Spanish Ice Cubes, the Remedy Against the Heat in Europe

"On the rocks" is the phrase we use to request that the drink we order comes with just a few "rocks" of ice. A nearly everyday gesture where we sometimes forget that those ice cubes need to be of high quality to accompany the liquid in the best way possible, regardless of what it is.

Spanish-made ice cubes can boast of being among the best in the world. In both quantity and quality, Procubitos, the largest ice supplier group in Europe, was founded in Spain in 1989, and one of its production plants, ICH, located in Cebreros (Ávila, Castile-León), is the largest on the continent. More than 15 million kilos of ice cubes are shipped from this company to countries like the United Kingdom, Portugal, Benelux, France, Switzerland, Croatia, Denmark, Austria, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Norway.

Given that the production of ice cubes (remember, ice melts) is its business, it makes perfect sense that a company like Procubitos would embrace the cause of sustainability, producing in an efficient way, consuming three times less electricity, or recovering wastewater from ice cube production and reusing it to cool machinery.

When it comes to innovation, Spanish ice also stands out. The brand Cubers, founded in the Asturias region in 2001, offers a range of premium ice cubes, including everything from crushed ice to Ice Balls—spherical ice cubes that glide better in the glass and take longer to melt. These are specially recommended for cocktails.

Size Does Matter

Another distinctive feature of Spanish ice cubes is their size. Recently, Cristina Cordón, CEO of ITV Ice Makers, a Spanish ice machine company, explained in a radio interview with Spanish Cadena SER that the XL size of the Spanish ice cube "has a personal touch" and is considered "premium ice," because the rest of the world is not used to that larger size. This makes Spanish ice highly valued abroad. This is Spanish ice: solid, innovative, and sustainable—able to withstand heatwaves.