As heat waves smother the country, Americans are turning to iced coffee more than ever.
But if you’re the type of person who’s not willing to spend more than $6 at Starbucks and make your coffee at home, baristas say there are several ways to up your java game.
If you notice that your caffeinated beverage usually tastes too weak, watery, or lukewarm, you’re probably using too much water, according to Lavazza corporate trainer Kathleen McCarthy.
McCarthy told HuffPost that melting ice needs to be taken into account during the brewing process.
His suggestion is to brew your coffee with more ground coffee relative to water so that the drink stays strong while the ice melts.
Laila Ghambari is a highly skilled barista who won the 2014 US Coffee Championship. She now works as a coffee business consultant.
The exact ratio you choose depends on how potent you want your coffee to be, but McCarthy said an iced coffee with a 1:12 ratio of ground coffee to water or even a double strength of 1:8 is ideal.
However, with too little water you will get a bitter tasting cup.
However, all this advice is in vain if you commit this cardinal coffee sin: serving hot coffee over ice.
Never do this if you want a weak coffee, McCarthy said.
“If your hot drink is poured directly over ice, that simply adds more water to your ratio when the ice melts,” he explained.
Instead, brew the coffee as you normally would and then let it cool in the refrigerator. This still requires you to keep the soil to water ratio in mind when you finally pour it over the ice.
However, you shouldn’t just throw an open cup of coffee in the refrigerator to cool, according to Laila Ghambari, a highly-skilled barista who won the 2014 US Coffee Championship.
“Even if you have fish in your refrigerator, it will soak up and get into your coffee,” Ghambari said, recommending a sealed container instead.
For cold brew coffee, most people in the coffee business, including Kathleen McCarthy and Ghambari, prefer to use the quick brew method for more consistent and flavorful results.
Even if you store coffee correctly, McCarthy said you should use it soon after it cools. Leaving it in the refrigerator for too long will allow the infusion to “take on stale flavors.”
If you’re the type to brew the night before, pouring hot coffee into ice cube trays and letting them freeze may be what you’re looking for.
This method will allow your drink to stay cold the next day without worrying about it being diluted.
Most baristas prefer a different method called quick brew, which involves using much less hot water. You can use an Aeropress, which costs about $31 on Amazon, for best results, but McCarthy said a drip machine also works well.
Basically, you can brew with two-thirds of the water you normally use and replace the remaining third with ice, McCarthy said.
Feel free to make it directly in a glass filled with ice or add the ice later.
“This is my preferred method because it doesn’t require any preparation or advanced thinking like cold brew does, and unlike a standard brewed hot coffee poured over ice, it won’t be diluted or weak,” McCarthy said.
Baristas who spoke to HuffPost recommended that people consider making their ideal iced coffee as an experiment that will eventually do well.
Ghambari, who also works as a coffee business consultant, said instant preparations retain “the aromatics and result in a much tastier coffee.”
Lastly, you may want to change your preparation method depending on your taste buds.
The pour-over technique produces a clearer, lighter end result, which is typically better for lighter roasts and more acidic, fruity flavors, McCarthy said.
The French press is for those who enjoy coffee with a richer, fuller flavor profile. This method is best for darker roasts with chocolate flavors; however, it can be diluted with milk and ice.
But at the end of the day, the perfect cup of coffee, hot or iced, is subjective.
Yoshawn Smith, 2023 Barista League champion, told HuffPost that people shouldn’t stress out about making iced coffee and should treat it as a trial and error process.
“Experiment a little and find the perfect method for you,” he said. ‘Taste and smell are subjective and, with that being said, enjoy your iced coffee however you like. It’s yours, no one can tell you how to enjoy it except yourself.’
