How To Make Hot Coffee Cold Fast – Try These 5 Famous Methods!

Last updated on January 22nd, 2024 at 13:14

It’s iced coffee season! In the heat of summer, there is nothing better than a nice cold coffee, but coffee is brewed hot, it is only normal to want to know how to make hot coffee cold fast!

That is exactly what I address in this article with 5 amazing techniques, full of coffee deliciousness and coffee coolness!

Each of these techniques will make your hot coffee cold literally instantly in some cases and much better than just adding Ice.

Can You Make Cold Coffee From Hot Coffee?

Yes!

Absolutely, and better still, you can easily make cold coffee from hot coffee better than Starbucks ever will! The very first technique I am going to talk about is the delicious and rather exotically named Japanese flash cold brew coffee, which results in a great cold brew.

The most common technique that people use to almost instantly make cold coffee from hot coffee is to pour hot coffee over ice or to add ice cubes to their hot coffee.

The draw-down of this is a watery coffee as the ice melts, which is why I am not at all a fan of putting ice into coffee and just letting it melt.

I’m sure as an iced coffee aficionado you would agree your vanilla Iced latte tastes much better as you start drinking it than at the end when the last few sips are very watery.

Pro Tip: To make cold coffee quickly at home, keep a set of coffee ice cubes made from coffee and add them to your hot coffee as you normally would. This way you won’t get that watery taste. Alternatively, you can make an ice cube or two…or three out of milk for an amazing latte that does not lose its flavor over time.

Read: Iced coffee while pregnant

What Is Japanese Flash Cold Brew Coffee?

Flash brewing is a cold brew technique that came out of Japanese cold coffee brewing, which is very similar to cold brew coffee with one big difference.

This big difference is the use of hot water instead of cold water. The hot water is poured over your coffee grounds and then dripped directly over ice.

The dripped hot coffee is dripped over ice which instantly cools down your coffee. The difference here is this is no ordinary cold brewing coffee method. The instant flash brewing maintains the rich flavor profile without losing the acidic flavors that get lost with other cold brewing methods.

Japanese flash cold brewed coffee has all the flavor profile that you would associate with a regular hot drip brewed coffee, because essentially it is! The flash instant cooling is perfect for light roast coffee as it brings out the subtle complex flavors.

One of the problems you will face with coffee shops, including Starbucks, is their iced coffee is made in the simple, predictable, boring and taste-destroying way of just banging ice cubes into the hot coffee drink, literally helping it to slowly lose its taste.

For the billions or trillions of dollars generated by Starbucks and their millions of baristas over the years, nobody addressed this issue or thought about putting coffee in ice cube trays and ensuring the iced coffee they serve does not lose flavor when the ice slowly melts.

What Does Japanese Flash Cold Brew Coffee Taste Like?

Japanese flash cold brew is full flavored, light, bright and crisp in flavor and vibrant in aromas as you would expect with hot brewing methods and techniques, maintaining the bitter flavor notes and bitter taste associated with coffee.

The taste is even from start to finish with no deterioration of the quality of your coffee or getting watery. Your coffee strength and boldness, or lightness depending on what roast you have used is maintained. Both dark roast coffee and light roast coffee beans can be used.

The result of which is a richer, better and more balanced glass of freshly brewed iced coffee.

The taste is further enhanced when you use my preferred filter method, my choice of filter and avoiding paper filters as they trap the coffee oils and stop them from getting into your final cuppa Joe.

Use a metal filter gismo thing or make your own from a sieve. Metal filters allow the coffee oils and flavonoids to seep into your coffee. If a metal filter is not possible, use a cloth filter bag as cloth filter bags allow some but not all the oils to get into your coffee.

This is true regardless of brewing method, beans, roast, grind size and water temperature.

How To Make Japanese Flash Cold Brewed Ice Coffee

Brewing the exotic Japanese flash cold brew coffee is incredibly easy and is as simple as it sounds and as I have lightly laid out already.

You are simply brewing a pour over coffee and letting it drip through the metal (the best choice) or Cloth (next best) filter and onto ice cubes. Since the hot brewed coffee is instantly cooled by the ice in the compartment, if you are using a specialized device for making Japanese-style iced coffee or on a bed of ice below it, it is referred to as a flash cold brew.

This is literally all there is to it. Do follow the rules for making drip coffee as you are effectively drip brewing onto ice.

Use the following ratios to make Japanese flash cold brew.

• Coffee: 300 Grams (10 oz).
• Grind Size: Medium
• Total Water: 2,000 grams (2 Liter, 62 Oz)
• Total Ice: 31 Ounce (1,000 grams)
• Water To Ice ratio: 2:1
• Water To Coffee Ratio: 10:1

Brewing iced coffee like this is essentially brewing drip coffee or pour over coffee and having the water to fall on to a bed of ice. The coffee dripping on to the bed of ice is intentionally a hot coffee concentrate by design.

