When ordering at a café, many people notice that Americano is categorized under espresso drinks. It clearly has "American" in its name, so why does it belong to the Italian coffee system? What exactly is the connection between the two? This article, from the perspective of Front Street Coffee, sorts out the origins of Americano, the different methods of adding water to espresso, and the taste differences between Americano and Long Black. At the same time, drawing on practical experience from Front Street Coffee's stores, it explains how to determine espresso extraction recipes and Americano water ratios, and offers adjustment ideas suitable for home or café reference, helping coffee lovers understand these two common black coffees more clearly.

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When ordering at cafés in daily life, have you noticed that Americano is always placed in the espresso category? Since it is called Americano, why is it considered a type of espresso? What kind of connection is there between Americano and espresso? In this article, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) will talk with everyone about the origins between espresso and Americano.

The Origin of Americano

In fact, Americano mainly refers to black coffee with a milder taste, while espresso refers to coffee with a stronger flavor and smaller serving size. Originally, Americano was simply espresso diluted with water. The name came about because during World War II, American soldiers came to Italy, were not used to the local strong coffee, and added an appropriate amount of water to espresso according to their own preferences.

Americano Is it necessarily espresso + water?

However, this way of drinking was initially only favored by Americans, so Italians named this type of espresso that became milder after adding water "Americano," which means "American" in Italian. It can be seen that although Americans love drinking coffee, they prefer a lighter taste. For this reason, drip coffee is very popular in the United States, so whether it is coffee made by a drip coffee machine or coffee made by adding water to espresso, it is collectively called Americano.

Does espresso + water alone equal Americano?

Although many cafés use the method of adding water to espresso when making Americano, not all espresso with added water is necessarily Americano. The method for Americano is to first pour the espresso into the cup, then add water. If the order is reversed, it becomes another drink called "long back Long Black," which is a popular black coffee in Australia.

Americano and Long Black Are they really different?

The difference does exist, after all, one disperses the crema of the espresso, while the other retains the crema. Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) has found in practice that when using the same amount of espresso and the same amount and temperature of hot water, the Americano with the crema dispersed tastes more refreshing, and the overall concentration is more uniform. Long Black tastes richer, and when not stirred, the coffee as a whole presents a gradual taste from strong to light.

Espresso Production Method

Whether it is Americano or Long Black, both need espresso as the base, and then water is added in different proportions. Since the purpose of drinking coffee is to be comfortable and tasty, ordinary consumers are only seeking a quick and stable cup of coffee. Therefore, the ratio each shop uses to make Americano will be determined by how much water to add based on the espresso flavor extracted from the coffee beans they use.

Taking the practice at Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) stores as an example, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) stores use Sunflower Warm Sun blend coffee beans as espresso beans, and baristas must debug according to the condition of the beans every day. In order to highlight the flavor of the sherry cask, a 20-gram dose of coffee beans was chosen to extract 40 grams of coffee liquid, with an extraction time of 27 to 28 seconds.

Americano Production Ratio

Front Street once determined the Americano water ratio for this bean. Based on the above extraction method, after two rounds of narrowing the range, 1:4, 1:4.5, and 1:5 were made respectively, for a total of 3 cups of coffee for comparison. Finally, the 1:4.5 ratio was determined. At this ratio, it better highlights the wine aroma of the Warm Sun blend as well as the flavors of vanilla and chocolate, while not sacrificing mouthfeel.

But this ratio is only suitable for "Front Street Sunflower Warm Sun blend coffee beans." It is not applicable when using other series of Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) espresso blend coffee beans, which will perform relatively stronger, and the espresso extraction parameters also need to be adjusted.

If everyone is not sure how to adjust the espresso extraction parameters and the water ratio for Americano, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) suggests you can try using 20g of coffee grounds to extract 40g of coffee liquid, with an extraction time in the range of 28-35 seconds. After each extraction, determine the taste through sensory evaluation. Once the espresso taste meets your requirements, start adding water at a 1:5 ratio. If the coffee tastes strong, increase the proportion of water; if it tastes weak, reduce the proportion of water.

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