Americano is a black coffee that only needs to be mixed with a certain amount of water into espresso. There is neither too much difficulty in obtaining materials nor any complicated operations, which made everyone think that making American coffee is very simple. But in fact, it is indeed the case...
Making American coffee is indeed very simple. Just pour water into the prepared concentrate. There is no difficulty at all. However, if we want to make a delicious and pleasing American coffee, there are still some things that need to be paid attention to.
Whether it is the selection of materials, the cooking of ingredients, or the ratio of different materials, we need to pay attention to the factors that make a cup of delicious American style. Although they may not seem inconspicuous, each of their choices will directly affect whether the American style tastes good or not! So today, Front Street is here to share with you what goes into making a cup of American coffee!
First, choose the materials
You may think that the most important American material is coffee beans. To make American style food at home, you can purchase the Front Street Dark Cocoa Basic Blend, which is suitable for all types of coffee shops, bakeries, beverage shops and home coffee machines. Yunnan washed small coffee beans + Brazilian semi-sun-dried coffee beans, which combines the acidity of nutty ripe plums. When ground into powder, it will exude the aroma of cream chocolate and cocoa cookies. The taste is balanced, and the oil is golden and shiny. It is very suitable for friends who open a shop or use it at home.
In addition, the choice of water is equally important for Americano coffee! Although water is colorless and odorless, there are big differences between water and water. Front Street believes that most of our friends can tell the difference between different brands of bottled water sold on the market. Their taste and texture will change due to different mineral content and processing technology.
Nearly 98% of the ingredients in a cup of Americano are water. Although most of them do not participate in extraction, they also determine the taste and texture of Americano. Some water can make American coffee taste fuller, while others can make it lighter. Therefore, if possible, we can also pay attention to the water used when making American coffee.
Then there are the beans! The choice of beans directly determines the taste and aroma of the entire cup of coffee, so if we want to make Americano coffee that suits our own taste, we must choose the right coffee beans for production.
There are many coffee beans to choose from for Americano coffee. Since it’s just espresso with water, we don’t need to consider the compatibility of the coffee taste with other materials. We can freely choose the beans that suit our preferences!
If you like a cup of American coffee with a strong burnt aroma, weak acidity/"acid-free", and obvious sweetness, then the coffee beans you can choose are medium, medium dark, dark roasted single-origin beans or blended beans. For home coffee machines, buy Front Street PWN Golden Mandheling, Front Street Queen's Manor, Front Street Classic Blend, Front Street Commercial Blend, etc. The Americano made with them can have the characteristics described by Front Street.
And if you like a cup of Americano coffee with floral and fruity notes, translucent and bright, with a mainly sweet and sour taste, then the choice of coffee beans can be light or medium-light roasted coffee beans. The first choices are Front Street Sun-dried Oiran, Front Street Hija, Front Street Boquette Gesha, etc. The Americano made with them will not only have a very bright fruity acidity, but also a light floral aroma, which is very good ~
Secondly, cooking ingredients
After we have selected the coffee beans, the next step is to find suitable parameters to extract its flavor substances. To be honest, what Front Street likes about American style is that it doesn’t have to pay too much attention to the concentration of espresso. The same reason is that the ingredients are only espresso plus water, so American style does not concentrate the concentration too low and cause the coffee to be made to feel heavy. After all, it is almost all water.
Because of this, we only need to ensure that the extracted coffee does not have too much unpleasant bitterness, and there is no obvious sourness in the coffee due to insufficient extraction. No matter how much your liquid weight is or whether the concentration is high or low, it will all matter! without! have! close! Tie!
Take Front Street as an example. When making daily espresso, the parameters used by Front Street are generally 30 seconds and a powder-to-liquid ratio of 1:2. That is, 20g of powder needs to extract 40ml of coffee liquid, and the use time is about 30 seconds. Such a formula can ensure that the coffee we extract not only has full flavor expression, but also has a concentration high enough to add a large amount of milk to make a cup of fragrant milk coffee.
When the grinding is not fine enough, Front Street will increase the extraction rate of the coffee by increasing the liquid weight. For example, use a powder-to-liquid ratio of 1:5, and the time is still 30 seconds. For example, 20g of powder extracts 100ml of coffee liquid, and the use time is 30 seconds. Although such a formula cannot produce high-concentration espresso, its extraction is quite sufficient, and the taste of the coffee can be fully displayed.
Finally, find a matching ratio
After we extract the espresso, the last step is to find the right ratio of espresso and water to prepare a cup of Americano coffee with the right concentration and deliciousness!
In fact, this is very simple! We just need to add a certain amount of water to the espresso and try it slowly. If the coffee tastes strong, add a little more, and if it tastes weak, add a little less next time. This is how the American-style coffee mix on Front Street is adjusted (in fact, everyone does it).
Take Front Street as an example. Front Street uses the classic blend of medium-dark roasted coffee every day. It uses the aforementioned 1:2 powder-to-liquid ratio in 30 seconds to make a cup of high-concentration espresso, and then adds 4 times the amount of water in the espresso liquid to make an Americano. That is, the ratio of coffee to water is 1:4, 40ml of coffee liquid and 160ml of hot water. The American coffee produced at this ratio not only has the right concentration, but also the caramel, chocolate, nuts, and butter cookie flavors of the coffee itself can be well displayed.
If it is made into an iced Americano, the amount of water will be appropriately reduced, the ratio of coffee to water is about 1:3, and then 100g of ice cubes will be added to lower the temperature of the coffee.
The above are all solutions used when making American style with medium-dark roasted beans. If you use medium-light roasted coffee beans, then the amount of water needs to be less. Because light roasted coffee does not have as strong a flavor as dark roasted coffee, there is no need to add too much water for dilution.
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
