Immersion Iced Coffee: A Better & Easier Technique

I hope you find this video useful! (If you've got an immersion brewer...)
Let me know in the comments if you give this a try.

Videos mentioned:

Step By Step (For a half-litre brew to share):
1. Grind 37.5g of coffee, finer than pour over setting (but not close to espresso fine)
2. Preheat your immersion brewer.
3. Depending on the brewer, either add coffee and then 330g of freshly boiled, clean, soft water (or add water first then coffee after)
4. Make sure all the coffee is mixed with the water and no dry pockets remain
5. Steep for at least 5 minutes (or 4 minutes for darker roasts)
6. Place 170g of ice straight from the freezer into a carafe.
7. Strain the coffee onto the ice
8. Once the brewer has drawn down and finished, stir in any remaining ice.
9. Serve over ice and enjoy!

Ratios for Immersion Iced Coffee (Using 75g/L, or about 1:13 as a ratio)
1 Cup: 19g coffee, 165g hot water, 85g ice
2 Cups: 37.5g coffee, 330g hot water, 170g ice
3 Cups: 56.5g coffee, 495g hot water, 255g ice
4 Cups: 75g coffee, 660g hot brew water, 340g ice
Important: You have some flexibility on these. They don't need to be super precise. Ice isn't often sized compliantly.

Chapters:
0:00 Intro
1:09 Immersion Is Better?
1:32 The Problem With Iced Coffee
2:22 The Magic Of Steep Time
3:32 Cooler Brews
4:13 Hello Saline, My Old Friend
6:56 The Recipe Step By Step
11:03 Immersion Brewer Tips & Tricks

Links:

My Books:

Things I use and like:
(*Affiliate links which may earn us a commission)

[knyghtryda]

I've been doing the longer aeropress steep for years. It's called start your steep, go prep breakfast, forget you had your aeropress going, and rush back to the press after breakfast is ready. Didn't know this was a legitimate technique 😅

[takispapas]

A technique I have been using to minimize the ratio of hot to cold water is to pour the coffee into a metal jug (used to steam milk). Then I immerse this jug into tap water (I fill a salad bowl till the middle with tap water and then I place the metal jug with the coffee in the center). Then with a spoon I stir the coffee. The metal jug will take all the heat away from the coffee into the surrounding water very quickly. In less than 20 seconds the coffee becomes <30C and then I use *very* little ice. I usually do 450gr coffee and just 50gr ice. Think of this like reversed Bain-marie (cold instead of hot).

[Tinyvalkyrie]

Ugh, I wish I could find a tea equivalent to James… interesting, entertaining, experimental, good personality and a gorgeous understated aesthetic. I don’t actually drink coffee, but I am obsessed with specialty tea. I always watch James with a gaiwan of tea, and wistfully imagine a parallel universe where he discovered tea before coffee.

[mais]

instantly tried this after watching, used washed Ethiopian beans with an Aeropress and the result was very pleasant. I usually associate iced/cold brew drinks with a distinct bitterness but this method barely had any bitterness, probably because of the salt. The fruity flavours were very noticeable, was very balanced and definitely something I will brew again in the future. You made me like iced coffee, lol!

[Mapletime]

James Hoffman is such a fantastic role model for keeping viewers engaged while educating. Also the production of these videos is so amazing. Shout out to all of the beautiful sets that are used as well!

[magicvibrations]

When I watched your original video I made it with my french press and poured it over ice because I didn't have a perculation brewer at the time. I made the same observation that I could brew it and let it cool down a bit before adding the ice, meaning I could use more brew water. I feel like a genius now.

[rizalassyfiya]

Immersion technique (75g/l)

Iced coffee works best using medium or lighter roast

6:58 Clever Dripper, Recipe for 2 cups
37.5g coffee (Medium Fine)
330g hot water, 170g ice (2/3 hot, 1/3 ice)
Steep for 5 minutes (less or more time is ok)
Pour coffee into carafe filled with ice, stir aggressively until ice fully melt
Add 2-3 saline drops (depends on your preference)
Serve on the rock

11:09 Hario Switch
James Hoffmann tried
30g coffee
260g hot water, 140g ice

11:49 Aeropress XL
50g coffee
440g hot water 220g ice

12:32 French Press / Cafetiere
Unrecommended, produce bitter coffee, try add more saline drops. Using James Hoffman recommended technique, might reduces that tiny coffee particle.

