What Separates Blue Mountain Coffee From Americano?
Blue Mountain coffee is a single-origin bean from Jamaica's Blue Mountain region, graded by growing altitude and green bean quality, with Blue Mountain No. 1 at the top. Americano is a drink made by diluting an espresso shot with hot or cold water, and it traces back to US soldiers in World War II who found Southern European coffee too intense.
Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1 beans are grown between 1,000 and 1,700 meters, with a screen size of 17/18 mesh and a defect rate under 2 percent. The beans carry a balanced, mild profile with a notable nutty aroma and almost no acidity, usually brewed by pour-over or siphon so the pure origin flavor comes through without milk or sugar.
For many office workers who rely on coffee to get through the day, drinking a lot doesn't mean understanding it deeply. What exactly is the difference between Blue Mountain coffee and Americano? The former is a single-origin bean from Jamaica's Blue Mountain region, graded by altitude and green bean quality, and authentic Blue Mountain No. 1 commands a high price; the latter is a black coffee made by diluting an espresso base with water, and it has an amusing story tied to US soldiers during World War II. Starting from Front Street Coffee's brewing practice, this article explains in detail the flavor characteristics of Blue Mountain coffee, KONO dripper brewing parameters, and the blending logic and serving ratios of Americano, helping coffee lovers clarify the essential differences between the two.
The aroma of coffee always soothes the weary soul of a worker. However, although many people drink coffee, few are truly willing to figure out what Blue Mountain coffee and Americano actually are. Now let Front Street sort out for everyone the differences between Blue Mountain coffee and Americano.
What exactly is Blue Mountain coffee?
Blue Mountain coffee beans belong to the category of single-origin coffee beans. The reason they are named "Blue Mountain" is rooted in their place of origin in Jamaica's Blue Mountain area. The Caribbean Sea surrounds Jamaica's Blue Mountain Range. On clear, fine days, sunlight shines directly on the azure sea, and the dazzling blue radiance reflects onto the Blue Mountain Range, which is how Blue Mountain got its name.
However, not all coffee produced in the Blue Mountain region can be called Blue Mountain coffee. According to different cultivation altitudes, Blue Mountain coffee beans are classified into Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee, Jamaica High Mountain coffee, and Jamaica Prime coffee; based on green bean size and quality, they are further divided into four grades: No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, and PB.
The so-called Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee beans refer to beans grown at an altitude of 1,000 to 1,700 meters, with a green bean screen size of 17/18 mesh and a defect rate below 2%, making them the highest grade of Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee. Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee beans are outstanding in quality, and this is also reflected in their market price.
Authentic Blue Mountain coffee is expensive. This world-class top coffee bean grows in fertile volcanic soil under suitable temperature conditions, and has a rich nutty aroma with a balanced, mellow taste. Blue Mountain coffee beans are usually extracted by pour-over. Many friends worry that they cannot brew a cup of Blue Mountain coffee with balanced acidity, sweetness, and bitterness and a mellow mouthfeel, so they go to Front Street Coffee's store and ask Front Street's baristas for help.
When Front Street Coffee brews Blue Mountain coffee, the parameters used are as follows:
Dripper: KONO dripper
Water temperature: 88°C
Dose: 15 g
Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15
Grind size: 75% passing through a Chinese standard No. 20 sieve
To highlight the mellow texture of Blue Mountain coffee, Front Street recommends choosing a dripper with an immersion function. The upper half of the KONO dripper has smooth walls, while the lower half has short ribs. After the filter paper is moistened, it can cling tightly to the wall, and the ribs in the lower half play a drainage role, allowing the coffee grounds to fully contact the hot water and extracting more flavor substances. Coffee brewed with the KONO dripper has a noticeably improved body compared with the Hario V60.
Because Blue Mountain coffee beans are roasted relatively dark, Front Street controls the grind for this bean at 75% passing through a Chinese standard No. 20 sieve. Dark-roasted beans have a looser structure, and coffee substances are released more easily, so the grind should be slightly coarser than for light-roasted beans to avoid brewing out burnt bitterness.
When Front Street brews Blue Mountain coffee, it first pours 30 g of hot water for a 30-second bloom. After the bloom, it pours slowly in a thin stream from the center in circles to 125 g. When the water level in the dripper drops to the point where the coffee bed is about to be exposed, it continues pouring in circles to 225 g. The total extraction time is about 2 minutes.
