Slow Pour brew guide
How to make iced pour-over coffee
Put 120 g of ice in the jug, then brew 20 g of medium-fine coffee with 200 g of water at 95°C straight onto it. The ice melts into the coffee and chills it at once, so the total water is still 1:16.
What you need
- A cone or flat-bottom dripper and a filter
- A glass jug, and ice
- A kettle, a scale and a timer
- A burr grinder
The recipe
Part of the water goes in as ice, so you pour less hot water than usual and grind a little finer to make up for the shorter brew. These numbers make one big glass.
- Coffee: 20 g
- Water: 200 g hot, onto 120 g of ice
- Ratio: 1:16
- Grind: medium-fine (about 400 to 600 microns, like table salt)
- Water temperature: 95°C (203°F)
- Total time: about 2:45
- Makes: about 280 ml
Step by step
Zero the scale with the coffee in, then follow along. The times are from your first pour.
- Put 120 g of ice in the server
- Heat the water to 95°C
- Rinse the filter (pour the rinse away before the ice goes in)
- Grind 20 g, a touch finer than usual
- Coffee in, level, zero the scale
- 0:00 Bloom. Pour to 45 grams.
- 0:40 Pour to 120 grams.
- 1:10 Pour to 200 grams. Less hot water than usual: the ice makes up the rest.
- 1:40 Let it drain.
- 2:40 Swirl the server to melt the last of the ice.
- 2:50 Pour over fresh ice.
Why brew onto ice
Cooling the coffee straight away keeps the bright, fruity flavours that fade as hot coffee cools slowly. It’s also quick: no waiting overnight as with cold brew. Fruity, light-roasted coffees are lovely this way.
If it doesn’t taste right
Sour or thin means the water didn’t take enough from the coffee: grind a step finer next time. Bitter or harsh means it took too much: grind a step coarser. Weak means you need a little more coffee for the same water; too strong, a little more water. Change one thing at a time so you learn what each one does.
Questions
Won’t the ice water it down?
No: the ice is part of the recipe’s water. You brew with less hot water so the melted ice brings it to the normal strength.
Is this the same as Japanese iced coffee?
Yes, brewing hot coffee straight onto ice is often called the Japanese method.