As the weather continues to heat up, a good portion of the coffee drinking public are switching back to iced coffee (to those of you who never gave it up, you are seen). While we’re always happy to serve iced lattes, espresso tonics, and cold brew, we’d like to introduce our new favorite iced drink - the Japanese Iced coffee.

Japanese iced - as opposed to other methods of making a cold coffee drink, is made as a pour over. Instead of making a cup of coffee and chilling it (which can lead to dulled flavors), this technique brews directly over ice to chill the drink immediately.

To make sure the final cup isn’t watered down, the ice we put in the carafe is directly calculated into the recipe. For our pour overs, we normally use a 1:16 ratio of coffee to water. With a Japanese iced, we’re going for a 1:5:10 ratio of coffee, ice, and water (ex. 23g coffee: 115g ice: 230g hot water). This gives the cup the perfect dilution to enjoy right away.

While we always have cold brew on the menu, you’re getting a very different flavor profile from it - the chocolatey and smooth taste it is known for is very different from what you get from a Japanese iced coffee. Since it is brewed hot, you’re getting all of the complexity of the beans to boot, with the added refreshingness from an iced drink. And it’s leagues ahead of any refrigerated batch brew!

We’re using the beans from our pour over menu to make these drinks - so the next time you’re in the mood for an iced coffee, try an interesting single-origin variety and prepare to find your new favorite drink. Or, take our ratios and try this technique at home with your favorite beans!

P.S. If you’re trying this at home, grind your coffee a little finer than you normally would, since you’re going to be using less water for the extraction.

Either way, we hope to see you soon!