Introduction:Plum candy, a classic snack that combines sour, sweet, and salty flavors, has in recent years become a creative element in coffee beverages. Due to its pickled nature, heating it can easily release an overly strong salty and sour taste, making it more suitable to pair with iced coffee. This article takes an in-depth look at three popular methods—cold brew with plum candy, sugar-free sparkling americano, and iced pour-over—exploring bean selection, plum candy quantity, brewing parameters, and flavor profiles. It provides detailed steps and practical tips to help you find your ideal plum candy-coffee combination.

As a sweet-and-sour childhood favorite for many, plum candy’s unique balance of salty, sour, and sweet has also found its way into coffee creations in recent years. However, due to its long pickling process and relatively hard texture, prolonged heating or soaking can easily bring out excessive saltiness and astringency. Therefore, pairing it with iced coffee better showcases its refreshing layers. Below are three ways to enjoy plum candy with iced coffee: the easy-to-make cold brew, the refreshing sugar-free sparkling americano, and the experimental iced pour-over. Each method features unique considerations in bean choice, amount of plum candy, and brewing conditions, yielding distinctly different flavor profiles.

When it comes to nostalgic childhood snacks that never change in flavor, many people’s first choice is nine-process plum candy. It perfectly blends sour, sweet, and salty tastes, not only refreshing and appetizing but also awakening the senses when sucked on during tired moments—the candied aroma unfolds slowly on the tongue, followed by a tangy zing that refreshes the palate. This everyday snack is also making its mark in the coffee world, whether it’s the rich fruity aroma of washed Kenyan beans during cupping, the popular plum iced americano on home-brewing lists, or the layering creativity coffee brewers use when developing new drinks.

However, as a pickled food, plum candy is usually dry and hard. Cooking it with heat or soaking it for too long can easily release an overpowering salty-sour flavor. Therefore, compared to hot drinks, plum candy pairs better with cool and crisp iced coffee. Next, we’ll walk you through three practical methods for making plum iced coffee at home, so you can easily find the one that suits your taste best.

Plum Cold Brew

If we’re talking about the easiest coffee brewing method that’s also a favorite among “lazy brewers,” cold brew is the top choice. Adding plum candy to cold brew not only enhances the overall sweet and sour notes but also, after time, brings out a subtle floral note unique to plums. By simply selecting the right coffee beans and mastering basic parameters, you can easily make a refreshing and smooth glass of plum cold brew at home.

Here’s how: First, grind 30 grams of Panamanian Sun-Dried Flower Butterfly coffee beans to a granularity similar to fine sugar (recommended grind size around EK43s setting 9.5), then pour them into a cold brew maker along with 5 regular plum candies. Next, add 300 grams of room-temperature water at a 1:10 coffee-to-water ratio, stir well, cover with plastic wrap, and let it steep in the fridge for about 6 hours. Finally, filter out the coffee grounds with paper and add ice cubes to taste before serving.

After several hours of chilled extraction, this plum cold brew not only bursts with fruity aroma but also offers a distinct sweet note. Notably, the combination of sun-dried Flower Butterfly and plum candy unexpectedly yields layered aromas of perilla, cherry, raspberry, and black grape, adding delightful surprises to the overall flavor.

Plum Sparkling Americano

Many online tutorials for plum sparkling americanos recommend marinating the plum candy with syrup overnight or boiling it with rock sugar to make a syrup. But if you prefer less sweetness, you can try this sugar-free version of plum sparkling americano, which still highlights the unique flavor of plum candy.

Here’s how to make it: First, prepare 4 plum candies, add hot water, shake gently, and let them soak in the fridge for about 1 hour (the water only needs to cover the candies—no need for precise measurement). Then, take a sufficiently large glass, fill about two-thirds with ice cubes, pour in the prepared plum water, and top up to about seven-eighths full with sparkling water. Finally, extract 40 grams of concentrated coffee using 20 grams of Sunflower·Warm Sun blend beans, and slowly pour it over the drink.

Thanks to the abundant foam from the sparkling water, which fully enhances the aroma and taste of the plum candy, this americano retains the richness of iced coffee and the refreshing zing of sparkling water, while also offering layers of salty, sour, and mildly sweet notes. The overall flavor is refreshing and fun.

Plum Iced Pour-Over

If you’re a fan of pour-over coffee, why not try this slightly “experimental” plum iced pour-over? Just like the recent trend of using orange peel filters, adding fruits, flower petals, or tea leaves to pour-over isn’t new—though results can sometimes be a bit hit-or-miss, it’s a lot of fun. This piece walks you through a real test of adding plum candy to pour-over.

Considering the salty and sour characteristics of plum candy, it’s recommended to choose a coffee bean with a pronounced sweetness to balance the overall flavor. In this case, we selected Panamanian Elida Estate Sun-Dried Catuai. The plum candy is added in two parts: first, 3 candies are “hidden” in the filter with the coffee grounds for extraction, and another 2 are placed in the bottom carafe with ice cubes, allowing them to soak continuously in the coffee liquid during brewing.

The specific parameters are as follows: 15 grams of coffee grounds, a 1:10 coffee-to-water ratio, 75 grams of ice cubes, grind size at EK43s setting 9.5 (fine grind), water temperature controlled at 91°C, using a V60 filter, with a three-stage pour (30g, 60g, and 60g respectively). Practical testing shows that this plum iced pour-over performs quite well—it starts with a subtle plum fragrance, followed by tropical fruit notes like mango and guava, accompanied by the characteristic sweet-sour taste of plums, resulting in a smooth and delicate mouthfeel. However, compared to the first two methods, its flavor layers are slightly more restrained.

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.