The TikTok-Approved Order For Adding Ingredients To Iced Coffee

It's hard to beat the joy of driving to a local coffee shop to order the same latte you've had many times before. While it's more about the experience and ritual of getting your drink than the coffee itself, your homemade coffee can seem a bit boring by comparison. No matter how similar the flavors are, coffee made at home isn't the same as the coffee shop.

Interestingly, the order of the ingredients might be one of the ways you're messing up your iced coffee at home. Many people have taken to social media to share their elaborate coffee recipes. One TikTok user showed their process of making an iced coffee by adding ice to their glass, then syrup, followed by milk, and finally the Nespresso brewed espresso pod. While the video was aesthetically pleasing and included calming ASMR, one of the top comments suggested an alternative order when making iced coffee.

The comment reflected the order of ingredients that places like Starbucks use to make iced lattes and referred to this method as a "game changer." The commenter suggested that the syrup and espresso go into the cup first, then milk, with ice cubes being the last step. This method received over 160 likes and noted two main benefits for your drink. First, it's less watery since hot espresso isn't immediately melting the ice it comes in contact with, and second, the ice on top doesn't shock the espresso.

Read more: How To Get More Flavor From Your Coffee Pods & Other Keurig Hacks

The Taste Changes With The Ingredients' Order

The belief that freshly brewed espresso gets shocked by the frigid temperature of the ice is fairly common among the coffee community. Many even think that the delicate flavor notes captured during the extraction process of the ground espresso beans are dulled when poured over ice. One barista took to Reddit to inquire about the validity of these claims, asking if the temperature shift in the espresso changed how "the oils condense" the way some customers said it did.

It turns out that there is still debate over changing the order of your iced coffee ingredients, with some commenters saying there is no difference while others swear that once you taste shocked or "soured" espresso, you'll always be able to tell when the drink has been made over ice. One user even explained that after working as a barista for six months, they could suddenly discern the significant flavor difference, now calling shocked espresso drinks "intolerable. Undrinkable. Ruined." People on social media who have put it to the test agree.

A side-by-side comparison found the non-shocked espresso to be less bitter, smoother, and "more well-rounded" in its overall flavor. The differences may be subtle enough for the average coffee consumer to overlook, however, the secret to the perfect iced coffee might just be mixing your espresso with syrup and milk before adding the ice.

Read the original article on Mashed.