As! We! All! Know!! In espresso, the combination of milk and coffee has an extremely rich variety of ways to drink it. Just by slightly changing the method or the parameters, milk and coffee alone can yield countless variations. The well-known ones include latte, cappuccino, flat white, piccolo, cortado,macchiato, and so on and so forth.In contrast, when it comes to the combination of water and coffee, the only one most people can think of is probably Americano. Compared with the milk coffee series, that seems a bit monotonous...Actually, Americano also has some very "fancy" ways to drink it! Front Street has recently shared many unconventional Americano recipes. Although they're all called Americano, both the taste and the mouthfeel are vastly different from a regular Americano!So today, Front Street is here to share with you the fancy ways to drink Americano! Once you get tired of the regular Americano, you might want to give these a try—perhaps you'll have a pretty great experience~All-Ice Americano is a way of drinking that many coffee connoisseurs really enjoy. What is an All-Ice Americano? It's an iced Americano with no water added—made with only ice cubes and espresso.We all know that the regular way to make an Americano is water plus espresso, using water to dilute the concentration of the espresso and thereby make it easier to drink. However, for those with a preference for stronger flavors, the concentration of an Americano is a bit too low—it tastes thin and unsatisfying. But drinking espresso straight is too concentrated, and it's hot, so it's not very easy to drink. The All-Ice Americano perfectly balances the problem of Americano being too weak and espresso being hard to drink.Because no water is added, the coffee retains a higher concentration, but at the same time, the ice cubes in the cup will melt and cool and dilute the coffee, so the taste and concentration won't be as unbearably strong as drinking espresso straight.Not only that! The All-Ice Americano also has a very rich sense of layering. Because the ice cubes keep melting, the taste and concentration of the coffee will constantly change over time. If you drink it slowly, you can clearly feel the coffee changing—from strong to weak, from concentrated to distinct—which is very interesting.Those interested can give it a try. The method is exactly as Front Street described—super simple. Just pour the espresso into the prepared ice cubes. For the detailed step-by-step method, you can refer to this article"All-Ice Americano". But it's worth noting that the All-Ice Americano is not recommended to be used with a straw. It's best to serve it in a short glass, which allows us to more fully enjoy the layering changes of the coffee.Two/Three, Quicksand Iced Americano / Latte Art Hot AmericanoThese two are the methods Front Street often shares—the Quicksand Iced Americano and the Latte Art Hot Americano. Although they look like two completely different products from the outside, in reality they have a lot in common.Whether it's the Quicksand Iced Americano or the Latte Art Hot Americano, both require injecting air to create foam. And the presence of foam brings two changes to a cup of coffee: first, a more attractive appearance; and second, a change in the coffee's mouthfeel.(The process of whipping coffee foam with a French press)The Quicksand Iced Americano is called "quicksand" because when the foamy iced Americano is poured into a transparent glass, it produces a phenomenon similar to "quicksand." Since the foam is light and the coffee liquid is heavy, when the foamy coffee is poured into the cup, the foam quickly floats up while the coffee liquid sinks. Due to a certain color difference between the two, it looks just like quicksand—hence the name "quicksand."The Latte Art Hot Americano also uses the principle of the difference between foam and coffee liquid to achieve the effect of using foam to imitate milk for drawing latte art on the coffee liquid.And because the coffee has added foam, both cups have a dense, velvety mouthfeel that regular Americano doesn't have. At the same time, they taste richer and smoother. Relatively speaking, though, they're not as light as a regular Americano—you could say each has its own merits.(Top right of the image is the Latte Art Hot Americano)So if you want your Americano to have a thicker mouthfeel, you might want to try the Quicksand Iced Americano and the Latte Art Hot Americano. The specific methods are equally simple. In"Three Ways to Make Quicksand Iced Americano"and"Latte Art Hot Americano", Front Street shares detailed instructions in both articles. Those interested can go take a look.(Note: Front Street stores do not offer this, do not offer this, do not offer this~)This way of drinking is slightly more niche compared to the previous two, but only relative to the previous two—overall it's still fairly common. The Americano with milk method is just as the name suggests: before enjoying the Americano, add a certain amount of milk to the cup, stir well, and then start drinking.With the addition of milk, the coffee gains more sweetness, the taste becomes milder and less harsh than drinking Americano straight, and the mouthfeel becomes smoother. It also won't taste as sweet and cloying as a latte. As for the specific downside—well, you can't taste the pure coffee flavor. But compared to the coffee flavor, what we need to focus on more is our experience. So if you don't want to drink coffee that's too bitter, and you don't want a coffee with a lot of milk, then Front Street believes an Americano with milk would be a good choice.Similarly, it's very simple to make, but you need to slightly adjust the ratio of coffee liquid to water to prevent the coffee from tasting too weak.Taking Front Street as an example, the coffee beans Front Street uses are the Front Street Classic Espresso Blend from the bean list. This is a medium-dark roast blend. When extracting, Front Street generally uses 18–20g of coffee grounds to extract 35–40ml of coffee liquid, then uses a 1:4 ratio—that is, paired with about 160ml of hot water—to make an Americano.The hot Americano made this way, drunk straight, has a moderate concentration, is aromatic and rich, with a sweet finish.If you want to add milk to the Americano, then Front Street will adjust the ratio to 1:3.5–3.8. For 40ml of coffee liquid, about 150ml of hot water will be added to make the Americano. Then 20–30ml of milk is added to the Americano.This way, whether it's the coffee's concentration, mouthfeel, or aroma, all can achieve a good result.There's also a variation of Americano, and also the Americano's "rival"—Long Black. In"Why Is Long Black Rarely Seen in China", Front Street mentioned that many friends mistakenly believe the difference between Long Black and Americano is only the order in which water and espresso are poured. But in reality, it's more than that.Besides the different order of pouring the espresso, Long Black and Americano also differ in concentration. The reason is that Long Black uses a larger ratio of coffee to water.(Left of the image is Long Black, right is Americano)Long Black, like flat white, is a product that was localized and modified after espresso entered Australia. Because Australians prefer "strong," prefer being able to directly taste the "essence" of the coffee, they reduced the amount of water added to the Americano to increase the coffee's concentration, ensuring they could directly taste the rich coffee flavor.At the same time, in order for people to taste the aroma provided by the Crema on the very first sip, Long Black is made by pouring water first and then the espresso, which ensures the "soul" of the espresso (the crema) won't be dispersed by the water. And this is the main difference between Long Black and Americano—two differences, actually.But in daily life, to make the product look more attractive and to make it more convenient to prepare, the vast majority of coffee shops pour water first and then the espresso when making an Americano. Therefore, the main difference between an Americano and a Long Black lies in the concentration.So if you want to drink a cup of black coffee with a richer flavor, then Long Black would be a very good choice. Still taking Front Street as an example—as mentioned earlier, when making a hot Americano, Front Street generally uses a 1:4 ratio, meaning 40ml of coffee liquid paired with 160ml of hot water. But if making a Long Black, it changes to a 1:3 ratio, meaning 40ml of coffee liquid paired with 120ml of hot water—pour the hot water first, then the espresso.Note: Front Street stores still do not offer this, do not offer this, do not offer this Long Black~(Because way too many people asked)So the above are the four fancy ways to drink Americano. Anyone interested can give them a try—I believe it'll be a great experience~(Probably~) The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