As the concentrated coffee drips on to the ice, it instantly cools down. As the ice melts, the coffee becomes less concentrated and to the correct unconcentrated strength. You may need to reduce your brewing water volume by a greater or lesser volume and increase your ice by the same ratio to get it right for your personal taste.

This is far better than just brewing coffee over ice at the correct concentration and letting the ice dilute your coffee.

Is Japanese Flash Cold Brew The Best Way To Make Cold Brew?

In my opinion, yes, iced coffee that you brew using cold water can be very different in taste and uniquely bringing out the low temperature flavors.

The Japanese cold brew gets the flavor compounds and oils out of the coffee grounds that can only be extracted at higher temperatures.

Better variations and getting the coffee to water ratio right, you can combine traditional cold brew techniques after you have your Japanese flash cold brew using this cold coffee instead of water. Replace the coffee grounds with fresh grounds.

Effectively speaking, you will end up with a cold brew concentrate that is married with both the low and high temperature flavor compounds. Making for a more dynamic cold brew that is simply incomparable to a hot coffee with ice.

Other variations can include using sparkling water and tonic water.

Iced coffee with Indian tonic water is simply a delightful change to regular coffee.

Is Cold Brew The Best Way To Make Iced Coffee?

For coffee lovers, coffee fanatics, coffee enthusiasts and those that enjoy a good cold brew. The answer is an obvious yes!

The biggest complaint when iced coffee is made using hot coffee is that the last half of the cup tastes like coffee with water and very watery, tasting very bland.

The Italian Shakerato Technique

This technique is very visual in its elaboration with all the style and panache that you would expect from Italians.

Needed here is a good quality high-end espresso machine to pull barista quality espresso shots. The espresso shot you are making here is a 1:1 water to coffee ratio and is technically a ristretto, while an espresso is slightly more diluted at a 1.5:1 ratio.

This slight concentration will allow your shot to be slightly diluted and still handle slight dilution without losing any of its flavor.

Here comes the visual part.

Simply make a ristretto or double shot of ristretto and put them into your cocktail shaker. Fill your shaker with ice and shake vigorously. Keep shaking your shaker until it is cold.

Strain the contents of the cocktail shaker into a glass with ice and serve. This method will serve up coffee that is tasty, full of flavor and very frothy.

Since you are using a shot of espresso or a ristretto, you can then elaborate any number of espresso-based drinks like a caramel espresso, espresso spritzer, a latte or any milk based coffee drink.

These will be very tasty and instantly cold and will not lose their flavor so quickly as ice melts due to being cooled down in the cocktail shaker. That is the Italian Shakerato method for getting coffee cold quick! Try it!

A regular cocktail shaker or Martini shaker, as they are also known, will get the job done. There is no need for a fancy cocktail shaker.

Moser’s Flash Brewed Aeropress Iced Coffee

A unique way of creating a Flash brewed Iced Coffee is using an Aeropress and Moser’s method, which is a very effective method for getting chilled iced coffee that is delicious, balanced and aromatic.

As above and with any brewing method and technique, I encourage you to use a metal filter where possible, and to even make your own using a sieve. The second-best filter choice is to use a cotton filter.

And only if you must, absolutely must and there is no other choice but to use a paper filter, then use a paper filter.

Set up your Aeropress on your favorite mug and brew up a hot coffee concentrate in your Aeropress.

• Water To Coffee Ratio: 10:1
• Amount Of grounds: 17 grams.
• Amount Of Water: 170 grams.
• Water Temperature: 96C (205F).
• Grind Size: Fine grind like table salt.
• Brew Time: 2 Minutes.

Stir the mixture well with a metal spoon, and leave the plunger on top and let it brew for 2 minutes. While you are waiting, weigh 102g of ice and place them in a glass.

When the 2-minute brew time is up, press down on the plunger slowly and only stop when you hear the sound of hiss from your aeropress. Serve this slight coffee concentrate by pouring it slowly over ice, then drink and enjoy.

How To Make Hot Coffee Fast With A Drip Coffee Machine

This is probably the easiest way of making your hot coffee instantly cold and is fairly similar to Japanese flash cold brewing. Be sure to get the ratio of water and ice spot on.

Simply make your coffee as you normally would but make it a bit stronger than you would normally with an extra spoon or two of coffee grounds.

I like 3 tablespoons per 12 ounces (360ml) of coffee. This is a strong brew but as it drips into your carafe which you fill with ice, your coffee becomes diluted and of a more ideal strength.

Another alternative is to brew at a normal regular strength of 2 tablespoons per 12 ounces (360 ml) of coffee. Instead of using regular ice cubes, use frozen coffee cubes.

Making your frozen coffee cubes is as easy as it sounds, just put coffee in your ice cube tray and stick it in your freezer.

Making Iced Coffee With A French Press

French press coffee is one of my favorite brewing techniques as it brings out the full flavor of the coffee.

