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"Why do celebrities drink so much Americano!" A friend recently asked when chatting with the barista at FrontStreet Coffee. Celebrities like to drink Americano coffee. One is that the caffeine in it can refresh people. Another is that Americano coffee without any other ingredients can achieve the effect of losing weight and eliminating edema after drinking it. The other is that the preparation time is fast.
what isAmericano？
As one of the most popular black coffees in the world, Americano has witnessed nearly three generations of coffee trends. There are different opinions on the origin of Americano. Some people say that Americans like the concentration of this type of black coffee, so it is called Americano. Some people say that American soldiers during World War II were not used to drinking the highly concentrated pressurized coffee liquid extracted in Italy, so they added water to dilute the coffee concentration.
According to the Oxford dictionary, the definition of Americano is: a type of coffee drink made by adding hot water to espresso coffee. It means adding hot water to espresso - among them, it is Americano. Simply put, the espresso diluted with water is Americano.
It can be seen from this explanation thatAmericanoThe production of coffee is inseparable from espresso, which means that it is relatively consistent to say that the origin of American coffee is in Italy.
What is espresso?
Espresso is a high-concentration coffee liquid that needs to be extracted by an espresso machine in a high-pressure environment.
In the industrial age where everyone is pursuing speed, the working people of Italy are in urgent need of a cup of coffee drink that can be made quickly and refreshed, which can refresh and stimulate the spirit during a short break. Therefore, in 1884, an Italian registered a patent for a steam-powered machine for making coffee.
Because it is extracted quickly, the coffee produced by this machine is named "espresso". The name originates from the past participle of the Italian word esprimere, derived from the Latin exprimō, which means "to squeeze out." However, some linguists believe that its meaning is similar to English express, which means "fast and personal". Although the two have different interpretations of the etymology, they exactly reflect the two major characteristics of espresso.
Coffee is made very quickly, but the taste is... burnt, bitter, and difficult to swallow, so it is not unreasonable for American soldiers to drink it with water.
However, today's espresso is no longer what it used to be. Both the design of the coffee machine and the production of espresso have to be paid attention to. In 1910, Luigi Bezzera, an Italian designer from Milan, acquired the patent for a steam-powered coffee machine, added a new handle and powder bowl to the original steam boiler coffee machine, and studied and adjusted the grinding thickness of coffee beans.
The coffee particles can be pressed by external force, so that the tightness of the powder layer can withstand the rapid passage of high-pressure water flow, and better distribute the water flow impacted by high pressure, so that the water flow can evenly pass through the entire powder layer and "squeeze" a cup of coffee with a balanced taste. This mechanism and the method of extracting espresso are still used today.
With the spread of specialty coffee culture, people are paying more attention to the coffee beans used to make espresso, and they are also pursuing greater flavor performance of espresso.
What coffee beans do you choose to make Americano?
Whether American coffee tastes good or not depends on whether a coffee bean can show a balanced coffee flavor under pressurized extraction. FrontStreet Coffee produces Italian coffee products on a daily basis and uses blended coffee beans.
The advantage of blending coffee beans is that it can stabilize the flavor and quality of coffee products, balance the shortcomings of coffee beans from a single production area by learning from each other's strengths, and reduce the cost of the product.
Coffee beans are a crop, and even if the same variety is grown in the same area, the flavor of the coffee will be different every year. The flavor "shortcomings" of coffee beans from a single origin may also be amplified during pressurized extraction. Therefore, blending coffee beans from several different origins in different proportions can effectively solve the problem of unstable flavor and taste.
Currently, there are four types of blended coffee beans sold on Front Street Street, all of which are very suitable for making American coffee and Italian coffee products~ They are:
"FrontStreet Coffee - Warm Sun Blend Coffee Beans": Ethiopian sun-dried red cherry coffee beans (30%) + Honduras sherry barrel coffee beans (70%), with a rich aroma of wine, vanilla cream, sweet and sour berries, and the flavor of roasted nuts.
"FrontStreet Coffee - Front Street boutique blend of 100% Arabica coffee beans": Colombian washed coffee beans (30%) + Brazilian semi-dried coffee beans (70%), with flavors of nuts, dark chocolate, and caramel.
"FrontStreet Coffee - Front Street Commercial Blend Coffee Beans": Robusta washed coffee beans (10%) + Colombian washed coffee beans (30%) + Brazilian semi-dried coffee (60%), with flavors of nuts, cocoa, and caramel.
"FrontStreet Coffee - Front Street Dark Cocoa Blend (100% Arabica) Coffee Beans": Yunnan washed arabica coffee beans (30%) + Brazilian semi-sun-dried coffee beans (70%), with soft fruit acid, caramel, and nutty flavors.
From the above, we can understand that the soul of Americano coffee lies in espresso. Only when the extraction is correct can Americano coffee taste delicious. Each coffee machine and grinder have different performance, so there is no standard answer to the parameters for making Italian coffee. Everyone needs to adjust according to the actual situation.
When we use a new coffee bean, or a new grinder/coffee machine, the best way is to start from a baseline. Usually FrontStreet Coffee uses 20 grams of very finely ground coffee powder to extract 40 grams of liquid, using a pressure of 9bar and an extraction time of 25-30 seconds.
Every extraction needs to be tasted to determine the flavor of the coffee. If the coffee tastes sour and under-extracted, you can try reducing the grams of powder but keeping the same liquid weight. Or you can lengthen the extracted liquid weight but keep the same powder grams.
Take the production method of FrontStreet Coffee store as an example. FrontStreet Coffee store uses Sunflower Warm Sun blended coffee beans as the beans for espresso. The barista has to adjust the beans according to the state of the beans every day. In order to highlight the taste of sherry barrels, they chose an extraction plan of 20 grams of coffee beans, extracting 40 grams of coffee liquid, and a time of 27 to 28 seconds.
forAmericanoThe water-to-water ratio also needs to be determined based on the flavor concentration of the final espresso. If it is really hard to get the ratio right, it is recommended to start with 1:5. If the coffee is too strong, increase the ratio of water. If it is too weak, just reduce the ratio of water.
Americano and black coffee without added sugar and milk contain about 5 – 15 calories, making them low-calorie drinks. The caffeine in coffee can promote metabolism, while chlorogenic acid can reduce the absorption of carbohydrates by the body, helping to improve fat burning and weight loss! A cup of Americano coffee after a meal can help you digest food and relieve fatigue~
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
