Brewing Recipe: Japanese Style Iced Coffee

The solution? Japanese-style iced coffee! This brewing method, pioneered and popularized in Japan, is a quick and simple way of brewing a cold and refreshing batch of iced coffee - in a matter of a few minutes. And all you need is a standard pour over device and some ice!

Essentially the way Japanese-style iced coffee works is that you’re going to brew a pour over at double strength directly over ice, so that the coffee hits the ice and melts it, diluting it to a proper drinkable strength for your final cup of iced coffee. This recipe yields a 16oz final beverage, including the semi-melted ice to keep your coffee cold and refreshing while you drink it.

What you’ll need:

• Pour over brewing setup, such as a Chemex or the Kalita Wave 185 Pour Over Set

• Gooseneck kettle

• Scale

• 34 grams coffee, ground finer, like table salt

• 270 ml hot water, just off the boil

• 270 grams of ice

Steps:

1. Place 270 grams of ice in your brewing basin - a decanter, jar or Chemex works well.

2. Place your brewing device on top of your decanter, add your filter and pre-rinse the filter. (Don’t forget to dump the rinse water!)

3. Add 34 grams of coffee to your rinsed filter, ground finer than normal.

4. Pour about 30-60 grams of water onto the coffee, in order to pre-wet the coffee and allow some of the carbon dioxide to off-gas.

5. After the water seeps through (45-60 seconds), slowly pour the remaining water in. Aim for a total brew time around 4 minutes.*

6. When you are done, remove the filter and the used grounds and place them in your compost bin. Swirl the coffee and ice in the decanter so everything is well mixed. Pour. And ENJOY.

*A note on timing & grind size: If the grind you're using is normally for a 2 minute brew time, you will want to try and double it to a 4 minute time from the beginning of the main pour to the final drip. If you have ground for how you would normally brew in 4 minutes, good luck, you need to aim for eight now. Bottom line is that it is better to grind finer and brew longer because you are trying to dissolve the same amount of coffee with half the amount of water.