Iced coffee, in the right order
Iced coffee done in the right order: sweeten while hot, fill the glass with ice, pour the espresso last. Cold brew, Japanese flash brew, shakerato and freddo.
Caffè shakerato
Shaken espresso with a thick foam head
The Italian answer to iced coffee, and still the most impressive thing you can make in 30 seconds. The head is pure crema whipped into the shake.
Affogato al caffè
Drowned gelato — dessert in 20 seconds
The one recipe where a slightly over-extracted shot is fine, because sugar and fat forgive everything.
Iced latte
The one everyone gets wrong by pouring hot espresso into milk
Two shots, cold milk, full glass of ice, in that order. The order is the recipe.
Espresso tonic
Bitter, citric, absurdly refreshing
Works best with a bright, fruity, light-roast coffee. On a dark chocolatey roast it turns ashy.
Cold brew concentrate
1:8 for 16 hours, then dilute to taste
Never heated, so almost none of the bitter compounds are extracted. Keeps a week and turns into six other drinks.
Japanese iced coffee
Brewed hot directly onto ice — the aromas survive
Cold brew is smooth but flat. Flash brew is bright and floral because you capture the volatile aromatics before they escape.
Crema di caffè
Frozen whipped coffee cream, eaten with a spoon
The thing sold from a chilled tap at every Italian beach bar in August. It is three ingredients and a freezer.
Dalgona whipped coffee
Instant coffee is mandatory here
The foam only works because instant coffee is freeze-dried and dissolves into a supersaturated syrup. Real ground coffee will never do this.
Cà phê sữa đá
Phin drip over condensed milk, then ice
Robusta, a heavy dark roast and condensed milk. Bitter, sweet and stronger than it looks.
Cold foam without cream
Skimmed milk and milk powder — protein does the work
Cold foam does not actually need cream. Cream supplies fat and mouthfeel, but what holds the bubbles up is protein. Put the protein back and skimmed milk out-foams cream.
Matcha soda
Matcha, sparkling water, ice — nothing else
Sharp, green and completely dry. Carbonation does the job sugar usually does: it makes the matcha read as brighter rather than heavier.
Dirty matcha
Iced matcha latte with an espresso poured over
Three distinct bands and two kinds of caffeine. Visually the best drink in this app, which is why it is everywhere.
Strawberry matcha
Crushed berries at the bottom, matcha on top
Sounds like a novelty and then works because the acidity of the fruit lifts matcha's sweetness.
Sweet cream cold foam
Cream, milk and syrup, aerated to a pourable mousse
The one that cascades down through iced coffee instead of sitting on top like whipped cream. Consistency is the entire skill.
Salted caramel cold foam
Same base, caramel and salt worked in first
Salt does the heavy lifting here — it cuts the sweetness and makes the coffee underneath taste stronger.