If You Hate Watered-Down Iced Coffee, Check Out This Delicious Alternative

A hot latte is my favorite coffee order, but I don’t really enjoy an iced latte. It’s too much milk to begin with, and by the time I finish the cup, the ice has melted and further watered down the espresso. Therefore, I usually just resort to ordering hot lattes — even on scorching 100-degree days in New York City. I know, the horror. 

Turns out that I really should be ordering iced cortados if I want that iced experience without losing the espresso flavor. I had never heard of this coffee order before last week, so here’s the rundown if you’re also intrigued. Spoiler alert: I’ve now officially converted to being an iced cortado drinker. 

According to this article from The Kitchn that breaks down all the different types of coffee orders, a cortado means “cut” in Italian. Therefore, “a cortado is a shot of espresso that is diluted with warm or steamed milk in a 1-to-1 ratio.” A hot cortado is typically served in a rocks glass, but I’ve seen iced cortados served in a range of glasses over ice.

While a hot cortado uses steamed or warm milk, you can use cold milk straight from the fridge for an iced one. If you still want a little frothiness, feel free to use a hand frother to change the consistency a little for your iced drink. 

A cortado (hot or iced) is just the thing to order if you often feel like there is too much milk in your cappuccino or latte. Because an iced cortado is a 1:1 ratio, you will still get the rich, deep flavor of espresso and the light, creamy milk flavors without one overwhelming the other. 

I read a Reddit thread from a former barista praising cortados as the answer to customers who are looking for less foam or milk in their drinks. She said a lot of people will try to order iced cappuccinos in an attempt to get less milk than an iced latte, so she always steers them towards ordering an iced cortado instead. “They always love it and tell me it’s perfect,” the user wrote. 

Apartment Therapy Editor LJ Smelker is a former barista, and she completely agreed with these thoughts. She added that people are ordering cortados strictly for the flavor. Unlike latte drinkers, who might enjoy sipping on their beverage for a while, cortado drinkers tend to want less volume and for every sip to be exactly the taste they want.

I saw a TikTok of someone first discovering an iced cortado and raving about it, and the comments were in agreement. “You just saved us all! I ALWAYS order an iced latte, and I don’t like too much milk,” one person commented. “The news I needed today!!!!” another stated. I know the next time I stop into a coffee shop, I’m going to order an iced cortado instead of an iced latte.

This post originally appeared on The Kitchn. See it there: Former Baristas Agree: This 1:1 Coffee Order Is the Best Answer to Watered-Down Iced Lattes