Can ice cubes be replaced by stainless steel ice cubes? How to make coffee with ice cream hands!

"Can ice cubes be replaced by stainless steel ice cubes?" This is the most frequently received question Qianjie recently in stores.

As we all know, if you want to experience the most complete coffee flavor in your hand brew, then hot brew is definitely the best choice. Because hot flushing uses more hot water, this allows the high-quality flavor substances in coffee to be completely brought out. The extraction efficiency of ice flushing will be lower. After all, we need to increase the concentration of coffee by reducing the amount of water to counter the dilution consequences of rapid cooling with ice cubes. But because of this, no matter how "violent" extraction is, it is difficult for ice-brewed coffee to obtain the same complete flavor as hot-brewed coffee. As a result, a group of friends who didn't want to drink hot water or compromise on the flavor in hot weather unanimously came up with a "best of both worlds" solution: "As long as you use stainless steel ice cubes to cool down the hot water, can't you drink a full flavor of cold water? "

The so-called stainless steel ice cube refers to a kind of square particle whose outer layer is made of 304 or 316 stainless steel. Its interior is not solid or hollow, but is filled with colorless and odorless coolant! It is a mixture made of water and alcohol/glycerin. When we shake the ice cube at room temperature, we can feel the liquid shaking in it. It only needs to be slightly frozen and it can exert an effect similar to ice cubes.

Indeed! In theory, stainless steel ice cubes that do not melt can cool the coffee without changing the concentration of the coffee, so that the coffee can be cooled while retaining its complete flavor and concentration. However, the idea is beautiful, but the reality... is always a little different. In fact, Qianjie had conducted relevant tests last year. Although the results obtained did prove that stainless steel ice cubes can bring a certain degree of effect, it is difficult to replace ice cubes. Why? You may wish to take a look at this experimental comparison done by Qianjie:

Routine ice flushing experiment Ice flushing powder amount 15 g 15 g Grind scale Ek43 9.5 scale Ek43 10 scale powder water ratio 1:10 (150ml)

1：15（225ml）

Use water temperature of 92°C92°C brewing method Three-stage three-stage three-stage use filter cup V60V60 Use ice cubes 120g (4 pieces) 6 stainless steel ice grains

Qianjie brewed two pots of ice hand-brewed. One pot was made using conventional ice brewing methods, and the other pot was made using hot brewing methods to brew the coffee, and then added stainless steel ice cubes to cool down. The parameters are shown above. After the brewing was completed, Qianjie stirred both pots of coffee to ensure that the ice cubes could completely cool the coffee, and then used a thermometer to measure the temperature of the two pots of coffee respectively! The final results were 6°C and 16°C respectively. The coffee beans used in the Front Street experiment were Panama Poquet Rose Summer, which was washed out with regular ice and had the flavors of citrus, white floral flowers, and green tea; while the flavors of stainless steel ice cubes + hot washing were more prominent, and had obvious coffee aftertaste. But this does not mean that iced coffee made with stainless steel ice cubes is better, because its performance other than flavor is not eye-catching, especially in terms of taste.

Although there is only a difference of 10°C, the difference in taste of coffee is very obvious. The pot of coffee made with stainless steel ice cubes did not taste cold as the ice cream made with regular ice cubes. It only had a hint of coolness. Even if its flavor is complete, the taste is not outstanding, a bit similar to the American style at room temperature. Not only that, the use of stainless steel ice cubes has another disadvantage, that is, its cooling rate will be slower. Qianjie used more stirring time than conventional ice to reduce the temperature of this pot of hot coffee to 16°C. The reason is simple, because there are not enough stainless steel ice cubes and there is no phase change. It relies on the low temperature of the internal coolant to slowly release cold. Therefore, its heat absorption rate will be much lower than that of ordinary ice cubes, and the cooling effect will not be so good.

But you can't blame others for this. After all, the main function of stainless steel ice cubes is to keep cold rather than cool down. It is reasonable that it cannot cool down quickly. In summary, you can know that using stainless steel ice cubes to cool down coffee. The disadvantage is that it is not cold enough and the cooling speed is not fast enough. And these two problems are also easy to solve! We only need to stack the number of stainless steel ice cubes and win by quantity, and we can improve the speed and intensity of cooling.

But what you need to know is that the increase in pile volume will not be as large as everyone thinks. Still, the main function of stainless steel ice cubes is to keep cold rather than cool down. Therefore, this is also the reason why so far few coffee shops use stainless steel ice cream. In general, if you want to feel the complete flavor of coffee in the ice hockey, and are not afraid of being cumbersome and ignore the fact that the taste is not so good, then stainless steel ice cubes can indeed be put into use. Otherwise, it would be most appropriate to use traditional ice cubes to make ice hockey. Just sacrifice a little flavor to obtain the desired temperature and taste without having to go to so much trouble ~

You can't have both fish and bear's paw, so it's up to everyone to choose. Finally, Qianjie needs to remind all friends: If you decide to use stainless steel ice cubes to cool down, then prepare to stir and accelerate the cooling after making coffee. At that time, be sure to "stir it slowly." Otherwise, the hard-looking stainless steel ice cubes will have a high probability of creating a large hole in the glass container, which will be a bit more than the gain.

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