Stop Adding Ice First To Your Lattes. Here's The Best Timing For The Perfect Drink

Ice is certainly a key ingredient in any cold coffee beverage, but adding it right at the beginning is actually ruining your drink. The order in which you add ingredients greatly affects the flavor and consistency of your frosty cup of joe, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, introducing hot coffee or espresso to ice quickly waters the java down. Some professionals even say that pouring coffee right on top of ice "shocks" the brew, which can create a more bitter flavor profile, though there is some debate around why exactly this happens. 

Regardless, because the hot espresso was already so diluted by the ice, adding milk and sweeteners next can overwhelm the flavor of the coffee completely. It also becomes difficult to judge exactly how much cream or milk you're adding when you pour it in after the coffee and ice. Instead, pull the shot of espresso first, and then stir it into your milk of choice. Not only does this cool the coffee down more gradually, but it also allows you to add just the right amount of creaminess. 

This step will bring the mixture down to around room temperature, so when you add the ice, it will not melt too quickly. Even if you take time to steep your own cold brew or chill some brewed coffee in advance, it is still a good idea to add the milk before the ice, so that you can easily gauge the proportions.

What if you want to add sugar or syrup to your basic iced latte? One thing you can and should add at the beginning is the sweetener. The warm espresso melts your granulated sugar, pistachio coffee syrup, or sweetened condensed milk seamlessly, and stirring the sweetener in also helps to cool off the coffee. This way, when you add the milk and ice, the sweetener will already be well-distributed.

It's also a good idea to brew your coffee a bit stronger than you normally would, since the milk and ice will mellow out the flavor as you sip. Also, cold temperatures make flavors taste a little more muted, so an intense espresso shot or cup of joe is definitely worthwhile here. To further slow melting and dilution, you can opt for larger pieces of ice, like the big cubes you would use in an old fashioned cocktail. Or, if you plan ahead, you can make coffee ice cubes to avoid watery lattes — just add another splash of milk if the coffee flavor gets too strong as the cubes melt.