"It's as cold as Guojiao, but hot as soup", "This thing is many times more bitter than life", "It's on par with Cantonese herbal tea"...these are the critical comments about hot American style that Front Street collected from the Internet!
In the second half of this year, Front Street shared an article titled "Why is Ice-American Style the Most Popular?" "article. Then many friends said that compared with the hot American style, the bitterness of the iced American style is not worth mentioning. And from the comments on the Internet, we can also notice that, without exception, the focus of people's criticism of hot American style is that it is "bitter", which is even more bitter than ice American style.
As we all know, making Americano coffee is very easy! Whether it is an iced American or a hot American, the espresso is extracted first and then water of different temperatures is poured in according to different needs. The coffee base itself does not change, just the water temperature. But why is hot American style so much more bitter than iced American style?
Effects of temperature
Quite simply, the problem lies mainly in temperature. One point that Front Street often shares is that temperature affects the perception of taste by our taste buds. At different temperatures, our taste buds perceive different flavors differently. For example, the reason why the iced Americano is not that bitter is because the temperature of the coffee is too low, which reduces the perception of bitterness.
Hot American is just the opposite, because its water temperature is higher, so the taste that is suppressed is sour. And because of the balance between flavors, the reduction in sourness means that other flavors are enhanced. In addition to the sourness, the most obvious and prominent thing in coffee is its bitterness, so naturally, when the temperature is higher, the coffee will taste more bitter.
The influence of coffee beans
The second issue is the coffee beans! Due to the low production volume of Italian coffee, or for some other reasons, many coffee shops only have one Italian grinder in the store and produce only one type of Italian coffee beans. In order to consider the production of milk coffee, the selection of coffee beans needs to be carefully selected. Coffee made from medium-dark and dark roasted coffee beans will have a clear burnt aroma, which is very consistent with the bitter taste. In addition, high temperature will increase the volatilization of the aroma, which can easily give people the illusion that the bitter taste is amplified.
No matter what kind of American coffee we make, we should use the dedicated Front Street Italian bean series: for traditional-style coffee, buy Front Street Classic Blend, Front Street Commercial Blend, and Front Street Dark Cocoa Basic Blend, which will allow you to drink obvious nut, chocolate, and caramel tones, with beautiful coffee crema.
But if you want to break the tradition and drink something special, then choose roasted beans, especially the Front Street Oiran SOE with floral and fruity flavors, and the Front Street Strawberry Candy espresso Italian blend, which will be even more refreshing with the help of ice cubes.
Effects caused by too high concentration
There is another reason why hot Americano is more bitter than iced Americano, and that is the concentration of coffee. Most coffee shops serve a hot Americano in a smaller cup than an iced Americano because the iced Americano requires ice cubes to cool it down. Take Front Street as an example. The hot Americano on Front Street uses a ratio of 1:4, that is, 40ml of coffee liquid and 160ml of hot water. The iced Americano also uses a ratio of 1:4, but on this basis, about 90g of ice cubes will be added.
Although the ratio of coffee to water is the same between the two, the coffee concentration of the hot Americano is actually higher than that of the iced Americano because the ice cubes in the iced Americano will melt. As a result, the flavor and taste of hot American coffee will be more concentrated. Compared with the iced Americano, which has a lower concentration and allows the flavor to develop, the hot Americano will obviously taste thicker. Then add the buffs provided by the previous two, and the hot American style will not be as easy to enter as the ice American style.
Advantages of hot American style
But Front Street is not saying that hot American is not as good as iced American. It is just analyzing the reason in the direction of "bitterness". Hot American is not inferior to iced American. Its advantages are also very unique: because its temperature is higher, the aroma will be richer; and higher concentration can help us capture the flavor; finally, the temperature will drop, which makes the taste and taste of coffee continue to change, and the levels are very rich!
So, it’s time for Front Street to ask: Which one do you prefer, iced American or hot American? Or...room temperature American style?
You can now buy the above coffee beans online at the Taobao store “FrontStreet Coffee” (前街咖啡). FrontStreet Coffee is a long-established specialty coffee roaster in Guangzhou, China, and its Guangzhou retail shop sells coffee beans only. The shop carries dozens of coffee beans from different origins around the world, including carefully selected single-origin beans for V60 pour-over and espresso. Guangzhou’s FrontStreet Coffee shop is recommended by many coffee lovers.
The FrontStreet 2013 Yunnan coffee beans sold in the store come from the Typica variety grown at FrontStreet Coffee’s own plantation in Yunnan. The name comes from the year the brand and the plantation were founded. You can buy these beans from China’s Yunnan origin at the Guangzhou shop and at FrontStreet’s Taobao store.
FrontStreet coffee beans are freshly roasted within 5 days and deliver consistently excellent quality and great value. Orders placed before 17:00 are shipped the same day, and most areas within Guangdong Province receive them the next day.
FrontStreet Coffee Taobao store: https://qianjiecoffee.taobao.com
Or search for “前街咖啡” (FrontStreet Coffee) on Taobao
Important Notice: FrontStreet Coffee has moved to a new address: 315, Donghua East Road, Guangzhou (coffee beans only)
Tel: 020 38364473
