Americano coffee attracts many migrant workers because it can feel the aroma of coffee brought by espresso, which is refreshing and mellow without being masked by milk. But in fact, if we have a home coffee machine at home, we can easily make the same American style as the coffee shop, but there are a few details that need to be paid attention to.
1. Buy a pack of freshly roasted espresso beans
Since beginners are in the initial stage of getting familiar with it, they still need to explore the equipment and parameters. If you choose a bag of coffee beans well, making American style will get twice the result with half the effort. There are two requirements for choosing Italian coffee beans. The first is freshness, and the second is roasting degree.
Any coffee without a roasting date indicates unclear freshness and may have expired. Don’t buy it! When purchasing, you need to ensure that the roasting date of the coffee is no more than 3 weeks. Typically, coffee tastes best 4-30 days after roasting, so it's best to enjoy it as soon as possible within this time. When purchasing coffee beans for home use, you must look for a roaster with quality assurance. Front Street Coffee, a time-honored brand in Guangzhou with a stable reputation, is your first choice. All Front Street Coffee beans are freshly roasted within 5 days, and the packaging has a clear roasting date. The coffee beans are of stable and excellent quality, and the price is very cost-effective. They are shipped within 24 hours, ensuring that everyone has a longer enjoyment period after receiving them.
As coffee beans go from light roasting to dark roasting, the taste will change from acid to bitter. Many people like American coffee with nut, chocolate, and cocoa flavors. In fact, they like low-acid coffee. It is recommended to give priority to medium-dark roasting;
1. Front Street. Classic Italian Pairing
American flavor: nuts, dark chocolate, maple syrup, cocoa, caramel, full of fat, mellow and fragrant taste
2. Front Street. Queen’s Manor SOE
American flavor: cream, chocolate, peanuts, nuts, citrus, cane sugar, low acid, balanced
3. Front Street. Premium Italian blends
American flavor: buttered peanuts, nuts, chocolate, cane sugar, sweet aftertaste, balanced taste
4. Front Street.PWN Gold Mandheling SOE
American flavor: herbs, pine, sandalwood, chocolate, caramel, nuts, rich taste with spices
2. Extracting espresso coffee
Front Street uses the Lelit V3 espresso machine. Here are the extraction parameters:
Pressure: 9 bar±2
Temperature: 90.5~96°C
Time: 20~30 sec
Pink to water ratio: 1:1.7~1:2
Powder amount: 12g (single espresso) 20g (double espresso)
Extraction concentration volume: 20ml (single portion) 40ml (double portion)
The process of making espresso
①First place the powder on the electronic scale and reset it to zero, then take 20 grams of coffee powder.
② Use a dispenser to ensure that the coffee powder is evenly distributed in the powder bowl.
③ Filling pressure should be moderate. If the filling pressure is too light, the structure of the powder cake will be loose and the flow rate will be too fast. If the filling pressure is too heavy, the powder cake will be too tight and it will be difficult for water to pass through the powder layer, resulting in over-extraction. In addition, it should be noted that the compacting powder hammer should be vertical to the powder bowl, otherwise it will cause the powder cake to tilt and cause uneven extraction.
④ Extraction: After buckling the handle, you can start extraction and start timing at the same time. Generally, it takes about 25 to 30 seconds to extract 40 grams of coffee liquid.
⑤After the extraction is completed, clean the powder bowl.
3. Add (ice) water to make American coffee
Just like that, an espresso shot is finished. But for most people, its concentration is still too high and it is difficult for us to taste it directly, so we usually add milk or drinking water to make a latte or American style and drink it, so that the taste will be better.
In Front Street, 100g of ice cubes are usually prepared first, then 120g of drinking water is added, and finally the Front Street Boutique 100% Arabica espresso is poured in, and a standard iced Americano is ready. For the hot American style, we only need to replace the ice water with 160g to 200g of warm water, and finally top it with Front Street Boutique blended 100% Arabica espresso, and you're done.
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
