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Permalink Reply by Brady on July 21, 2012 at 7:23pm

You say "First of all i'm a purist when it comes to classics." I think, as descriptive as the name "iced cappuccino" might be, that many purists would say "there's no such thing."

A drink like you describe can be delicious though. Have you tried any of the approaches discussed here in the past? I'll look around and see if I can dig up the one I'm thinking of.

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Permalink Reply by Djaya on July 21, 2012 at 7:40pm

Hi Bradley thanks for your reply. I expected that reaction about iced cappu not being pure when it comes to honoring the classics. However customers are asking for it and i don't like to serve them something
I don't fully support. That's why i said i'm a purist in the sense that what you get hot shouldn't be all that different from an iced version when it comes to taste and mouthfeel (beside the obvious fact that it's cold)

To answer your question, yes i have read previous threads but none of them seemed to solve the problems i'm having when it comes to the iced coffee part on the one hand and the chilling of foamed milk on the other.

I have diided though that starting with a cold brew base for the coffee problem will be the most logical step to take. However i do have issues with the fact that a cold brew does't necessarily capture the punch you get from a regular espresso.

Thoughts are always welcome

Q

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Permalink Reply by Brady on July 21, 2012 at 7:58pm

Here are a couple of old threads (aka "stale opinions"):

One,

two,

three

Wait, you wanted fresh opinions? These are new to me, maybe you too...

Getting the correct proportion and finished flavor balance seems like the challenge. Icemelt dilutes the drink. Chilling the shot changes the flavor balance. Perhaps you could try cutting the shot short to increase solids concentration and reduce the bitter aspect? What about adding a little sugar to compensate for the flavor change? What about using half and half to accomplish that on the milk side?

Have you tried "hard ice" in the drink, or are you just using the soft ice from the icemaker? Ice that is frozen and then kept in the below-zero freezer does a much better job of cooling a drink while minimizing dilution. Those fancy large ice cubes (or even better - spheres) that cocktail geeks love are one step better, since they reduce surface area. 

Hope that helps. Post back and let us know if it does?

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Permalink Reply by Djaya on July 21, 2012 at 8:15pm

Thank you Brady

I hope i didn't offend you in any way when i posted this question or my reply.

Maybe my choice of words wasn't always that good but then again English isn't my mother tongue (still no excuse but more of an explanation)

Anyway i appreciate the comments made and wil start working with them right away.

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Permalink Reply by Brady on July 22, 2012 at 6:42am

No offense taken, at all.

Good luck!

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Permalink Reply by María Esther López Cásares on July 23, 2012 at 7:24am

I will try it too as soon as I get home...what I dont understand Brady is what do you mean by "hard ice"?...English is not my mother tongue either and I dont think we have here in Venezuela those kind of ice, just the regular ice you buy in supermarket or the one you make at home putting water on the refrigerator...

I´ll try it with Iced brew instead of cold brew and then I´ll try with the usual recipe (one shot of espresso)...Thanks Djaya for the post

Saludos, best regards =)

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Permalink Reply by Cedric on July 23, 2012 at 11:52am

I can't say it's perfect, but it satisfies the consumers who are looking for such a thing.

1. Froth a pitcher of skim milk. Make it as dry as possible.
2. Set the pitcher on the counter while you prepare the rest of the drink so the froth separates from the milk.
3. Add 4 oz of cold milk to your cup.
4. Pull your espresso and pour over cold milk in your cup.
5. Add ice to the cup
6. Get a spoon and scoop the froth from the pitcher and into the cup.
7. Make yourself a real cappuccino :)

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Permalink Reply by Brady on July 23, 2012 at 6:02pm

Sorry for the lack of clarity. I'll attempt to spell things out.

We're all pretty well aware that ice does 2 things in beverages - it cools ingredients and melts, adding water to the finished drink. Different forms and styles of ice perform differently in beverages though.

Many espresso bars will use ice from ice machines. Quite a few of these maintain sub-freezing temperatures only at the plates - the bin below is just cool, not sub-freezing. That means that once the ice falls to the storage area it slowly begins to melt, basically keeping itself cool as it does so. When you add this ice to your drink, it is barely below freezing temp and can be fairly wet and comparatively soft.

Compare that with ice that you make in trays (or an icemaker) in your freezer at home. These cubes come out rock-hard, well below freezing, and are always bone dry on their surface. You get the same result with bagged ice at the store, which is stored in actual freezers. OR you can bag up ice from your ice machine and toss it in the freezer for several hours.

As I mentioned before, shape also matters. Bigger cubes = lower surface to mass ratio = less dilution. So pellets may cool faster but they also melt faster and dilute more than cubes.

It may seem a bit obsessive, but the ice cube's temperature and shape do make a difference in the amount of dilution that happens in the final drink. Worth considering when developing iced beverages.

María Esther López Cásares said:

I will try it too as soon as I get home...what I dont understand Brady is what do you mean by "hard ice"?...English is not my mother tongue either and I dont think we have here in Venezuela those kind of ice, just the regular ice you buy in supermarket or the one you make at home putting water on the refrigerator...

I´ll try it with Iced brew instead of cold brew and then I´ll try with the usual recipe (one shot of espresso)...Thanks Djaya for the post

Saludos, best regards =)

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Permalink Reply by María Esther López Cásares on July 23, 2012 at 6:42pm

Now I got it...thanks a.lot for the explanation Brady :-)

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Permalink Reply by Brady on July 24, 2012 at 6:21am

Djaya, looks like you're not the only one struggling to get a good result. Check this timely piece on Serious Eats: <click>. The comment stream discussion is interesting too.

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