Espresso · Iced
How to make an iced latte at home
An iced latte is espresso poured over cold milk and ice.
- Coffee
- 18 g
- Cup
- 336 ml
- Temp
- 93 °C
- Time
- 1:10
There is no steaming. The question that matters is how much the ice melts, because the shot is hot and the drink is small. This page works that out in numbers, then gives a 70-second sequence. It assumes you have an espresso machine. For hot milk drinks and other cup sizes, see the milk drinks builder. For the hot version of the same coffee, see the latte recipe.
The spec
| Part | Amount |
|---|---|
| Espresso dose | 18 g |
| Espresso yield | 36 g (1:2 beverage ratio) |
| Cold milk | 180 ml, from the fridge |
| Ice | 120 g |
| Cup | 450 ml tall glass |
| Total time | 70 seconds |
Espresso, milk and ice together come to 336 ml in a 450 ml glass, so there is room at the top. Once some ice has melted, the liquid is closer to 36 + 180 + about 30 = 246 ml.
You need
- An espresso machine and a grinder.
- A scale that reads to 0.1 g.
- A tall glass and a long spoon.
- Ice and cold milk.
Ratio 1:2 · Grind: Espresso · grind chart
Starting ranges come from your grinder maker’s own guide. Burrs, beans and calibration vary, so treat them as where to begin.
Steps
- 0:00, Pull 18 g into 36 g.
Dose 18 g and aim for 36 g. Start the timer when you press the button.
- 0:30, 120 g ice and 180 ml cold milk in glass.
While the shot runs, or just after, put 120 g of ice into the tall glass and pour in 180 ml of cold milk.
- 0:50, Pour the shot over the ice.
Pour the hot espresso straight over the ice and milk.
- 1:00, Stir ten seconds.
Stir for ten seconds so the shot mixes and the glass cools evenly. Drink soon.
My notes for this recipe
The chill and dilution arithmetic
The shot arrives hot. Say it is around 65 °C when it hits the glass. That is an authored guess, since it cools in the cup while you pour. Cooling 36 g of liquid from 65 °C to 5 °C gives off about 36 × 4.18 × 60, roughly 9 kJ, using water's specific heat of about 4.18 J per gram per degree. Melting one gram of ice takes about 334 J. Divide 9,000 by 334 and about 27 g of ice melts, if all the heat goes into ice. In real glasses the room adds some melt, so plan for roughly 25 to 35 g.
That is why the milk is only 180 ml. You are adding about 30 g of water to the drink as it chills, which is small beside the milk. The espresso is also a concentrate. At 36 g in about 250 ml of liquid, it lands near one part coffee to six or seven parts of drink.
Why 120 g of ice. It leaves most of the ice in the glass after the shot melts a little, so the drink stays cold through the rest of the cup. The figure is authored, not a standard.
Why the espresso goes in last. Pouring it into cold milk and ice cools it quickly and keeps the aroma from cooking in hot milk. A shot pulled onto the ice first would melt more ice before it meets the milk.
If it looks or tastes wrong
- Tastes watery by the end. More melt than planned. Use bigger cubes, or drop the milk to 160 ml.
- Coffee is lost. Pull 40 g instead of 36 g, or cut the milk. Change one thing at a time.
- Milk looks curdled or flecked. The milk is near its date or the shot was very acidic. Use fresher milk.
- Ice floats the shot and mixes slowly. Stir longer, or pour from lower down.
- Too sweet or too plain. Add sweetener to the shot while it is hot, because it will not dissolve well in cold liquid.
The fixes are CupTune's judgement, not results of a timed trial.
Evidence and limits
The only sourced figure on this page is the 1:2 ratio, the survey average reported in the SCA's espresso article, and it is the same convention used in the latte recipe. The 180 ml of milk, 120 g of ice and 65 °C shot temperature are authored. The ice-melt estimate is physics arithmetic with standard textbook values for specific heat and heat of fusion, applied to a simple model, and is not a measurement. A real glass, a warm room or a cold glass can change melt by a lot. The 70-second sequence is a paper plan, not a timed trial.
Questions
Is an iced latte just a latte with ice?
Not quite. A hot latte steams the milk and keeps it warm. Here the milk stays cold and the shot is poured over ice, so there is no foam to speak of.
Can I use a moka pot or AeroPress?
Yes, as a substitute. About 36 ml of strong coffee works, but it is a different drink and will taste less concentrated than espresso.
Should I pour milk over the shot instead?
You can, but the drink then looks more layered and mixes less evenly. Stir it either way.