Because American soldiers were not used to drinking the highly concentrated small cups of coffee in Europe during World War II, they asked the store to dilute it with hot water to imitate the taste and taste of American drip coffee. Because such a cup of coffee was so popular among American soldiers, it was named Americano.
From the above we can know that Americano coffee is made with a concentrated base and water. Hot Americano is espresso with hot water, and Iced Americano is espresso with ice water, it’s that simple. Although it is simple, it also contains a lot of knowledge. For example: "Are there any requirements for the water temperature of Americano coffee?" This is a question recently asked by a friend on Qian Street.
Like most other coffees, since there are no "hard targets" for the production parameters of Americano coffee, it is usually whatever the store owner likes. How much water to add, how much ice to add, how hot the water should be, etc. are all based on your own understanding of coffee. So there is a situation where the same kind of coffee is produced to different standards in each store.
"How much hot water should be used to make hot American coffee" is not a tricky topic. Friends who often read Front Street articles will know that the temperature of coffee will directly affect the taste and texture we feel when tasting it. Therefore, in order to make a cup of Americano coffee, in addition to understanding the extraction of coffee and controlling the proportion of coffee and water, it is also crucial to choose a suitable water temperature.
So today Front Street is going to compare the differences between Americano coffee made with hot water of different temperatures. Let’s see which temperature of hot water is most suitable for making Front Street store’s hot American style~
To make a hot Americano, use the Front Street Classic Italian Blend Coffee. This is a recipe composed of three origins: Brazil, Indonesia, and Vietnam. It uses deep roasting, which can highlight the mellow aroma of the coffee to the greatest extent, and also allows everyone to easily extract the rich and dense coffee oil. It is very suitable for making an Americano diluted with water or a latte with milk. You can buy it at the Front Street Taobao store or the Front Street Tmall flagship store.
In order to discuss the results more objectively, Front Street will conduct a tasting when the coffee is just made, 5 minutes after it is made, and 20 minutes after it is made, to see how the coffee behaves differently as time changes. Then Front Street will make four cups of American style. The water temperatures they use are: 55°C, 65°C, 75°C, and 90°C, ranging from warm to hot.
Because Front Street has already conducted an experiment with dark roasted coffee and light roasted coffee before, the coffee beans used in Front Street this time are the store's "wine beans" - Nuanyang Blend. The Nuanyang blend is medium-dark roasted. Tasting it concentrated alone, you can feel the aroma of whiskey, butter cookie, chocolate, and the sour and sweet taste of some berries. The parameters are as follows:
Amount of powder used: 20g
Grinding degree: 1.8 scale of Galileo Q18
Powder to liquid ratio: 1:2
Extraction time: 30±2 seconds
American ratio: 1:4 (that is, 1ml of concentrated water needs to be diluted by adding 4ml of hot water)
After the production was completed, Front Street tasted it directly! Through tasting, we found that when it is just made, the 55°C and 65°C American style can be eaten immediately after the production is completed because the temperature is not that high. We can directly drink the whiskey aroma, butter cookie, and berry flavor of the Nuanyang blend, with good sweet and sour, and a clear and obvious aftertaste. The only disadvantage of the 55°C Americano is that it’s not hot enough, so it tastes like a warm Americano;
The 75°C American style is a little hot at the beginning and can only be drunk slowly by sipping or taking a sip, so its flavor performance is relatively not as rich as the first two at the beginning. We can only drink richer flavors such as whiskey aroma and butter cookie, and the taste performance has a high sweetness, and we can hardly taste the acidity of berries, but it is also very good; because the temperature of 90°C American style is too high, it is almost difficult to drink the coffee in our mouth, and we can only sip a very small amount of coffee to experience it. Although the flavor is outstanding, it is more about the experience brought by the smell of the aroma, and the taste is not lost.
After leaving it for 5 minutes, the coffee temperature dropped by about 10°C on average. At this time, Front Street tasted it again: the American coffee that was originally 55°C now tastes warm, because it is closer to normal temperature, so the taste and flavor of the coffee are very prominent at this time, but the aroma is not so rich at the same time, and the bitterness has increased. The entrance experience of the American coffee that was originally 65°C has changed from a little scalding to lukewarm. Like the coffee at 55°C, the taste and flavor will be more prominent than five minutes ago. But because its temperature has not dropped too low, its aroma is still rich at this time, and its bitterness has not yet appeared;
The original 75°C Americano is now the best among the four cups of Americano, because it is easy to drink at this time, with rich aroma and rich layers. It is very close to the performance of the original 65°C cup of Americano when it was just made. The original 90°C cup of Americano is still hot on the lips and still needs to be sipped in small sips. The taste and taste experience are inferior to the first three.
By 20 minutes, the aroma of the coffee was not as prominent as before. It turns out that coffee at 55°C is no longer warm and tastes like a cup of room-temperature Americano, so its texture and taste are greatly reduced compared to the original, and the tasting time is the shortest. Second is the Americano at 65°C. Its temperature has dropped below 45°C, and its taste and taste will be worse than before. The former is better; while the 75°C Americano is still warm, so we can still experience the good taste and taste from this cup of Americano; although the 90°C Americano has dropped to a temperature that can be drank in large gulps, the flavor is no longer as outstanding due to the loss of aroma. Compared with the first three cups, the whole process brought us the least quality experience.
So if you sort the pros and cons according to the overall experience when the hot Americano is just made, the order is like this: 65°C > 75°C > 55°C > 90°C; and if you sort it based on the aroma and overall performance of the coffee in 20 minutes, then the order is like this: 75°C > 65°C > 55°C > 90°C.
It can be seen that the hot American style for dine-in is not suitable for making with too high water temperature. Because high-temperature hot water not only easily burns the mouth, but also reduces the sensitivity of taste buds, affecting our taste experience. At the same time, too hot a temperature will also cause us to miss the "golden" tasting time of coffee, and we will not be able to taste the coffee when the aroma is the strongest. Therefore, if it is a hot American dish for dine-in use, it is best not to use hot water that is too high in temperature.
Of course, it doesn't work if the temperature is too low. Although a lower temperature allows the coffee to reach its optimal tasting temperature immediately after brewing, it also takes less time to cool down. Not everyone will drink a cup of coffee in a short time, so if you use hot water that is not very hot to make Americano, the cooling speed will be too fast, which will greatly reduce the "hot Americano" experience.
Therefore, when making hot American style for dine-in, Front Street will control the water temperature at 75±5°C. This will not only ensure that the coffee has enough temperature to extend the tasting time, but at the same time, the temperature will not be too high, making it difficult for the taste buds to recognize the delicious taste of the coffee.
But there are two things you need to pay attention to. One is that when making hot Americano, it is best to use a preheated coffee cup. Otherwise, the cup that has not been preheated will absorb the temperature of the water, which will lower the temperature of the coffee in the cup. Also, the temperature recommended by Front Street above is only applicable to dine-in products, not take-out products. Because there will be one for takeout10~30Minutes of delivery time, so we need to take into consideration the temperature drop of the coffee during the delivery time, so that the customer can have a hot American coffee with a suitable temperature after getting it.~
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
