Japanese Style Iced Coffee – a how to

Japanese Style Iced Coffee or “aisu kohi” in Japanese, has been around in Japan since the 1920’s. Its popularity really took off after World War II.

I still enjoy a cup of hot coffee in the morning. But, when it comes to the warmer months, I like to switch things up with a cold coffee. At first, I started with Cold Brew coffee. While Cold Brew served its purpose, I felt I was losing some flavor. Also, brewing Cold Brew coffee takes a lot of time, like 18 to 24 hours. If I ran out of Cold Brew for the day, I had to wait 24 hours for more.

Japanese Style Iced Coffee solved both of those issues for me. This method takes about as much time as a pour-over and using hot water to brew the coffee releases all of the aroma and flavors of the coffee beans.

Equipment

If you already use a pour-over method or Chemex at home, you probably have everything you need for Japanese Style Iced Coffee at hand. If not, the tools needed are easy to get and not very expensive.

I’m using a Bodem 1.5 liter pour-over coffee maker. The method I learned came from this James Hoffmann youtube video. If you are interested in the full details with a little bit of coffee science, check that video out. You can also use any coffee machine you want.

Process

Without further ado, here is the Japanese Style Iced Coffee method:

Many years ago, when I first got into roasting and brewing my own coffee, I began using metric measurements. It’s really a very accurate method to get consistent, repeatable results.

For this brewing method, I’m using 65 grams of ground coffee per 1 liter of water. With this recipe, the ice used to chill the coffee is included as water. The brew water to ice ratio is 60% water and 40% ice.

For this brew, I’ll be using the following measurements:

• 65 grams of coffee
• 600 milliliters of water
• 400 grams of ice

Prep work

First, weigh out your beans and place them in your grinder. For this method, you’ll want to grind a bit finer than you would for French Press. Looking at the photo I provided, I would probably grind a little finer next time. If you are using pre-ground coffee, make sure it was ground for drip coffee.

I truly believe this method of brewing will bring out the best flavors in your coffee

Next, take your vessel and place it on a scale. Add ice until you reach 400 grams.

Tare your scale to zero it out. Place your kettle on the scale and pour in 600 milliliters of filtered water. Boil the water.

While the water is heating up, grind your beans. Wet a filter paper and place your filter into the brewing vessel. Then add the coffee. My pour-over has a permanent filter but I still like to add an unbleached coffee filter paper for easy cleanup later.

Dump your coffee into the filter and place your vessel back onto the scale. Tare the scale once more.

Brewing

Once your water has come to a boil, you want to pour 2 to 3 times more water than coffee so, for this example, you would pour 130 to 195 milliliters of water over the grounds.

Let the coffee bloom and absorb the water for 45 seconds. After that, pour the remaining water over the coffee, trying to stretch it out over 2 to 3 minutes.

When you have finished pouring the water, take a spoon and stir the coffee in one direction a few times and then in the opposite direction once. This will help the brew process and give you a flat bed of coffee in the filter.

Once all of the water has passed through the coffee, remove the filter paper or filter and swirl the vessel to melt the rest of the ice.

After all of the ice has melted, pour your coffee into an ice filled glass and enjoy a clean, crisp, flavorful cup of coffee.

Summary

As I’ve mentioned, I truly believe this method of brewing will bring out the best flavors in your coffee and is a much quicker method of creating a cold coffee. You can brew single doses or larger batches in just about the same amount of time.

Have you made Japanese Style Iced Coffee before? What are you thoughts? Let me know in the comments!