Southern Oregon's Best: Iced Coffee

By: Eva Ford | September 13 2010
Posted in Rogue Valley - Find It - Rogue Valley

Slaves to the bean tend to get creative when crafting a beverage. The cartoons and jokes glorifying highly-hyphenated hot latte drink-descriptions don't exagerate!
But what about cold drinks? What's out there besides the blended drinks made from scary powders?
Southern Oregon cafes have you covered.

Cold brew coffee is prepared by using a "toddy" maker. Basically, grounds are soaked in cold water for 12-24 hours. The resulting brew is drained through a thick filter, and cold brew concentrate is obtained. Your barista then cuts this liquid with 1/3 water and 1/3 ice. Cold brew contains more caffeine and less acid than drip coffee and is considered to have a higher concentration of flavor.
Ice drip coffee uses a slightly different system (shown here) but produces a similar beverage. Ice drip is often served undiluted, with a sort of "iced espresso" twist.
Coffee-quaffers can also choose to make unblended ice lattes with thier milk of choice and freshly-brewed espresso.

Where's the best spot to cool off with coffee? Luckily the Rogue Valley has more than its share of high quality cafes, many of which serve locally- or Oregon-roasted beans!

ASHLAND
Noble Coffee Roasting
281 4th Street
Ashland, OR 97520
541-488-3288
Ashland-based Noble Coffee Roasting gets three mentions today -the first is their excellent and spacious cafe on 4th Street in Ashland’s gallery-rich Railroad District. The converted dance space has a big-city warehouse feel with highly professional and friendly staff. (The one-year-old cafe used to be housed in a garage in Talent -see pictures of the conversion here!) Coffee is roasted on-site by dedicated coffee-nerds. Try the cold brew coffee or the ice drip; both are made with Single Origin Coffees that change frequently. You simply can’t go wrong here.

Mix
57 N 1st Street
Ashland, OR 97520
541-488-9885
Located on the bustling downtown plaza in Ashland, Mix Sweet Shop has served delicious Portland-roasted Stumptown Coffee and decadent pastries for four years. Trained by Stumptown’s nationally recognized baristas, the crew at Mix will whip up delicious espresso and pour it over their homemade ice cream as a classic affogatto. Yum doesn’t cover it. They also serve up cold-brew coffee and iced espresso drinks. They don't have a website, but check out the yelp.com reviews here.

Case Coffee
1255 Siskiyou Boulevard
Ashland, OR 97520
541-488-7687
Open Weekdays 7am-6pm and Sat 8am-4pm
This friendly and sleek coffee shop, located across the Boulevard from Southern Oregon University provides an excellent iced brew! They mostly serve locally roasted Noble coffee, but owners Tim and Katie Case enjoy mixing it up a bit by incorporating other roasters as well. They use an ice-drip system to make their cold brew fresh daily.

PHOENIX
Crema
310 Main Street
Phoenix, OR 97535
541-946-7123
Crema just arrived on the scene in Phoenix. Open for breakfast, lunch and in-between, they serve Noble coffee, pastries, and gourmet sandwhiches. Sit outside on the shady patio or venture into their newly-revamped cafe. Another excellent source of Noble cold-brew for those outside of Ashland's concentration of cafes.

JACKSONVILLE
The Good Bean
165 South Oregon Street
Jacksonville, OR 97530
541-899-8740
A Jacksonville classic, this cafe fits right into the charming old mining town. Iced lattes have long been a local favorite -get one before heading up the hill to the Britt Music Festival! Or sit in the cafe, located in the old Tablerock Billiard and Saloon building, circa 1852.

MEDFORD
Black Rock Coffee Bar
1975 Biddle Rd.
Medford, OR 97504
541-227-6749
For a blended ice delight, check out this drive-thru in Medford who serves small-batch coffee roasted in Portland. It’s not your average drive-thru! We hear excellent things about their sweet blended treats.