As a classic that has long topped the menu, the Americano has been discussed to death — its ingredients, its brewing, even how to drink it. Almost every parameter is transparent online, answerable with a single search. Yet that hasn't stopped people from being creative: we still find new things built on the Americano, such as the "White Americano" Front Street Coffee introduces today.
White Americano ≠ White Coffee, and ≠ Black Coffee
White and black have always stood in opposition. Black coffee is a familiar technical term: it refers to any pure coffee that, apart from water, contains no added ingredients, showing a dark-brown, light-passing color under normal daylight. Americano, pour-over and cold brew are typical representatives of black coffee.
White coffee is easy to understand too — generally, coffee with milk. Unlike black coffee, "white coffee" has two mainstream meanings. One is the instant product from Malaysia, a specialty many people must buy when traveling there; the other, in Australians' minds, mainly refers to coffee drinks made by mixing milk and espresso — besides the classic latte and cappuccino, there is the Flat White, whose name literally contains "white," and which has won many hearts with its rich-but-not-bitter, sweet and silky texture.
But "White Americano" sounds like an oddity: its name contains both "white" and "black (Americano)," so clearly it belongs to neither. So what on earth is it?
The Origin of the White Americano
After combing through encyclopedias online, Front Street Coffee barely learned that the "White Americano" has no exact date of origin, and there is very little dedicated coverage of it. When it was first written into popular-science articles, it was defined as a black coffee not filled to the top with hot water.
Since everyone has their own preferences and the Americano is especially variable — some drink it pure, some add sugar, some are used to topping it with milk — to accommodate different tastes, some shops put only half a cup of hot water in the cup when making an Americano, pour the espresso over it and serve it right away, letting customers add their own condiments to adjust the flavor. So compared with the milk (cream) in white coffee, the "white" of the White Americano mainly refers to the remaining space in the cup — best understood as "leaving blank space" in the Chinese sense. What you can add, and how much, is entirely up to you.
However, because this practice is quite niche, mentioned only in a few independent cafés over the years, the name "White Americano" was long absent from menus, so many people had never even heard of it. It was only when the coffee chain % launched a new product of the same name this year that the term gradually came to life.
But unlike the "half-cup coffee" described above, % stresses that the portion stays the same: by adjusting the ratio of milk, water (iced water) and espresso, the White Americano achieves a texture that is "a touch smoother than an Americano, a touch lighter than a latte — somewhere in between." In production it's easy to understand: apart from the espresso, the remaining space is filled with half water and half milk — essentially an Americano topped with milk. But how does it actually taste? Let's make one first and try it.
How to Make a White Americano
So that the coffee's flavor isn't diluted too much, today we used a shop-specialty bean for the White Americano — Front Street Coffee's Signature Blend. It combines beans from Brazil and Colombia; semi-washed plus washed processing brings notes of dark chocolate, roasted peanut and caramel, with a low-acid, full body: it highlights hazelnut aroma in an Americano and a butter-cookie character in a latte, and is very forgiving to brew.
Since there is no detailed recipe, Front Street Coffee could only estimate % 's White Americano from the limited information available: extract a double shot of 36 g espresso from 19.6 g of coffee grounds in 31 seconds, then pour it into the cup.
Add 100 g of whole fresh milk and 100 g of room-temperature water to the pitcher.
Then use the steam wand to create a 0.3 cm layer of foam and heat to an agreeable 50-55°C. Blend it evenly with the espresso and finish with a latte-art pattern — done.
Because steps of frothing and latte art are added, the freshly made White Americano resembles a Flat White in both volume and appearance. On the palate you get peanut-brittle and chocolate-biscuit aromas from the crema, and together with the milk it presents a rich, nutty flavor profile overall.
But for Front Street Coffee, which drinks black coffee and plain lattes year-round, this White Americano isn't especially tasty. First, too much water breaks the ratio between milk and coffee, making the texture watery; second, the large amount of milk dilutes all the nuance, so the coffee is neither full-bodied nor refreshing. Overall, one word: weak.
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
