[Video Guide] AI vs Coffee: GPT-3.5 vs GPT-4 Go Head-to-Head in the Ultimate Iced Coffee Showdown

What happens when you let artificial intelligence design your coffee recipes? We put two of the world’s most advanced AI models, GPT-3.5 and GPT-4, to the test to see which one could craft the perfect summer iced coffee. From tropical flavors to berry infusions, we brewed, tasted, and rated their creations — and the results might surprise you.

We gave both AIs the same challenge:

“Generate two extravagant iced coffee recipes. Include brewing instructions and recommend the best coffee beans.”

Let’s see what they came up with.

GPT-3.5’s Creations

1. Tropical Paradise Iced Coffee
A blend of strong brewed coffee, coconut milk, pineapple juice, and honey. It sounded like a beach vacation but mostly tasted like coconut milk. The flavor was thin, the coffee lost—a 4 out of 10.

2. Minty Mocha Iced Coffee
This recipe mixed coffee with chocolate syrup, mint syrup, and milk, topped with whipped cream and chocolate shavings. It was refreshing, balanced, and not overly sweet. GPT-3.5 earned a solid 7 out of 10 for creativity.

GPT-4’s Winning Recipes

1. Tropical Coconut Cold Brew
GPT-4 swapped hot coffee for cold brew made with Colombian beans. The addition of honey, vanilla, and coconut milk created a smooth, creamy drink with the perfect sweetness. It was rich, refreshing, and perfectly balanced—a clear 10 out of 10.

2. Berry Blast Iced Coffee
This one used Ethiopian Yirgacheffe beans with mixed berries and maple syrup. The result was a juicy, fruity, and vibrant coffee that felt like summer in a glass. Another 10 out of 10 and a total crowd-pleaser.

The Verdict

GPT-4 dominated the challenge with two standout recipes. Its use of cold brew techniques and thoughtful bean pairings made all the difference. GPT-3.5’s ideas weren’t bad, but they lacked the balance and finesse that GPT-4 delivered.

The takeaway? Even AI knows what coffee lovers already do—the secret to an exceptional drink is in the beans and the brew method.

Try It Yourself

Want to taste the AI magic at home? Brew these recipes using premium beans:

• Volcanica Colombian Supremo – rich and nutty, perfect for creamy cold brews.

• Volcanica Ethiopian Yirgacheffe – bright and fruity, ideal for berry-based recipes.

Both are available freshly roasted from Volcanica Coffee.

Full Video Transcript:

"Today, we’ve got an electrifying brew-off that’s about to revolutionize your coffee game. In this episode, it’s a battle of the AIs — GPT-3.5 versus GPT-4.

We wanted to put both models to the test and see what would happen if we let them make our coffee. GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 are two advanced language models that can generate human-like text — meaning they can write stories, answer trivia, even compose poetry — and today, brew us some coffee. GPT-4 is newer and more powerful, but will it actually make a better coffee recipe? Let’s find out.

Summer’s finally here, so we’ve asked both models to generate iced coffee recipes perfect for cooling down on a hot day. The prompt we used was: “Generate two extravagant iced coffee recipes. Give me instructions for brewing methods and tell me which coffee is best to use.”

We’re going to rate all of these recipes out of ten and see which one performs best.

GPT-3.5’s first recipe is called Tropical Paradise Iced Coffee. The ingredients are: strong brewed coffee (no surprises there), coconut milk, pineapple juice, honey, ice cubes, and pineapple slices.

The second recipe from GPT-3.5 is Minty Mocha Iced Coffee — made with strong brewed coffee, one cup of milk (dairy or non-dairy), two tablespoons of chocolate syrup, one tablespoon of mint syrup, whipped cream, and chocolate shavings for garnish. Sounds delicious.

Now, let’s ask GPT-4 to do the same thing using the exact same prompt to keep it fair.

