When summer comes along and it’s hitting thirty plus outside, there’s nothing I can think of that’s worse than consuming a large amount of milk just to enjoy my brew. A piping hot long black just doesn’t cut it, and while I can enjoy a quick espresso, I?d still like something that’s refreshing, clean and filled with flavour.
The answer; brewed coffee over ice. If you think how refreshing iced tea can be, then this is the coffee equivalent. There are many different ways to brew a delicious coffee, but because you’re essentially going to dilute your brew by pouring it over ice, you need to ensure that you brew a stronger than usual concentration. Then, when the ice melts, the resulting beverage will have optimum flavour, sweetness and balance.
To achieve this, you can either alter your regular brewing recipe to fine up the grind, add more coffee or simply steep for a longer time. This is where the Abid Clever Dripper comes in handy. It allows you to play with your brew recipe with little risk of over-extracting or damaging your brew.
To generate a little more body, I basically like to start with a plunger recipe of a coarse grind and long steep time. Because we’ll be diluting the coffee, I suggest a hefty updose of roughly 100 grams per litre, instead of the usual sixty grams per litre. I also recommend using a lighter or filter roast coffee, as it really allows the fruity/citrusy aspect of the coffee to shine.
So for a 220 ml brew, which will then be poured into a tall glass over ice, I suggest grinding 20 grams of freshly roasted coffee at pretty well the coarsest your grinder will allow (plunger setting). Pre-rinse a filter paper with boiling water and drain through. Then add your ground coffee and pour 200 mls of water that’s just off the boil (around 94 degrees) over the coffee, being sure to saturate evenly. Allow this to steep for four minutes in the Clever Coffee Dripper and then place on top of your serving vessel, which should be loaded with ice. Allow the brewed coffee to drain through, becoming icy cold as it trickles over the ice.
Enjoy immediately. Or, for a slight twist, try adding a small amount of sparkling mineral water.
