“Hot or iced?” Your barista probably reserves this query for summer, but you are glad he asked.
In the unpredictable weather of a New England spring I often forget to ask to have my drink iced until it is too late. But when real summer heat hits, as it has early in NYC this year, an icy beverage is one thing you can’t stop craving.
The Cure for What Ails You
There are a lot of ways to combat an oppressively hot summer. Air conditioning is definitely one of them (and probably the most effective).
Unfortunately, that isn’t always an option. Whether you just don’t have a unit in your place, work in an antiquated office building, or are trying to be green and save electricity, you can still keep cool from the inside out.
Chilled soda, ice water, and fruit beverages all come in handy. But I think you need something with some actual heft to cool you down. Watery drinks always leave me wanting more. Cold soups can help, but a few sips of a milky iced latte always works wonders.
Faster than You Think
A lot of great summer drinks are pretty time consuming: iced tea, cold brewed coffee. But who has time to wait twelve hours for their cooling caffeinated beverage? Even smoothies require the added inconvenience of washing the blender.
Sure, you can get all of the above at Starbucks for no inconvenience on your part besides standing in line, but have you noticed that they actually charge you 40 cents extra for ice??
This Italian version of iced coffee, caffe shakerato, uses the ultimate cheater method: the freezer. Not in that blended ice, frappaccino way. Real ice and actually putting your hot espresso in the freezer.
Is that a Good Idea?
I’m not 100% sure. I have not been able to find any studies on the negative side effects of freezing brewed espresso for a few minutes (but if you see any, please let me know). So it seems okay.
All I know is it does the trick. The espresso cools down enough to make a refreshing iced drink and the ice cubes don’t melt immediately upon contact.
Iced Coffee – Caffè Shakerato – Recipe
Prep time: 5 mins
Serves: 2-3
Ingredients
- quality espresso
- whole milk (local dairy if you can)*
- sugar
Method
- Brew your espresso extra strong with your maker of choice. One shot in a mini maker only takes a minute to brew.**
- Once the espresso is ready, pour it into a glass (for quicker cooling) and stick it in the freezer.
- Add 4-5 ice cubes to a glass or mug.
- Top with an inch-worth of milk (about a third to a half cup).
- Pour the espresso on top and add two teaspoons of sugar.
- Quickly stir in the sugar. The mixture doesn’t need to be completely mixed; it’s prettier that way.
Enjoy!
Note*: Please don’t substitute; the milk fat level is essential to the taste.
Note**: If you don’t have a countertop espresso machine, you can easily and cheaply get a stovetop version. It’s how the italians do it at home.
Nice piece, Gabi. I love the photos! I’m currently reading this as I wake up at 7AM and *wish* I had some whole milk in the fridge so I could whip up this treat.
xo, Jess
p.s. Thank you for the pingback
Hi Gabi! I do love me some iced coffee, and tried the NYTimes cold brew method for a warm-weather brunch… with mixed results.
When it’s just us at home, we usually brew some good strong espresso in the moka, and pour it in a bowl that is sitting in some ice for about 10 minutes. We try not to stir so as not to aerate it too much, which can cause bitterness. Then pouring it over a tall glass full of ice and adding some cold half-and-half… well, it really works wonders.
I’m not entirely sure I’d trust the in-the-freezer method… it’s certain to make your freezer work extra hard, and may actually partially thaw other stuff in the freezer — especially if it is a full. Seems too risky a method for hom use.
That is one of the prettiest photos of iced coffee I have ever seen!
I like to fill up an ice cube tray with coffee and use those cubes in my iced coffee – that way as the cubes melt they don’t dilute my drink.
Thanks! This is definitely the best way I know to survive crushing humidity. I don’t know how we would have gotten by in Florence without it. The humidity there makes Boston and New York seem like tropical islands!
But at least it is a little cooler at 7am, right? And maybe the weather is a reason to appreciate your boss making your stay in your air conditioned office late
Hi Kyle,
Nice to see you here! You are brave for trying to cold brew at home. I have had it at a gourmet food cart a few times and it was great, but I think you really need one of those big, beautiful, beaker-like filter brewers for it come out right.
I really like the idea about the bowl sitting in ice, but I didn’t know stirring caused bitterness. In my (somewhat) extensive research about how to keep espresso from getting bitter, I have heard a lot about how you store the beans/grounds and how you pack the moka.
The only thing about half and half is that with iced coffee, more so than hot, I find it drowns out the taste too much. I use creme and sweetened condensed milk with hot coffee, but that much milk fat overwhelms the more subtler chilled coffee.
Re: the freezer method – I’ve done it a lot with no problem. You really just need to put it in for a minute or two. More and it will start to freeze. But if your freezer is full (a) you might not have space to set the cup, and (b) that should actually be keeping your freezer from working as hard in the first place. I don’t keep much in my freezer though in the first place.