Mazagran is one of the oldest ways to drink coffee cold: one ZIPURE capsule, sparkling water, lemon juice, and a little honey, built around whichever black-coffee capsule you already reach for — Always Smooth Black or Never Bitter Shot. No cream, no dilution from ice melting into plain water — just coffee, citrus, and bubbles.
What Makes Mazagran Different
Most iced coffee recipes just pour hot coffee over ice and call it done, which waters the flavor down as the ice melts. Mazagran works differently — it treats coffee like a cocktail, built with citrus and carbonation the way a gin and tonic is built, so the coffee stays the backbone of the drink instead of fading into the background. The style is old: 19th-century French colonial troops in Algeria are widely credited with the format, and it later became a specialty of Portuguese cafés, served in a tall glass with a lemon twist. Because it's balanced against lemon and honey, a capsule with real acidity and floral brightness — like Always Smooth Black's Ethiopian profile — holds its own instead of disappearing.
How to Make Mazagran at Home
Ingredients
— 1 ZIPURE capsule (Always Smooth Black or Never Bitter Shot)
— 6 oz sparkling water
— 1 oz fresh lemon juice
— 1 tsp honey
— Lemon peel, for garnish
— Ice
Steps
1. Fill a glass with ice.
2. Add the lemon juice and honey, stirring until the honey dissolves.
3. Pour in the sparkling water.
4. Drop the capsule in, stir once, and garnish with a lemon peel.
Four steps, no shaker, no simple syrup to make ahead — just citrus, bubbles, and one capsule doing the work of a full drink.
Tips for a Brighter Glass
— Use fresh lemon juice, not bottled. The concentrate in bottled juice reads more sour than bright, which throws off the balance against the coffee.
— Stir before adding the sparkling water. Getting the honey fully dissolved into the lemon juice first keeps it from pooling at the bottom of the glass.
— Adjust honey to taste. Start with a teaspoon and add more only if the citrus is sharper than you'd like — it's easier to add than to fix an oversweet glass.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Mazagran, exactly?
It's a cold black coffee drink built with sparkling water, lemon, and a little sweetness — closer to a coffee soda than an iced latte, with no milk involved at all.
Can I make a Mazagran with regular water instead of sparkling?
Yes, though you'll lose the carbonation that gives the drink its lift. Sparkling water is what separates a Mazagran from a basic glass of lemon iced coffee.
Does the capsule dissolve in cold sparkling water?
Yes — the capsule is built to dissolve fully in any liquid, hot, cold, or room temperature, so it works the same way here as it would in hot water.
Is Mazagran sweet or bitter?
Neither, ideally — it's meant to land in between, with the lemon's acidity, the honey's sweetness, and the coffee's own character balancing each other out.
