Free tool · no signup
Iced Espresso Planner
Most iced espresso tastes great for two minutes, then turns into coffee-flavored water. The problem is rarely the beans — it's the ice math. Pick your drink and cup, and this planner works out the ice, the liquid, the melt you'll get, and whether to pull a stronger shot to survive it.
1Your drink
One double = about 18 g in, 36 g out. Two doubles is the normal café build for a 16 oz iced drink.
Sipping at your desk melts far more ice than drinking it straight away. Be honest here — this is where the dilution comes from.
2The build
Dilution share of the finished drink: about 10% · Pull style: normal double shots
?The three iced rules
🧊 More ice = less dilution
It sounds backwards, but a cup packed with ice stays colder and melts slower per sip than a half-empty cup where warm liquid bathes a few cubes. Fill the cup.
🥛 Liquid first, shot last
Cold milk or water in the glass first, ice second, hot espresso last. The shot chills on the way down instead of sitting hot on top melting everything.
💪 Long sitter? Pull ristretto
If the drink will sit 20+ minutes, pull the same dose shorter (about 1:1.5). The extra concentration is exactly what the melt water will take away.
?Iced Espresso FAQ
Why does my iced latte taste weak even with two shots?
Usually melt, not the shots. A 16 oz drink that sits 20 minutes can gain 60–80 ml of plain water — that's like adding a third of a cup of water to a hot latte. More ice, a stronger pull, or a smaller cup fixes it faster than a third shot.
Should I cool the espresso before adding it?
No need if you build in the right order — cold liquid, ice, then the shot. Letting espresso sit to cool just dulls the flavor. The one exception is shaken espresso, where you shake the hot shot with ice on purpose for the foam.
How much ice is a cupful, in grams?
Roughly 10–12 g per standard cube. A packed 16 oz cup holds about 170–190 g of ice once liquid is in. This planner estimates from cup size so you don't have to count cubes.
Does cold milk change the math?
Yes — milk straight from the fridge melts less ice than room-temperature water or tonic. Americano and tonic builds dilute a little faster, which is why the planner budgets more melt for them.
Can I use coffee ice cubes?
You can, and they cut dilution to near zero — but frozen coffee tastes stale fast. They work best frozen the same day from a drinkable brew, not from leftover shots you've already tasted and rejected.