Avoid “espresso shock” with controlled cooling

Paul Smithson

2011-09-12 3:28 PM

People can avoid altering the taste of espresso coffee when cooling it down by following a specific method, which involves reducing the temperature in stages.

Writing for CoffeeGeek.com, Mark Prince pointed out that iced coffee has been enjoying its most popular months of the year, but experts disagree about the best way to create the drink.

One way of making it is to brew the beverage normally then chill it, as opposed to adopting a cold brew method - which tends to take much longer and have a low-acidity flavour.

However the news portal noted that rapid cooling can result in “espresso shock”. To prevent this, it urged people to brew the drink into a cold cup, transfer to a larger glass vessel, add cold milk, then cold water and finally some ice.

“When we did a lot of experimenting in the CoffeeGeek Lab last year on rapid cooling of coffee (and espresso) brews, we noticed espresso had different reactions to a fast chilling when compared to filter or press coffee,” added Prince.

He wasn’t the only person to speak out about iced coffee; as a Roaste blogger - Ma’ale Adumim - labelled iced coffee a “wonderful” drink and pointed out that it offers people a distinct taste. However, the onset of autumn will prompt most people to shift their attentions back to warm versions of the beverage.

Adumim suggested a number of alcoholic hot coffees for people to try when the weather gets chilly again, including Jamaican, Mexican and French options.