4:35 Making saline drops
Add 80/20 water to salt in dropper bottle

[JoelRavier]

Looking fit James! Glad to see you're pumping both extraction and iron!

[Ripinda]

4:35 "and i realised saline would be a good solution. " good one mate :D

[BN]

Hi James, I've recently started using a HyperChiller, which is just a frozen cup with water in specific compartments that has an empty compartment in which coffee or tea or whatever liquids can flow into. I use an Aeropress and directly press it directly into the HyperChiller. It takes a couple minutes of swirling it around in the HyperChiller and the coffee is completely cold. I then pour it over ice to serve. This is great since the coffee is already so cold that it won't melt much of the ice at all. This is perfect for a more concentrated coffee taste that is cold.

[jazzynotjeff]

The Clever Dripper is my daily driver and it is spectacular. Highly underrated, I think. All the benefits of the other immersion methods but none of the mud. If you want to adjust grind size, water temp, water:coffee ratio, or brew time you can. Easy storage. Added bonus, it doubles as a great way to brew loose leaf tea (with filter).

[sariannas]

My go-to coffee recipe is similar to this - 18-19g of coffee to 200g of water in an Aeropress, steeped for 4+ minutes and pressed over around 100g of ice to fit into my 350ml travel mug. It's a combination of James's Aeropress "americano" and iced pour-over recipes. I think my grind size is a slightly more coarse - will experiment with a finer grind and less liquid!

[santiago_n]

It's 24C here in Buenos Aires and spring is arriving very soon, so excited to start making iced coffee. Thanks James for the high quality content you produce!

[keithbromley]

If you want to ensure the correct ice ratio as provided in the recipe in the description, just weigh your ice first and adjust coffee and brew water amounts accordingly.

[ReaperStarcraft]

You might have thought of this already, but putting a paper filter over the metal filter in a French press then plunging it can get you paper-filtered results much faster than pouring it out and waiting, kind of like an aeropress. It has some downsides (a wet filter is prone to tearing so you lose some coffee into the filter, some gets left at the bottom, plunging takes 30-60 seconds and is a bit of a workout, and the pressure might affect the result) but that might be a decent alternative for people looking to brew French press quantities without French press coffee grounds in their drink.

[eliezersalazar]

European Coffee Trip has a video on using Aeropress with room temp water. When you pour the room temp water you then stir for at least 2 minutes (I do 4 or 5) nonstop, and then you plunge. Chill in fridge, then voilá: no dilution, and EXTREMELY delicious results!

[durkcarter]

Been doing this for the year with the switch and aeropress.
2/3 water and 1/3 ice is really the magic ratio. I accidentally discovered this technique when forgetting I made coffee.

[alexandrebossu]

I feel validated, I have been making iced coffee every morning this summer with my aeropress, with a 5 to 8 min immersion (depending on how much time I took to dress myself). It felt right, taste good, but I feel even better knowing James came to the same conclusion. I already stop the hassle of making cold brew since a precious video, so it's nice to know I probably can't do a better coffee than I'm already making

I have also benefited to set my freezer to -24°C and to chill my coffee in a frozen thermos, putting an ice cube at a time.

[pimacanyon]

I like using the aeropress as a filter. I heat water to boiling in a sauce pan, take it off the heat, add coffee, put the lid on, let it steep for 7 minutes, then pour into aeropress and plunge. I like doing it this way rather than letting it steep for 5, 6, or 7 minutes in aeropress because I'd rather not have the hot water/coffee in contact with that plastic for that long.

[goldentimshel]

This validates my enjoyment of French pressing for immaculate flavor and texture, thanks for the clean breakdown of the icy side. Hoping this foreshadows a video on Turkish coffee and Vietnamese phin filter brewings.