Iced Americanos
It's simple.
What are your ways for preparing an iced americano? And why?
I feel like the beverage is kind of forgotten because most will opt for iced coffee.
I've been messing with some different ways to prepare it. I'm trying to not drastically drop the temperature of the espresso. I've noticed just pouring espresso over ice bitters the coffee and it starts to not resemble any of the flavors that are tasted when cupped or in a hot beverage.
What I've done-Poured my espresso over semi hot water(rocks glass), then poured into a cup of luke warm water, THEN adding ice at the very end.
It's a timely task...perhaps I'm not doing it the most efficient way possible. But the results are quite good. It's also not super cold. Cold but not super cold.
I should also mention the reason this is timely is because we don't have our water filtration system hooked up to a source that produces room temperature water. It's only hooked up to our 2 water towers, ice machine, and espresso machine. This is soon to change when we get our drinking water faucet on the espresso bar.
So yeah...what do you all do? anything different? similar? hows it tasting? I want recipes!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Andy Atkinson on
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-*ZAP*-
(I'm interested in hearing peoples thought on this as well.)
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Permalink Reply by R. Justin Shepherd on
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I have my baristas add cold filtered water to a shaker half-full of ice, then add the espresso at the end. This is then repoured over fresh ice. This makes the drink supercold -- we use the shaker for all our iced drinks -- but your method may preserve the flavor of the espresso better, I'd have to try it. We've had no complaints on our iced americano, so I'd opt for it over your admittedly inefficient method, unless there's a major increase in flavor quality.
Andy Atkinson said:-*ZAP*-
(I'm interested in hearing peoples thought on this as well.)
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Permalink Reply by Tony Acord on
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Have you ever tried cooling you shots? mean just puling a few shots and throwing them in the refridgerator and keeping a few stored away n the refridgerator for that purpose? Try it and let me know how that goes.
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There is no such thing as an "iced americano." the definition of an americano is espresso with hot water - traditionally very hot water.
if you mix espresso with cold water it won't taste good.
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Well, that wasn't helpful at all....
Joel Greenblatt said:There is no such thing as an "iced americano." the definition of an americano is espresso with hot water - traditionally very hot water.
if you mix espresso with cold water it won't taste good.
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Permalink Reply by Brady on
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I do shots over ice, topped with cold water.
I've done a couple of experiments, and don't believe I've run across anything to support the idea that this will "shock" the espresso.
Recall that a temperature change affects the way that we perceive different tastes, and therefore will change the taste balance of the espresso... regardless of how quickly you get to that temperature. I will have to play with the slow-cool method described above.
Hey Joel, that's an interesting observation. Something you may run across in coffee is the notion of taking a typically hot drink, making it cold, and pouring it over ice. Said drink will then typically have the word "iced" added to the name. Examples include: Iced Latte, Iced Coffee, Iced Tea, etc. Hope that clears up any remaining confusion regarding the OP's question.
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Hey Matthew, I think in your situation I'd probably do shots + a little hot water from the tower in a shaker full of ice. Stir with a bar spoon and then strain over 1/3 cup of fresh ice. Tweak the hot water amount until you end up with the desired amount of liquid in your finished beverage.
OR buy a jug of spring water and stick it in the fridge :)
Your situation is not uncommon, by the way, and is the reason that some chains make their iced Americano the way I just described. So, if you ever have a barista make your drink that way, DON'T just assume that they are an idiot... there may be a reason.
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Permalink Reply by Matthew Gasaway on
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Interesting. Thanks for the post Brady. Sorry I neglected to get back to this post (coffeefest along with regionals this weekend in Chi Town)
I like the idea of a shaker. Things I've tried-ice in a hario buono, with hot water over it to achieve a somewhat room temperature water.
The idea of a shaker intrigues me. At our shop we like to aerate our coffee(we'll swirl the coffee after being brewed and then decant into another vessel before serving to help incorporate some oxygen)
I wonder what effects the shaker will have on the espresso. The added agitation sounds like it might have a similar effect to how we aerate our manual brewed coffee.
It could be awesome! now i need a shaker....
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Permalink Reply by ryan mcdougall on
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had you tried just pouring espresso into one cup of room temperature water then onto ice? just two steps instead of 3?
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Permalink Reply by Michelle Duregger on
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Just my opinion---I like to retain a tiny tiny bit of crema...shaking it just destroys that (but I agree creates a different effect). I've always liked preparing it with half cup of ice+hot water to bring it to room temp+shots + little ice to top. Makes it look oh so pretty.
-Michelle
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Permalink Reply by Jordan Guenther on
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when I'm teaching new baristas about iced drinks, I always start with this experiment. I pull two sets of shots and dump the first directly over an 8oz cup of ice. the second set of shots goes into the 8oz cold cup with 2 or so oz. of luke warm water, to which ice is added after the shots. After having the trainee taste both drinks it brings home the idea that espresso needs to be tempered in order to be kept from going bitter and sour. the difference in the two drinks is extreme. it's a quick and easy way to tell which way is going to taste better.
there is a speed and efficiency angle that has to be addressed at our shop due to the long lines of customers and drinks. this method works well for us because we can add a splash of luke warm water while the shots are pouring and not lose any time on drink preparation.
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Jordan, I'm surprised to hear this. I've done a very similar experiment and noted zero difference between the drinks.
Maybe I need to repeat this experiment? Maybe it would work better if I wasn't tasting them blind?
Jordan Guenther said:
when I'm teaching new baristas about iced drinks, I always start with this experiment. I pull two sets of shots and dump the first directly over an 8oz cup of ice. the second set of shots goes into the 8oz cold cup with 2 or so oz. of luke warm water, to which ice is added after the shots. After having the trainee taste both drinks it brings home the idea that espresso needs to be tempered in order to be kept from going bitter and sour. the difference in the two drinks is extreme. it's a quick and easy way to tell which way is going to taste better.
there is a speed and efficiency angle that has to be addressed at our shop due to the long lines of customers and drinks. this method works well for us because we can add a splash of luke warm water while the shots are pouring and not lose any time on drink preparation.
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