Winter Rant

For the coffee purists out there, the title of this post is blasphemy 🙀. How can anyone add ice to a cup of steamy hot espresso, which is high in its coffee concentration, and low on water ⁉️

Well, I was one of those purists. So maybe I am simply projecting here. But after several months of drinking hot cups of espresso in the early days of the pandemic in 2020, things heated up!

Why did I want to add ice to espressos? 2020 also saw forest fires, a heat wave and smoke in San Fransisco 🌁 🌉 —

https://vkrishnapalepu.medium.com/an-orange-day-in-san-fransisco-46078c33bece

So while choking on smoke, during a heat-wave, in the middle of a pandemic, I relented and decided to mix some ice with my espressos. So, here is what I did, and what I continue to do whenever I am in the mood for some Iced Espressos:

1. I make my espresso/coffee in a mocha pot, as usual. Feel free to make the espresso however you like, just make sure it is piping hot ♨.
2. Once the coffee is ready and hot, I take a glass of ice — a lot of ice, at least 4 good cubes 🧊🧊🧊🧊.
3. And then slowly, I pour the coffee on the ice cubes. This is important, because if you pour that hot coffee directly on the glass, it will crack sooner or later.
4. By the time I fill up the glass with coffee, a good portion of the ice would have melted with a nice froth forming at the top.

Here’s the SloMo version of the four steps above:

Hope you enjoy it! 🧊☕️