Flash Brew

When most people think about iced coffee, cold brew is generally the first thing that comes to mind. Popularized over the last decade, it’s become a staple in every coffee shop imaginable. Though cold brew is great for more chocolate-centered coffees, there is another way to brew iced coffee that highlights bright and fruity flavor notes!

 

The flash brew, also known as “Japanese iced coffee,” has been growing more popular over the last few years as an alternative to create iced coffee on demand. The method was introduced around the 1960's in Japan as a way for people to enjoy coffee over the hot and humid summer months. In the specialty coffee world, it has only more recently made its way across the globe from about the 2010’s and onwards.

 

This method of brewing coffee creates a bright and well balanced cup by brewing hot coffee using a pour-over, directly over ice. While at first glance, it may seem like we’re watering down the coffee, we’re actually going to do a ratio of about two thirds hot water to one third ice. The majority of extraction happens in the first half of the brew, leaving the rest for dilution. For flash brews, the dilution comes from the melting ice. 

 

 

 

 

For our recipe, we will be using an Origami Dripper, but you are welcome to use any manual pour over device you may prefer, as long as it is able to easily fit all of the ice needed for the brew. Make sure the ice is placed first as the hot coffee will slowly melt the ice chilling as you brew. The grind size is also slightly finer than the standard Origami Dripper grind size, or any matching grind size for your brewer, as it will allow for a higher initial extraction. 

 

RECIPE
1:17 brew ratio
35g ground coffee
400g hot water (208°F)
200g ice
Medium grind size, ~table salt
3 minute brew time 

 

 

 

 

The brew turns out sweet, bright, and highlights the coffee’s origin characteristics. Compared to the more mellow, chocolate-centered tasting notes present from cold brew, the flash brew consistently gives much brighter, fruit-centered tasting notes that would be more common from a traditional hot, pour over.   

 

 

 

 

On top of being tasting fantastic, the flash brew proves versatile as you can quickly brew up a batch in the same amount of time as any other pour over method. We really encourage anyone who likes iced coffee to try it for themselves at home!