As a well-known drink in the industry, the Americano, which is made up of only espresso and water (ice water), can be found in almost any cafe, and it also plays the role of a must-order when entering the store.
There are many reasons why people like to drink American coffee. It may be for the purpose of refreshing, quenching thirst, relieving heat, etc., or it may be for reducing swelling and losing fat. Of course, another possibility is that they are simply greedy for coffee. It happens to be the fastest to make and one of the most affordable black coffees... Due to various reasons, this cup of black coffee diluted with water in espresso has already become a well-known popular drink.
Nowadays, American coffee is very common. So from what angles can we, as ordinary consumers, judge whether this cup of coffee is good or bad? Today, from the perspective of tasting, Front Street will discuss with you what kind of cup of "coffee diluted with water" can be considered a delicious American coffee in a broad sense.
Americano = American coffee?
We can probably guess from the name that Italian coffee comes from Italy, so Americano should come from the United States. But did you know that the name "Americano" was actually not given by an American, but by an Italian who invented the espresso machine.
It is said that at the end of World War II, the US military was not used to drinking the strong taste of espresso during the period in Italy, so they chose to add water to dilute it before drinking it. This way, they retained a certain coffee flavor and also got a delicious cup of refreshing coffee. It can be said that it kills two birds with one stone. Later, with the wave of immigration, Italians introduced this "light version of black coffee" in cafes opened in the United States and named it "Americano", which quickly became very popular.
What are the differences between American food in cafes?
Once, a regular customer on Front Street asked why some coffee shops made American-style refreshing and sweet drinks that were still a bit unsatisfactory after drinking the whole cup, while some coffee shops made American-style drinks that were so burnt that it was hard to swallow. The moment they entered the mouth, they immediately lifted the mask of pain and could not even drink half of it. Obviously they are all American, but what factors caused such a big gap?
Whether it is the classic version where the concentration is first added and water is added, or the improved version in Oceania where water is added first and then the concentrate is poured, the essence is a cup of espresso with a concentration of about 7-12%, a mixture of heated water or ice water.
Among them, the amount of water generally depends on the cup type and the store's customization of the product. The same is true for the water temperature, ranging from 60° to 70°, which is suitable for tasting immediately, to 80° to 90° to prevent the temperature from cooling too fast when taking away in winter, and even boiling water can be added directly. Although these details do make American coffee have a certain difference in taste, they are by no means the key reasons for the above-mentioned significant differences.
Since everyone knows that a cup of Americano consists of water and espresso. Water is usually colorless and tasteless and only plays a diluting role. Then the cause of the problem can only be espresso. So in the final analysis, when we drink a bad cup of Americano, the problem obviously stems from the type and quality of beans used, as well as the barista's grasp of extraction. Regarding production issues, you can refer to our previous article: Why does the Americano you make always taste bad?
So, what makes a good cup of Americano?
From a consumer's point of view, whether a cup of coffee tastes good or not, and whether you like it or not is very subjective. After all, it is difficult to adjust. Some people like to drink strong dark roasted blends, while others naturally like light roasted single products with refreshing fruit acidity. Others prefer the type of fermented wine aroma. Different preferences deeply affect our final impression of a cup of American coffee.
But if we temporarily put aside our preference for sourness, bitterness, strongness, lightness, or other tastes of coffee, and just look at the flavor performance brought by espresso, a good cup of Americano coffee should be inseparable from the following three points:
1. Smooth and comfortable aftertaste
As we all know, a standard American cup will have beautiful golden foam floating on the top - crema. It not only affects the oral feel of the coffee, but also provides some aroma substances to the coffee in terms of smell, and is also one of the important signs of the freshness of the coffee. Therefore, in order to ensure stable extraction and at the same time make espresso have good aroma and rich oil, most American coffee shops today still give priority to medium-dark roasted beans.
Front Street once mentioned in the article "Light roasted beans drink fruit acid, but dark roasted beans drink what?" Compared with the rich and varied flavor tonality of fruit acid coffee, dark roasted coffee is mainly caramelized aroma, such as chocolate, cocoa, cream, nuts, etc., which leads to the characteristics of the coffee itself tending to be single. Compared with those ever-changing acids, this American style pays more attention to whether it has a good taste such as mellow, smooth and sweet aftertaste.
In short, a good cup of American coffee must be smooth in the mouth and not uncomfortable after swallowing. On the contrary, if you feel the smell of burnt tires, dry, rough, and stuck in your throat as soon as you take it in, it will hardly be called "good coffee."
2. The taste is balanced, neither bitter nor sour.
Unlike other coffee brewing methods, espresso is a high-pressure extraction process. It is like a magnifying glass. The good things in the coffee will be magnified, and the bad things will also be magnified. In other words, bitter coffee tends to become more bitter, and sour coffee tends to become more sour. Therefore, judging whether a cup of Americano tastes good or not depends more on whether the taste of the concentrate can remain balanced after being diluted with water, and will it be overly bitter? Will it be bitter? If not, then needless to say, we know that this must be a delicious cup of black coffee.
3. Fragrant, not bland
In the world of brewing coffee, the management of extraction rate is very important. Under extraction, the coffee will be bland and tasteless; over extraction, the coffee will be astringent and have many other flavors. As a cup of coffee that is extracted and then diluted with water, whether it is a hot American or an iced American, the core of its flavor is still in the tens of milliliters of concentrated liquid.
Take the sunflower warm sun blend produced daily at the Front Street store as an example. Make sure that the concentrate can show the flavors of vanilla, cream, chocolate, fermented wine, sweet and sour berries, etc., and that it will not become bland after adding a certain proportion of water, and has a balanced tonality. Then the barista’s debugging task for the day is completed.
To sum up, when you drink a cup of American coffee with a smooth taste, clean aftertaste, overall balance of sweetness, sourness, bitterness, and sweetness, and also shows the main flavor characteristics of coffee beans, then congratulations, this cup of coffee is really the right one!
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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