GPT-4’s first recipe is Tropical Coconut Cold Brew. Right away, it’s gone for a cold brew instead of regular brewed coffee — interesting. The ingredients include coconut milk, honey, and vanilla extract. It’s a little more elevated and refined, and thankfully, no pineapple juice, which I was skeptical about. GPT-4 specifically recommends using Colombian beans for their balanced flavor and hint of nuttiness. Luckily, we’ve got some right here.

The second recipe GPT-4 came up with is Berry Blast Iced Coffee. It calls for one cup of freshly ground Ethiopian Yirgacheffe beans, cold water, mixed berries, maple syrup, and mint.

Let’s start with GPT-3.5’s first coffee.

For the Tropical Paradise Iced Coffee, all of the ingredients get mixed up in a pitcher: one tablespoon of honey, half a cup of coconut milk, and an eighth of a cup of pineapple juice. Honestly, it feels like I’m making a piña colada. Once that’s done, we just add the coffee — medium roast brewed in a cafetière and chilled for a while — give it a stir, and serve it over ice with a pineapple slice for garnish.

Tasting it… well, it’s not very strong. It mostly tastes like coconut milk, and it’s kind of weird. A strange drink overall. I think that gets a four out of ten — maybe three if I’m being honest.

Next up is GPT-3.5’s Minty Mocha Iced Coffee. I’m intrigued by this one. It calls for one tablespoon of chocolate syrup, half a tablespoon of mint syrup, half a cup of milk, and one cup of medium roast cafetière coffee cooled down. The smell is interesting. Add some whipped cream and chocolate shavings on top — and here we go.

Tasting it now — wow. That’s actually really good. It’s not overly sweet like I expected, and the mint flavor is subtle but refreshing. I’ll give the Minty Mocha Iced Coffee a seven out of ten.

Now on to GPT-4’s first recipe, the Tropical Coconut Cold Brew. The key difference between GPT-3.5 and GPT-4’s versions is that 3.5 used hot coffee cooled down, while GPT-4 chose cold brew.

We’ve used half a cup of Colombian beans, ground coarse for cold brew, and mixed them with two cups of cold water. It’s been steeping in the fridge overnight. Using a V60 to strain it, we then heat some coconut milk with vanilla and honey — one tablespoon of honey, half a cup of coconut milk, and half a tablespoon of vanilla extract. Just enough heat to combine them, not to simmer.

Once that’s ready, we fill a glass with ice, pour in half a cup of cold brew, then add the coconut milk mixture and stir gently. GPT-4 suggests topping it with coconut flakes, which I was skeptical about, but it actually rests nicely on the ice.

Time for a taste test. It looks great — and wow, it’s delicious. The sweetness is perfect, the vanilla and honey blend beautifully, and the cold brew adds a strong, clean flavor. It’s creamy, balanced, and refreshing. I’m giving this one a ten out of ten — easily my new summer drink.

Finally, GPT-4’s second recipe: Berry Blast Iced Coffee. This one calls for Ethiopian beans, which have flavor notes of lemon, blueberry, and blackberry — perfect for this recipe. We’ve ground them coarsely for cold brew and brewed them overnight.

Next, we make a berry syrup: simmer half a cup of mixed berries with one tablespoon of maple syrup, stirring gently until a syrup forms. Strain the berries through a sieve to remove the seeds and keep only the syrup.

Now, fill a glass halfway with the cold brew, pour the berry syrup on top, stir, and garnish with a few whole berries.

Tasting it — oh my God, this is incredible. It’s juicy, vibrant, and fresh. The Ethiopian beans pair perfectly with the berries, creating something completely different from the coconut drink. It’s bright, summery, and refreshing. Another ten out of ten.

So, GPT-4 is the clear winner here. Both of its recipes — the Tropical Coconut Cold Brew and the Berry Blast Iced Coffee — were outstanding.

I’d love to hear what recipes you come up with if you try this yourself. Play around with your prompts, experiment, and see what kind of AI-inspired coffee drinks you can make. Let me know in the comments which was your favorite — and I might just try it out myself.

Like and subscribe so you don’t miss the next installment of Coffee Chat. See you next time!"