How Do You Make an Americano and Which Version to Pick?

An americano coffee is simply espresso diluted with water, nothing more. Because the beans are usually roasted darker than pour-over beans, an unsweetened americano tastes distinctly bitter, with nutty, cocoa, caramel, and chocolate notes. Adding sugar is a personal choice, not a fault in the drink.

To make americano, pull a shot and add hot water for the hot version, or pour the shot over cold water and ice for the iced one. The two differ in color, caffeine concentration, and taste: the iced version is lighter in color, feels less intense sip for sip, and tastes crisper. Iced americanos have become a daily habit for many young drinkers and celebrities.

Americano, with its ability to cut through greasiness, aid digestion, and help burn fat, has long become a daily beverage for young people and celebrities alike. At Front Street Coffee shops, regulars often come in after a meal for an Americano and some casual chat. This article will start from the basic definition of Americano, explain the source of its taste and sugar recommendations, introduce the blending approach behind Front Street Sunflower Warm Sun and other espresso blends, provide the espresso extraction parameters used in Front Street shops, and break down in detail the three major differences between hot and iced Americano in color, caffeine content, and taste, helping coffee lovers find the Americano that suits them best.

Today, Americano remains hugely popular among young people. Drinking a cup after a meal can help cut through greasiness, promote digestion, and to some extent accelerate fat breakdown; combined with moderate exercise, it may even help with weight control, which is why many celebrities also list it as their go-to daily drink. Front Street Coffee shops also serve Americano, and many regulars are used to stopping by after a meal to order a cup and chat about everyday life while drinking.

So what exactly is Americano? Its preparation is actually quite simple—just add water directly to extracted espresso; put plainly, it is diluted espresso. Unsweetened Americano tastes fairly bitter, and people who usually drink milk coffee may find it hard to accept at first, often needing a sugar packet before it goes down smoothly. Front Street believes whether to add sugar to Americano depends entirely on personal taste: drinking it black has the character of Americano itself, but if you do not like bitterness, adding some sugar is perfectly reasonable.

Part of the bitterness of Americano comes from the fact that the coffee beans used are usually roasted darker than those for pour-over.

What beans does Front Street Americano use?

Generally speaking, coffee shops often use blends or dark-roasted beans for Americano, and in terms of flavor it is advisable to choose beans with notes of nuts, cocoa, caramel, and chocolate. What Front Street Coffee shops use to make Americano is a bean blend made in-house by Front Street, named Sunflower Warm Sun Blend. This blend is composed of Honduras Sherry and Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Red Cherry, and after repeated tuning by Front Street Coffee baristas, a blending ratio of 6:4 was finally settled on. The espresso made with it has clear fruit acidity, accompanied by berry notes and wine aroma, with a long and comfortable sweet aftertaste.

The reason blends are preferred for making Americano is, first, that the characteristics of different beans can be combined to create the flavor you want; second, Robusta beans are sometimes added to the blend to enhance the crema of the extracted Americano, and compared with specialty coffee beans, adding Robusta also helps lower costs.

The Sunflower Warm Sun mentioned earlier includes Honduras Sherry beans, which use a refined washed process plus whisky sherry barrel fermentation, adding a vinous note to the Americano. Of course, if you do not want to use Honduran beans with special processing methods, you can also consider other options. For example, a bean recommended by several Front Street baristas for moka pot espresso—Front Street Black Cocoa Blend, made from Yunnan beans and Brazil beans in a 3:7 blend, produces espresso with soft fruit acidity and caramel sweetness. There is also a specialty blend using Colombian beans with Brazilian beans, also blended at a 3:7 ratio; Colombia's characteristic nut and chocolate flavors combine with Brazil's rich peanut and cream notes, giving very good overall balance, rich crema, a smooth entry, and a hint of the bitterness typical of American beans within its fresh aroma.

Front Street Americano preparation method

Americano

The core lies in extracting espresso, and the parameters of every espresso machine differ. Front Street Coffee currently uses the Lelit V3 espresso machine, and the extraction parameters used were determined after repeated adjustments by Front Street.

Pressure: 9 bar

Temperature: 90.5–96°C

Time: 20–30 sec

Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:1.7–1:2

Dose: 12g (single espresso) 20g (double espresso)

Extracted espresso yield: 20ml (single) 40ml (double)

The above parameters are also suitable for making milk coffee, such as lattes and cappuccinos.

Hot Americano

Front Street uses a double extraction to make Americano, that is, 40 milliliters of espresso, and you can add an appropriate amount of hot water according to the strength you want. The hot water temperature is best around 85°C, and the amount of water should not be too much, otherwise the final drink will be too weak. The traditional Americano ratio is often 1:8, but Front Street Coffee did not follow it; instead, it adjusted according to the shop's serving cup size and finally set the Americano coffee-to-water ratio at 1:4.5.

Iced Americano

Iced Americano is likewise simple and convenient to make: just mix ice and water at 1:1 to produce the required amount of water, then pour in the extracted espresso.

Front Street Coffee sorts out the differences between hot and iced Americano from the following three aspects:

1. Drink color: hot Americano is brown-black, while iced Americano shows a transparent brown. This is related to the ratio of coffee liquid to water. The water-to-coffee ratio of Front Street Coffee's hot Americano is about 1:4.5, while that of iced Americano reaches about 1:9.

2. Caffeine content: Front Street's hot Americano uses only one espresso, while iced Americano uses two.

3. Taste performance: iced Americano has a more restrained flavor, and the ice makes the overall drink refreshing rather than heavy; hot Americano is relatively fuller-bodied, with abundant aroma, and the crema on the surface enhances layering and a creamy mouthfeel, with body rising accordingly. In iced Americano, the hot coffee liquid cools rapidly upon contact with ice, and the flavor changes but remains consistent; hot Americano, by contrast, presents different faces as the temperature changes. Take Front Street Coffee's hot Americano as an example: the coffee has an aroma intertwining floral and vinous notes; when sipped hot, the fermented quality is pronounced, and together with the surface "crema" it brings a creamy, smooth mouthfeel; as the temperature drops, acidity emerges, and the fermented wine aroma lingers long after swallowing; at a comfortable drinking temperature, sweetness stands out and the caramel note is clear.

Professional coffee knowledge exchange

More coffee bean information

Please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account cafe_style)

For more specialty coffee beans, please add the private WeChat Front Street Coffee, WeChat ID: kaixinguoguo0925

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.