Wirecutter - Our quest to make crystal-clear ice

Elissa Sanci

My kitchen quickly turned into a science lab. I busted out the ice cube trays Wirecutter recommends, blue painter’s tape, and a Sharpie, and then I got to work. I split the trays into two sections: filtered water that was boiled once; filtered water that was boiled twice (as in boiled, cooled, then boiled again); tap water that was boiled once; and tap water that was boiled twice. (Yes, I’m glad you asked. I did in fact use a Wirecutter-recommended electric kettle for the water.)

Once the ice cubes were sufficiently frozen, I popped them out to compare. The verdict? Each of the four methods produced cloudy ice. Just as I’d suspected.

So what now?

One DIY option that kept surfacing on the cocktail-making subreddits I trolled was the “cooler method,” which involves using a personal-size cooler to freeze water into a single supersize ice block. I wasn’t keen on trying this: Not only does this technique require several days for the ice to freeze, but once it is frozen, you have to cut the block into cubes yourself. That seemed like a surefire way to lose a finger or two, so I opted for the next best thing: a $50 clear-ice mold.

Elissa Sanci

Clear-ice molds, like the one I tested from True Cubes, employ the same freezing technique that the cooler method uses—but because the mold is pre-sectioned, the water freezes into four separate cubes instead of one giant block. The True Cubes tray was really easy to use (fill it with tap water and stick it in the freezer), but the water takes a long time to freeze—after 18 to 20 hours, you’ll have clear ice. Also, because the True Cubes tray is designed with cocktail-making in mind, it produces only four 2-inch cubes.

Elissa Sanci

I thwacked at my giant cubes with a bar spoon to break them down into smaller ice chips. It was a messy endeavor, with ice flying every which way. But by the time I was done, I had enough clear-ice chips to last me a couple of drinks. I refilled the True Cubes tray, stuck it back in the freezer, and rationed my ice until the next batch was ready. Thwack, refill, repeat.

Now that I know the best way to make crystal-clear ice at home, I’ll never have to sip on a sad, flat soda again. (You can check out the beautiful ice cubes I made, as well as the rest of our full results, here.)

If you’re thinking, “That’s entirely too much work for clear ice and a fizzy drink,” you’re not wrong. But the thing is, clear ice truly is superior to cloudy ice in every way. I never thought I’d become the kind of person willing to go above and beyond for what is, essentially, frozen water. But after spending about a month researching, testing methods, and obsessively chasing the taste of a Coke Zero poured over clear ice, it’s become my entire personality. Now, when given the option of cloudy ice or no ice at all, I opt for no ice. Because once you’ve experienced the absolute joy of sipping a soda chilled with clear ice, it’s really, really hard to go back.