Making Flash Chilled Iced Coffee In Less Than 5 Minutes

You can do it from beans to brew in less than 5 minutes. It is fresh and consistent. Similar to pour-over, it is able to fully extract the most desirable flavors with the subtle nuances of the coffee; the entire process can be under complete control with water, time and pouring flow, therefore the result can be consistent. Besides, the fragrance coming out from the hot grinds is as enchanting.

The process is similar to what you do for regular pour over, except that you replace around 50% of the hot water with ice cubes. 

We are going to use Hario V60 as the example. You can apply similar method on any pour over coffee brewers like CHEMEX, Fellow Stagg etc as well. And you can even brew flash-chilled coffee using Voca Coffee Easy-Pour-Over pre-ground coffee packs.

To make 10OZ of iced coffee, you will need:

• 20 grams of coffee beans, freshly ground at the same grind size as you do for the regular pour over
• 150 grams of ice cubes
• Around 2 cups of hot water in a goose-neck pour over coffee kettle. 

The water temperature should be around 197℉ ~ 199 ℉. For 20 grams of grinds, you only need to pour 150 grams of hot water for the brew. But you always need extra hot water to wet the filter and to warm the brewer.

• A coffee scale

1. Place the filter on the Hario V60 brewer, use the kettle to pour just enough hot water onto the filter to make it completely wet and let the water drip through
2. In the empty carafe, add ice cubes, and put the brewer on top

3. Carefully pour the coffee grinds in the filter, and tap gently to make it even and leveled

4. Tare the scale. If you are using Acaia coffee scale, the default coffee-to-water ratio is 1:15. For flash chilled pour-over brew, you want to set it to 1:7.5. 

5. Do the regular first pour, by pouring around 40 grams of hot water

6. Let it bloom by waiting for 30 seconds. The bloom period is essential for even extraction and for better structured flavors. 

7. Do the second pour, by pouring the remaining 110 grams hot water in a slow, even and circular motion, and control the water flow to finish the pour in around 60 seconds. 

8. Wait until all coffee drip through, and remove the brewer

The coffee is ready to serve black, or add cream and sugar or even honey as desired

The fresh hot coffee drips strike the ice cubes drip by drip; they immediately cool down and lock in the flavors. It usually tastes smoother than the hot pour over; delicate aroma slowly immerses from the cold coffee. 

For some reason, my husband prefers the flash chilled brew to the hot. He said that it seemed to add a slight tint of caramel. To me, it felt like a subtle tone of champagne.