How Do You Make Americano and Other Espresso Drinks?

Every espresso-based drink starts with one foundation: a shot pulled at roughly a 1:2 coffee-to-liquid ratio from finely ground beans and 94°C water under pressure. What separates an Americano from a latte, cappuccino, or mocha is only the proportion of hot water, steamed milk, milk foam, or chocolate added afterward.

To make americano, hot water is combined with the espresso, while an Italian-style latte leans much heavier on steamed milk and a thinner foam layer. The drinks stay distinct even after dilution because the espresso base is concentrated enough. Freshly roasted blend or single-origin beans, ground fine and tamped evenly, keep extraction consistent from cup to cup.

Walking into a café and facing the menu full of options like latte, cappuccino, and mocha, have you ever felt completely lost? In fact, all these espresso-based drinks share the same foundation—espresso—and simply differ in the proportions of milk, water, or other ingredients added, giving rise to their unique flavors and textures. In this article, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) will guide you through the main types of espresso-based coffee, explain in detail the extraction parameters, grinding requirements, and coffee-to-liquid ratios for espresso, and walk through the specific methods and ratios for Americano, latte, cappuccino, and mocha one by one. We will also introduce the blend beans that Front Street uses for daily production, helping you understand the logic behind every cup of coffee more clearly.

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Standing at the bar of a coffee shop, faced with a wide variety of coffee drinks—such as the common latte, cappuccino, or macchiato—do you feel overwhelmed? This time, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) has put together a comprehensive guide to espresso-based coffee types, which will help you distinguish the flavor differences between different coffees and explain their mixing ratios one by one.

Types of Espresso-Based Coffee

Every espresso-based coffee product on the market, without exception, is built on a foundation of espresso, with milk, water, or other ingredients added in different proportions to create a variety of drinks.

To make espresso, you must use an espresso machine with pressure capability to complete the extraction. Generally speaking, coffee shops will choose freshly roasted espresso blend beans or single-origin beans, grind them to an extremely fine degree, then load the coffee grounds into the portafilter basket of the brewing handle. After distributing and tamping, the portafilter is locked onto the group head of the espresso machine.

Then the extraction button is pressed, and 94°C hot water rapidly passes through the coffee bed under vacuum-pressurized conditions, extracting a highly concentrated espresso liquid at a 1:2 coffee-to-liquid ratio. Because the concentration is high enough, even after adding water, milk, or other ingredients, the coffee's flavor remains clearly distinguishable. Combined with its fast production speed, espresso has been widely favored by consumers since its creation.

When extracting espresso, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) uses espresso blend beans. Blend beans can combine coffee beans from different producing regions, compensating for the lack of stability in single-origin beans (single-origin coffee)—after all, coffee beans are an agricultural product, and their quality and flavor change from year to year due to terroir and climate.

For daily production at Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) stores, the house blend, freshly roasted "Sunflower Warm Sun Blend" is used, composed of Ethiopian natural Yirgacheffe and Honduras Sherry. The extracted espresso carries notes of fermented wine, berries, vanilla cream, and nutty caramel, with a rich and smooth mouthfeel and a very distinctive flavor. Whether used for espresso-based milk coffee or Americano, it displays a captivating vanilla cream aroma and fermented wine notes.

If you prefer an espresso full of fruity notes, it is recommended to focus on medium-roast coffee beans. Front Street Strawberry Candy espresso beans are recommended, and can be ordered directly from the Taobao or Tmall store. This bean features Front Street Costa Rica Tarrazú, known for its honey processing, combined with Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee, plus Colombian coffee beans. The resulting espresso is not only free of harshness but also presents good crema and a velvety texture under espresso machine extraction, with a sweet-and-tart mouthfeel reminiscent of roses and strawberry gummies.

Each time espresso is extracted, there are limits on the amount of coffee grounds used depending on the size of the portafilter basket. When Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) makes a single shot of espresso (1 shot), it uses 10-11 grams of coffee grounds to extract 20-25 grams of coffee liquid, with an extraction time of about 22 seconds; for a double shot of espresso, it uses 19-20 grams of coffee grounds to yield 35-40 grams of coffee liquid, with an extraction time of about 29 seconds.

How to Make Americano

During World War II, American soldiers came to Italy and found espresso made by Italian espresso machines hard to get used to, so they added a large amount of hot water to dilute the taste.

This practice struck Italians as quite novel, so they called this American-style drinking method "Americano," which means "American" in Italian. When Americans heard this slightly teasing name, they didn't mind at all—in fact, they were somewhat proud of it. Thus the term Americano spread and came to specifically refer to the drinking method of diluting espresso with hot water.

Americano has no hard-and-fast rule for the amount of water used; it can be adjusted entirely according to personal preference for strength. When Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) makes Americano, it typically uses a double shot of espresso (40 grams), then adds 200 milliliters of hot water or an ice-water mixture.

How to Make Latte

Caffe Latte is Italian, referring to coffee latte, and Latte in Italian simply means milk. If you tell a barista in an Italian coffee bar that you want a "Latte," they may look puzzled and then hand you a glass of milk. To get a coffee latte in Italy, you must say "Caffe Latte" to receive an authentic Italian coffee latte.

However, the latte you order in Italy is likely to have no milk foam, because the milk frother was invented relatively late, first appearing in the United States in the 1950s-60s. Before that, a latte was simply espresso with milk added directly, with no milk foam.

In terms of composition, a latte consists of one-fifth espresso, two-fifths hot milk, and two-fifths milk foam. The flavor of a latte features espresso and milk as dual protagonists; savoring the harmony and balance of the two combined is precisely what makes a latte most unique. When Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) makes a latte, it typically uses a double shot of espresso (40 grams), adds 250 milliliters of hot milk or cold milk steamed with smooth milk foam.

How to Make Cappuccino

The difference between cappuccino and latte is that cappuccino has a higher proportion of espresso. It consists of one-third espresso, one-third hot milk, and one-third milk foam. Cappuccino can also be sprinkled with cocoa powder or cinnamon powder for extra flavor. In terms of taste, coffee flavor dominates, with milk playing a supporting role.

When Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) makes a cappuccino, it typically uses a double shot of espresso (40 grams), adds 180 milliliters of hot milk steamed with thick, dense milk foam.

How to Make Mocha

Mocha was originally the name of a famous port in Yemen, from which coffee beans produced in nearby countries or regions were exported. These coffee beans carried a rich chocolate flavor, and later mocha coffee also came to broadly refer to special coffee bean varieties with chocolate aroma. But later the port was demolished, and to drink coffee with the same flavor, Europeans added chocolate sauce or cocoa powder to milk coffee, thus evolving into the espresso mocha coffee we know today.

When Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) makes a mocha, it typically uses a double shot of espresso (40 grams) plus an appropriate amount of chocolate sauce or cocoa powder, then adds 250 milliliters of hot milk or cold milk steamed with smooth milk foam.

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