• Water To Coffee Ratio: 12:1
• Amount Of grounds: 30 grams (1 ounce)
• Amount Of Water: 12 Ounces (360 ml)
• Water Temperature: 96C (205F).
• Grind Size: Medium grind like sea salt.
• Brew Time: 4 Minutes.

Boil your water to 205F (96C). While you are waiting, prepare your grounds by placing them in your French press and shaking them, so they are flat and even.

Pour the hot water over the grounds until they are wet and wait about 30 seconds for them to bloom.

Slowly and evenly pour your hot water over the grounds until full. Slowly stir your grounds. Press down gently with the plunger until it is just below the surface of the water/coffee mix.

Let the coffee brew for 4 minutes, then slowly depress the plunger until it reaches the bottom. Pour your coffee into a glass with ice. Pour over the ice to instantly chill the coffee.

Bonus: Our Hybrid Nitro Cold Brew Technique

There is nothing that says cold coffee more than nitro cold brew.

• Water To Coffee Ratio: 6:1
• Amount Of grounds: 120 grams (4 ounces)
• Amount Of Water: 24 Ounces (720 ml)
• Water Temperature: Room temperature.
• Grind Size: Coarse grind.
• Brew Time: 16 Hours.

Step 1: Making Your Cold Brew Coffee

Cold brew coffee has a number of methods to elaborate it. With this one we are using the full immersion cold brew by immersing the grounds in the water completely and leaving it overnight in the fridge to brew in an airtight container.

The 120 grams of coarse grounds we are simply leaving them completely immersed and not shaking or agitating the container in any way.

Step 2: Infusing Your Cold Brew With Nitrogen

When your full immersion cold brew coffee is ready in time to follow the really easy process of making nitro cold brew. Fill your nitro cold brew dispenser with your coffee. Close it as tight as possible and charge it with nitrogen. Shake it a few times. Pour in to a clear glass.

When you pour it out, it looks luxurious and very velvety.

Frequently Asked Questions About How To Make Hot Coffee Cold Fast

Can You Put Hot Coffee Immediately In The Fridge?

Yes,

you can put hot coffee in to the fridge and leave it for up to 5 days and then reheat or drink it as it is, cold. It is not going to taste as good as it did before you put it in the fridge.

Can You Just Put Ice In Coffee?

Absolutely you can. Just be aware that as the ice melts your coffee is going to get watery and lose its taste. Better is to, at the very least, put your coffee into a cocktail shaker with ice, shake it around until cold and then serve with ice.

This way, you can enjoy your iced coffee with ice and not have so much of the coffee lose its flavor so quickly due to being cold when ice is added.

How Much Coffee Should I Use For Cold Brew?

How much coffee you should use with your cold brew depends 100% on how strong you would like your coffee. A good ratio is 6:1 or 8:1 water to coffee ratio. That means weighing your water and then dividing it by 6 or 8.

12 ounces (360ml) of water and 2 ounces (60 grams) or 1.5 ounces (45 grams) of coffee for 6:1 and 8:1 ratio respectively.

What Is The Best Type Of Coffee For Cold Brew?

This will depend on your own personal taste. Medium dark roasts work very well with this brewing method. Personally, I like a good light roast single origin robusta bean and enjoy the light flavour notes brought out by the steeping process.

How To Make Hot Coffee Iced Coffee Fast?

The best way of making hot coffee iced fast is to brew your hot coffee and use the Italian Shakerato technique and add some ice to a cocktail shaker and add your beverage to it and shake for a minute or two and then pour over fresh ice.

Can You Put Hot Coffee In The Fridge Immediately?

Yes, you can put your hot coffee immediately in the fridge with no need or obligation to cool it beforehand. Make sure that it is in an airtight container as it will start to absorb the scents and flavors of food items that are in your fridge.

Frappé-Ing It All Up – How To Make Hot Coffee Cold Fast

Probably the worse way of making hot coffee cold fast is by using instant coffee or any coffee for that matter and just adding ice to your cup of coffee.

By far you will get better results taste wise by using the cold brewing system and using a slight concentrate and adding ice, which has a more enjoyable taste for the duration of the whole cup, only getting better in taste as the ice melts.

The French-press pot is good a way also, this too is best with a slightly more focused taste as you are using ice to cool it down. By far my two favorite methods are the Italian Shakerato and the exotic Japanese flash cold brew method. With these two stand out methods you can make your cold coffee without risk  of losing its flavor.

Remember to use the best coffee bean that you can get your hands on always for the best taste and never use instant coffee – ( is that really coffee, anyway?). Since it is summer time, you can also experiment with sparkling water or tonic water for a spritzer taste to your coffee.

Now that you know how to make hot coffee cold fast without losing any of the flavor nuances you can use any of the techniques listed and make a great cold coffee that is full of flavor.

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