What is Americano?
"Americano” (English: Americano, Italian: Caffe Americano) is traditionally black coffee made using a drip coffee pot. Because the general extraction time is relatively long (about four or five minutes), the coffee tastes flatter.
American coffee is simple to make and emphasizes convenience, speed, and freedom. Compared with Italian coffee,AmericanoThe taste is relatively refreshing, and it can better restore the original taste of coffee beans. But now in the cafeAmericanoBut it is somewhat different from the traditional definition. Today’sAmericanoWith different methods, American coffee is now based on espresso and mixed with a large amount of water to make a cup that is a must-have drink on every cafe menu.
we learnedAmericanoThere are only two ingredients: espresso and water, so there are two more mainstream methods. One is to add water to espresso, and the other is to pour extracted espresso into water. The former is often called Americano, and the latter is often called long black.
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American coffee was born after World War II. When Americans ended the war in Europe, many troops came to southern Europe. They couldn't drink espresso, so they diluted it with warm water. Because only this concentration can be accepted by them, it can be seen that espresso is not born to be loved by everyone! Because this way of drinking is mainly American soldiers, people named them American coffee.
Because at that time, most Americans used the filter method to make lighter-tasting coffee. To this day, most Americans use drip coffee pots in their homes, which is why drip coffee pots are also calledAmericanoThe reason for the pot. But the popularity of Americano, made by diluting a cup of espresso with water, is due to the effect of Starbucks opening stores around the world.
So is it possible to use an espresso machine to dispense water for a long time and is the method to make a cup of light coffee correct? There are two opinions here. Traditional espresso adherents believe that this is not possible, because the coffee will be over-extracted, especially in the later stages of extraction, and the off-flavor of coffee powder and excessive caffeine will also be extracted, and these people despise this method.
But in today’s coffee market, coffee shops in Australia, for example, do this, and it’s relatively common. They say that if the coffee is over-extracted in this way, wouldn’t the extraction time of French press or siphon pot be longer than this? So what’s wrong with this!
Let’s not compare the taste differences between these two methods, because differences arise when it comes to this aspect. But what you should know is that the caffeine content in light coffee that has been extracted for a long time will be higher than that in a standard cup of espresso diluted with water. Even so, there are two methods of making espresso first, diluting it with water, and adding water first and then adding espresso.
How to make Americano coffee?
Americano can be said to be the simplest Italian coffee, because Americano only consists of two parts, espresso and water, while iced Americano has more ice cubes. But don’t relax just because of Americano. The simplest part is also the most technical part. Americano is often the espresso that most tests a barista’s espresso extraction skills.
Compared with milk-based coffees such as latte, Americano coffee has less impact on the taste of coffee, so the taste of the coffee beans itself can be best perceived. Many barista friends will choose Americano coffee when they go to other cafes. Firstly, it is convenient and fast, and secondly, they can know the quality of the coffee.
Closer to home, we just said that making American coffee is simple. It only has two parts: water and espresso, so you only need to pour the espresso into the water. The espresso part needs to be extracted according to the characteristics of the beans, and different beans have different extraction parameters. For example, the FrontStreet Coffee store uses a warm sun blend - 60% sherry barrel coffee beans mixed with 40% sun-dried Yirgacheffe. The barista has to adjust it 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.
When making hot Americano coffee, you need to preheat the cup with hot water, then pour in the hot water, and finally pour in the extracted espresso. The ratio of Americano coffee is generally between 1:6 and 1:8. After many debuggings, FrontStreet Coffee chose a ratio of 1:6, that is, 40 grams of coffee liquid mixed with 240 grams of hot water.
Similarly, when making iced Americano, pre-cool the cup with ice cubes, then pour in water, and finally pour in espresso. Because it needs to be mixed with ice cubes, FrontStreet Coffee chooses a 1:7 ratio for its iced American style. 40 grams of coffee liquid is mixed with 280 grams of ice water mixture, including 180 grams of ice cubes and 100 grams of water.
Would Americano taste better if the fat was removed?
When making hot American coffee, you will find a layer of foam floating on the surface of the coffee liquid, which is what we often call coffee crema. This part of the oil comes from the oil produced when making espresso. We know that the three parts of espresso are the core, the body and the oil. The oil of espresso comes from coffee powder. Under the high pressure of the coffee machine, carbon dioxide is melted into the liquid. Then when the extraction is completed, the pressure returns to normal, and the carbon dioxide in the coffee liquid begins to return to the air. At the same time, it encounters the fat in the coffee and is wrapped up. This is the reason for the production of oil.
What if we scraped away the grease? FrontStreet Coffee tried to make two cups of Americano coffee, one of which had the oil removed as a control group. For the Nuanyang blended coffee beans from FrontStreet Coffee store, the cup with the oil removed would be cleaner and have a smoother taste, while the cup with the oil retained would have a thicker taste. Both cups have obvious dark chocolate, a slight aroma of whiskey oak barrels, and soft acidity. The difference is actually not big. If you like a clean taste, it is recommended to scrape off the grease. If you need to produce continuously, it is more recommended to retain the grease.
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
