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With the development of the times, the development of coffee has also continued to progress. We have experienced two waves of coffee. Although we are under the third wave of specialty coffee, Italian coffee is still important. The skill of making espresso is a required skill for every barista, and almost every cafe will produce espresso. The Italian coffee that Front Street often talks about is a series of coffee drinks based on espresso. Today, let Front Street share how to make American 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. The simplest part is also the most technically demanding part. Americano is often the espresso that most tests a barista's technique for extracting espresso.
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. Every day, baristas have to make adjustments based on the status of the beans, and finally come up with parameters that are compatible with different categories such as espresso, Americano, latte, etc., so that these coffees can perform at their best.
Take the sunflower warm sun blended coffee beans used by Front Street as an example. Through Front Street’s production experience, this coffee bean has the best flavor after being cultivated for 12-14 days. The espresso extraction plan used by Front Street is to extract 40 grams of espresso liquid from 20g of coffee powder for 30 seconds.
When making hot Americano coffee, Front Street preheats the cup with hot water, then pours in hot water, and finally pours in the extracted espresso. The ratio of Americano coffee is generally between 1:4 and 1:6. After many debuggings, FrontStreet Coffee chose a ratio of 1:4, that is, 40 grams of coffee liquid mixed with 160 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 1:6 ratio for its iced American style. 40 grams of coffee liquid is mixed with 240 grams of ice water mixture, including 140 grams of ice cubes and 100 grams of water, and is filled in a 300ml cup.
Would it taste better without the grease?
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
