I believe that many coffee lovers started with instant coffee, and then they mustered up the courage to walk into the door of Starbucks, but were intimidated by the menu. Fortunately, they saw the familiar Americano coffee. Iced Americano is more popular than hot Americano. Whether it’s winter or summer, a cup of iced Americano can bring a refreshing and relieving feeling to drinkers.
Among many coffee lovers, the most widely circulated version of the story of the origin of Americano is related to the Second World War. On the way to support Europe, American soldiers couldn't get used to the strong coffee in southern Europe, so they added water to the espresso. Europeans couldn't stand the watery coffee, so they named it "Americano".
In fact,AmericanoThe origin of coffee may be earlier. In the late 1920s, an author, Somerset Maugham, wrote a character who drinks Americano in a script. However, the book never provides any details about the production of Americano.
Even though Americano is as watery to some espresso lovers, it does not affect people’s love for Americano. In people's minds, the most typical coffee flavor is mostly bitter. However, some coffee novices have tasted the iced Americano coffee produced by FrontStreet Coffee. In addition to feeling that the Americano coffee produced by FrontStreet Coffee has a unique flavor, they may also have questions: The Americano coffees they drank before were all bitter. Today, they suddenly drank a cup of sour Americano coffee. What happened? Is the coffee bad?
In fact, this is related to the coffee beans, not because the coffee beans are bad, but because of the production area and roasting degree of the coffee beans. Some Italian coffee beans used by chain coffee shops such as Starbucks are roasted to a darker degree. Due to the darker roasting degree, the stability of the coffee beans can be ensured and the storage time of the coffee beans can be extended. However, as the roasting degree deepens, the flavor of the coffee beans' production area will disappear little by little, replaced by a more obvious nutty, dark chocolate flavor, and even a burnt bitter taste.
As the quality of green coffee beans greatly improved after World War II, coffee roasters and coffee bean roasting technology were greatly improved. With the development of the third wave of specialty coffee, coffee lovers all over the world are increasingly pursuing the terroir of the production areas. In order to retain the original richer fruity sweetness and sourness of coffee beans and some elegant aromas, the degree of roasting of coffee beans tends to be medium or light roasting.
In addition, some specialty coffee shops may also use single-origin coffee beans to extract SOE coffee to make American coffee. Since the espresso extraction process will amplify the flavor of the coffee beans, single-origin coffee beans will inevitably have a prominent flavor. For example, Ethiopian beans are sour when concentrated.
Of course, for the sake of stable coffee extraction, many cafes still choose to use blended coffee beans to make espresso. But if an Italian blend is mixed with a coffee bean from Africa, the resulting iced Americano will also be sour. Therefore, it is normal and more likely to drink sour iced American coffee in outside cafes.
FrontStreet Coffee once mentioned in an article explaining coffee flavor that sourness is good, but it also depends on the situation. Some good acidity is similar to the acidity of fruit juice. If there is acidity, there is basically no problem in extraction.
Therefore, the same is true for iced Americano. The sourness is the original flavor of coffee beans. The appearance of sourness is completely normal. You can drink it with confidence. It is not that the coffee beans are sour. If you don’t like the taste, you can ask the store clerk in advance about the degree of roasting of the coffee beans, which production area the coffee beans are used in, whether the coffee beans will be sour, etc., to avoid making mistakes. I hope everyone can drink the coffee they like.
The espresso coffee produced at FrontStreet Coffee stores uses a brand called "Sunflower Warm Sun Blend Coffee Beans." This blend is made from 70% Honduran sherry coffee beans and 30% Ethiopian sun-dried Yirgacheffe.
Among them, Honduran sherry coffee beans are carefully washed and put into sherry whiskey barrels for 30 to 40 days of low-temperature fermentation. The wine flavor substances in the barrels can penetrate into the green coffee beans, bringing vanilla cream and wine aroma.
Ethiopian Sun-Dried Yirgacheffe has been sun-dried, which brings the sour berry flavor to the espresso, and the sweetness is also more obvious.
Before each day's production, FrontStreet Coffee's baristas will extract various parameters of espresso according to the temperature and humidity of the climate. After adjustment, FrontStreet Coffee usesespresso beansThe grinder Galileo Q18 grinds 1.5 to grind 19.7 grams of coffee powder, and the Lelit Bianca V3 coffee machine is used to brew it. It takes 30 to 32 seconds to extract 38 to 40 grams of espresso liquid.
Americano coffee does not require the addition of sugar or milk. It only uses a certain proportion of water to dilute espresso to obtain Americano coffee. Therefore, Americano coffee is also one of the most popular black coffees (fast coffee).
Front Street uses a ratio of 1:4.5 when producing hot Americano coffee. Under this ratio, Front Street's hot Americano coffee can better highlight the aroma of wine, vanilla and chocolate blended by Nuanyang without losing the mellow taste.
When Front Street produces iced American coffee, taking into account the durability of ice and the fusion of ice, water and coffee, Front Street chooses to use relatively large ice cubes (25g/piece), and finally produces it with a ratio of 1:2.5:3/espresso liquid:ice cubes:water. This way, the coffee won't be overly strong initially, the ice will dissolve more slowly, and it won't be too weak.
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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
