Iced or Hot? How To Make the Flavor of Your Coffee Stand Out
When it comes to coffee, there’s a difference between making it simply as a pick-me-up in the morning and truly optimizing its flavor profile.
Many factors play into the perfect cup, such as the coffee’s blend, intensity, aroma profile, and of course, this all-important question: Hot or iced?
Whether you stand by your piping hot cup of joe, your favorite ice-cold concoction, or just simply love to experiment, “all coffees—even Nespresso coffees—can be enjoyed hot or cold,” says Melissa Valdez, marketing manager of Nespresso Philippines.
That’s the beauty of this worldwide favorite drink.
With the tropical climate of the Philippines, many prefer iced coffee. Valdez explains, however, that sometimes, pouring coffee over ice may be “counterintuitive” to the concept of a classic espresso because the ice, milk, and other supplementary ingredients we typically add to the blend actually hamper the coffee's distinctive, natural undertones.
In addition, cold foods and drinks, in general, have the ability to “suppress the sensitivity of our taste buds.” For instance, if you try to ice a coffee with flavors that are subtle to begin with, it will simply miss the mark, leaving you longing for the taste of caffeine for the rest of the day.
To address this, Nespresso Philippines has revealed two new, limited edition flavors that it believes to be the optimal choice for making homemade iced coffee. Because they are specifically engineered to be served cold, these new flavors are “a little bolder and a little stronger,” roasted and blended such that they “stand up to the ice, water, or milk that you add,” says Valdez.
Inspired by coffee recipes from the region of Salento in Puglia, Italy, the Ispirazione Salentina is described to be the smoother of the two blends.
It is finished off with ice, sugar cane syrup, coffee, almond milk (or alternatively, cow’s milk).
Salentina carries the “rich, nutty aromas and woody notes” of the Robusta beans from which it is made. According to Nespresso, the drink is best enjoyed with a splash of almond milk to amplify its “creamy, velvety texture.”
Also inspired by the Italian summer, the Ispirazione Shakerato is the Salentina’s more intensely-flavored counterpart, bearing with it the “aromas of exquisite cocoa” and layers of “spicy notes.”
The Ispirazione Shakerato is shaken over ice and sugar in a Nespresso View Recipe glass.
As a final step, this full-bodied coffee is meant to be shaken over ice in a Nespresso View Recipe glass to allow for the formation of a thick layer of golden brown foam at the very top.
In order to make the Salentina, Shakerato, or any other Nespresso blend at home, you’ll need the necessary capsules and a Nespresso machine. Alongside the launch of these two limited edition flavors, Nespresso also released its newest and most affordable machine to date—the Lattissima One. “If you like having coffee with milk, then this is the only machine that you need,” says Valdez, as this compact machine comes ready with an integrated milk frother.
The Lattissima One comes in Silky White and Mocha Brown.
The is the first Nespresso Limited Edition launch in the Philippines. The blends and Lattissima One machine are available at the Nespresso Boutique at the Powerplant Mall in and at https://www.nespresso.ph.
