To start a delicate working day, a cup of freshly ground coffee is often all that is needed, and American style is the first choice for countless office workers.
Regardless of the factors, Americano is always the "backbone" of a coffee shop, so in many cases its taste will directly affect people's first impression of the store, and they may even lament that "it can't even make a cup of Americano, let alone other coffees." In their view, if a cup of Americano tastes good or not bad, they will come back next time; but if they don’t take a few sips for a long time after getting it, it means it is not very pleasing to the eye, and they will most likely not repurchase it.
But as the saying goes, it’s hard to make a perfect cup of coffee. From a consumer’s perspective, whether a cup of coffee tastes good or not is very subjective. Some people prefer strong and mellow bitter coffee, while others prefer elegant and refreshing sour coffee. Different preferences deeply affect our final impression of a cup of American coffee. So if we put aside personal preferences and just look at it from a tasting perspective, what should a cup of delicious Americano taste like?
What are the differences between the American fare in different coffee shops?
I often hear people say on the front street, "A cup of American style is nothing more than concentrated black coffee diluted with water. The taste is very different in every store."
In fact, this is not the case. Front Street believes that the simpler things are, the more difficult they are to make. Although almost all American-style coffee is essentially a cup of hot (iced) coffee with a concentration of about 7 to 12%, there are different coffee beans, concentration states,Extraction ratioHowever, under the influence of details such as the amount of water added, the temperature, and the water quality, significant differences may occur.
For the latter three, it usually depends on the product customization of each store, which can also be said to be a fixed factor. Only espresso is the variable that is debugged on the day. For example, the iced Americano produced by Front Street will use a 350ml glass cup, 90g ice + 180g drinking water + double espresso; while the hot Americano will use a 250ml ceramic cup, 180g warm water + double espresso.
In other words, a cup of excellent American coffee must not only use high-quality coffee beans, but also make a reasonable extraction of the coffee beans and find the right concentration for the final product. So with the support of these aspects, a good cup of American style is inseparable from the following three points:
1. Smooth taste and clean finish
We all know that coffee crema is the soul of a cup of espresso, because the espresso with crema smells strong and fragrant, has a mellow body in the mouth, and leaves a lingering fragrance after swallowing.
Therefore, in order to ensure a stable product and make the concentrate have both aroma and oil, most coffee shops will give priority to medium-dark roasted Italian coffee beans. For example, the concentrate of Front Street Boutique Blend 100% Arabica Extract has a caramelized aroma, mostly showing the flavor of chocolate, cocoa, and roasted nuts. The oil of these beans is rich and dense. But once it is over-extracted, the oil will be mixed with a large amount ofVery fine powder, it is easy to clump and harden, resulting in rough, dry and other unpleasant tastes in American style.
Therefore, a good cup of American coffee should first be smooth in the mouth, without any uncomfortable experience after swallowing. On the contrary, if it tastes like a tire, or is dry, rough, and stuck in the throat, then there is no need to emphasize it. I believe everyone knows that this cup is definitely not a "good coffee".
2. The aroma is obvious and not bland.
Although people often say that high-end ingredients often only require simple cooking methods, where do so many high-end ingredients come from in life? Therefore, when we have the most daily raw materials, all we can do is find the appropriate parameters to make it show better results.
As a cup of coffee that is extracted and then diluted with water, whether it is hot or cold, the core of the American flavor is in that small cup of espresso. Find the right coffee at this timePowder to liquid ratioIt becomes the key to delicious coffee. Because it is a base, the concentration of the concentrate should not be too low, but it must also have a complete flavor expression. Otherwise, when poured into water, it will either be bland or tasteless, or it will have a "watery" feel.
former streetOiran SOETake coffee beans as an example. Considering that it is a fruit acid type of coffee, the proportion of water should not be too large. If you want the American coffee to show a citrus and berry flavor, Front Street will adjust the parameters as follows: 20g of coffee powder, extract 36g of coffee liquid in 28 to 33 seconds, and then pour it into 160ml of warm water. In this way, the ratio of coffee liquid to water will be roughly 1:4. It will taste sweet and sour, with a distinct black tea flavor.
3. The taste is balanced, neither bitter nor sour.
Compared with other extraction methods, espresso extraction seems a bit "extreme". It is a process that requires grinding very finely like flour to obtain coffee liquid at high temperature and quickly. At this time, both good and bad things will be directly amplified. In short, bitter coffee tends to become more bitter, and sour coffee tends to become more acidic.
Therefore, to judge whether a cup of Americano is good or not, in addition to feeling its taste, finish and aroma, we also need to look at whether the taste of the concentrated coffee is balanced and palatable after being mixed with water. For example, whether the dark roasted Americano has a burnt taste, whether the medium-dark roasted coffee beans are bitter, and whether the light-medium roasted Americano is sour. These are all things we need to pay attention to.
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
