Hey all,
Great discussion. For years, while living in DC, the iced americano as prepared by the uber-baristas at murky coffee was my go-to daily drink from March to October. In the colder months, I prefer hot drinks, but since moving to the slightly more balmy North Carolina, I find myself drinking more iced americanos than ever before, even in winter.
Dan has seen me make quite a few of these drinks here in Durham, and I actually experiment with technique quite a bit. I fluctuate between a) adding freshly pulled espresso to a mug of ice water and b) adding espresso to cool water and then adding ice. I've had pretty good success with both methods, and both retain crema and sweetness pretty well. Most of the time, however, I'm more focused on improving my dosing and tamping than anything else. You have to get those techniques right before anything even matters at all.
I must confess to have never measured the temperature of the pre-shot water; nor have I timed how long I let the water stand before adding espresso. Sounds like a good experiment for our Friday morning group, Dan!
Interestingly, in another forum, Sandy Hon of Java Jazz wrote the following in this subject (
link):
I actually put together a blind tasting for a couple of my Baristas a couple of weeks ago. The Baristas - one a newbie and the other, a seasoned one.
I prepared the iced drinks like this:
In a tall glass [ingredients added from left to right]
A: cold milk, espresso, (swirl) add ice, swirl.
B: ice, espresso, milk, stir.
Both of them chose A.
They both thought there was a huge difference in flavor. The newbie was actually taken back at the difference.
Take care and happy new year!
Mark
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