After Front Street's Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee is brewed, it presents rich nut and dark chocolate flavors, with a balance of acidity, sweetness, and bitterness, and a mellow mouthfeel.
Front Street Coffee Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee beans
Region: Jamaica Blue Mountain
Estate: Clifton Farm
Altitude: 1,310 meters
Variety: Typica
Processing method: washed process
Blue Mountain coffee is famous, so some merchants play word games with consumers, and many products such as "Blue Mountain flavor coffee" and "Blue Mountain blend coffee" have appeared on the market. But these coffees may not contain even a single bean truly from Jamaica's Blue Mountain. Front Street's Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee beans come from Clifton Farm in Jamaica's Blue Mountain, an estate with a history of more than two hundred years. After comparing many Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee beans, Front Street believes that Clifton Farm's Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee beans perform outstandingly and are enough to serve as an excellent representative of Blue Mountain coffee.
Blue Mountain coffee is so far the only coffee among all coffee-producing regions to use wooden barrels to pack green beans. In Front Street Coffee's store, Blue Mountain coffee green bean barrels and Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee bean certification certificates are displayed. Interested friends can visit Front Street's store to see them in person.
What exactly is Americano?
Americano belongs to the espresso coffee category. It is convenient and quick to make: simply mix extracted espresso with water in a certain ratio, and it becomes a cup of Americano. Interestingly, Americano was not created by Americans, but was born for Americans. According to unofficial history, during World War II, American soldiers stationed in Europe were not used to the local black coffee with its concentrated flavors and strong taste, so they added a large amount of hot water to dilute it. To express contempt for this practice, it was named Americano, translated into Chinese as 美式咖啡.
The base of Americano is espresso, and the coffee beans used to make espresso are mostly blended beans. The extraction principle of espresso is to use high pressure of about 9 bar to force nearly boiling hot water through a puck compacted from fine grounds. The extracted coffee liquid has concentrated flavors and a thick texture.
If single-origin coffee beans are used, certain prominent flavors will be magnified exponentially, and originally pleasant acidity may be amplified into sharp acidity that is hard to drink. Therefore, coffee beans used to make espresso are usually blended from two or more single-origin beans, with the aim of maintaining flavor stability and taste balance.
Unlike pour-over coffee, espresso places more emphasis on overall balance. When Front Street Coffee makes espresso, it uses Sunflower Warm Sun blend coffee beans, blended from 70% Honduras Sherry and 30% Ethiopian natural Red Cherry. Front Street's Sunflower Warm Sun blend presents rich vanilla, cream, fermented wine aroma, and berry notes in flavor, with a unique flavor and mellow mouthfeel, making it very suitable for making espresso coffee.
When Front Street Coffee uses Sunflower Warm Sun blend beans to extract espresso, adjustments are made every day according to the condition of the beans. To highlight the flavor of the Sherry coffee beans, 20 g of grounds are used to extract 40 g of coffee liquid, taking 27 seconds.
When Front Street Coffee serves hot Americano, it mixes coffee liquid and hot water at a ratio of 1:4.5. At this ratio, hot Americano can highlight wine aroma, vanilla, and chocolate flavors, with a mellow mouthfeel.
When making iced Americano, considering that the ice cubes will melt, the ratio of coffee liquid, ice cubes, and water is set at 1:2.5:3. At this ratio, the iced Americano is not too strong when first made, and as the ice cubes gradually melt, the flavor will not become too weak.
The difference between Americano and Blue Mountain coffee
Both Americano and Blue Mountain coffee belong to black coffee. Blue Mountain coffee usually refers to single-origin coffee produced in Jamaica's Blue Mountain, and single-origin coffee is mostly brewed by pour-over. Americano, on the other hand, belongs to espresso coffee, and espresso coffee uses espresso as its base, mixed with a certain proportion of water or milk.
There are obvious differences in brewing principles between pour-over coffee and espresso coffee. Pour-over coffee is ground much coarser than espresso coffee, and the extraction pressure is also lower. As the beans used for espresso coffee differ, the coffee flavor also changes accordingly. For example, the Sunflower Warm Sun blend used by Front Street contains 70% Honduras Sherry. In addition to having nutty and chocolate notes that suit public tastes, it also carries rich vanilla and wine aromas.
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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
