy, slushy, lovliness into these tall cafe freddo glasses. wonderful on a hot night after drinking nero d'avola and home made lemoncello all night.

i eventually found these glasses at a store in durham, nc.

johnathan- that sounds good. i will try and pull up that article on the ny times site.

eta: thanks jeff.
 
If I make (hot) coffee, then let it cool, and the next day put it on ice for iced coffee, does the caffeine disappear overnight?

Kind of like, when I taste food off of someone else's plate, the calories remain on the portion left on the plate, and not my taste. I think it's the same principal of physics by which, if I break a cookie in half, the calories fall out.
 
originally posted by Asher:
If I make (hot) coffee, then let it cool, and the next day put it on ice for iced coffee, does the caffeine disappear overnight?

Kind of like, when I taste food off of someone else's plate, the calories remain on the portion left on the plate, and not my taste. I think it's the same principal of physics by which, if I break a cookie in half, the calories fall out.
Click to expand...

Of course. Need you even ask?

Mark Lipton
 
I drink iced coffee almost every morning, including in the winter - my parents drank it (starting with my mother, who hailed from the south - it is a southern thing - we weren't iced tea drinkers in my house) - in fact, one of my earliest memories is from when we lived in a house we moved from when I was four - my father was drinking something dark and iced that I thought was Coke so I asked for a sip. He said, sure, and handed it over with a smile - ick, it was iced black coffee!! Nonetheless, as soon as I learned to love coffee, I loved iced coffee.

Here's how I make it (I tried the recipe mentioned above and thought it not worth the trouble) - I use medium roasted beans (now I use Illy but used to buy roasted beans at a non-starbucks local roaster no longer in business) and make a double espresso in my rancillio silvia machine, lots of great crema sitting on top, then I dump it in a tall glass over ice with a little sweetener (about 1/3 t. sugar equivalent) and add my milk - I use lactose-free, nonfat, calcium fortified milk you must shake up before you pour - so I get a creamy, frothy only very slightly sweetened strong glass of delicious iced coffee.

Laugh if you want at this recipe - but I've made it for doubting guests and they always profess their love for it after a couple of sips.

Mmmm, I want one now - too bad I'm at work.
 
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
I think it's "iced".

I think this is the recipe Jonathan mentioned, which goes with this article.
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This is indeed the recipe, but I seem to have changed it somewhat. I use more water to coffee, but I do not dilute the result with water, other than through icing it. And I leave it on the grounds for much longer than 12 hours, though I think you can start using it after 12 hours, by which I mean, I make a batch for the next day but it is likely to last me 2 or 3 days and I don't take it off the grounds in that time. I just keep pouring the coffee through a metal filter. It doesn't appreciably change much in that time, either by getting stronger or by getting more acidy.
 
I drink iced coffee in the summer using the method described in the NY Times article above. It's just too hot and humid here in summer to think about hot coffee in the mornings.

On a related note, I don't know how many people have tried the Aerobie Aeropress coffee "maker" (the Aerobie with 350 filters costs about $30), but it's a good way to make a fast espresso-styled drink or "concentrate" for making iced coffee when on the road. I actually think the espresso from it is better than from, say, a typical Starbucks or a pod machine. And the clean-up is easy and fast.

Also, I mentioned here before, but the Baratza Virtuoso grinder I learned about here a couple of months ago was a huge upgrade to the morning coffee process. Thanks for the recommendation.
 
My summer drink is somewhat of an iced latte. A double espresso shot poured over a few ice cubes and about two parts whole milk. Two parts milk to one part espresso. I don't mix or shake or anything. I like the cold milk, colder ice and warm espresso non-homogeneous thing going on.

Couldn't agree more on the pod machine comment. You might as well buy your coffee beans pre-ground. You get about one day out of a new container of open pods before the whole thing goes stale.
 
originally posted by JasonA

Couldn't agree more on the pod machine comment. You might as well buy your coffee beans pre-ground. You get about one day out of a new container of open pods before the whole thing goes stale.
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Yeah to me the pods just taste weak. Just a step above "office coffee."

originally posted by Yixin:
I use the aeropress at work.
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Same here. Really surprisingly good.
 
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