A fragrant espresso can be enjoyed in many ways. Add fresh milk and it becomes a rich milk coffee; add hot water at a suitable temperature and it becomes a hot Americano; or add ice cubes and it becomes an iced Americano. Of course, you can also drink the extracted single shot of espresso directly in one sip, and the lingering aftertaste will leave a deep impression of that coffee bean. So today, Front Street Coffee would like to share with you how to make an Americano and roughly what the coffee-to-water ratio for an Americano should be.
Every coffee shop'sAmericano coffee-to-water ratiois different, so Front Street will use its own Americano to explain. Generally, an Americano is made withespressoas the base, with a certain amount of water added to dilute the extracted coffee. For example, if you like a stronger-tasting Americano, add less water; if you want a lighter-tasting Americano, add more water. A hot Americano better restores the coffee's own flavor. It does not pay as much attention to coffee-origin flavors as pour-over coffee does, and the coffee's floral notes are not very prominent.
Americano is a single-origin coffee with a very high order rate among black coffees. Although there are many brewing methods, it does not depart from the so-called Golden Cup Standard. The golden ratio of extraction yield and concentration investigated by the international coffee organization is called the Golden Cup Standard: extraction yield ->18%~22%, concentration ->1.15%~1.55%. In other words, taking the coffee liquid brewed from 10g of coffee grounds as an example, it should fall between 191ml~116ml without feeling too weak or too strong.
Using 15g of coffee beans with an espresso machine, a double filter basket, and appropriate grinding, extract 60ml of espresso, collecting 25ml from the beginning, 25ml from the middle, and 10ml from the end (this is the fun part of an espresso machine—you can collect in stages during extraction). Then dilute the espresso according to the Golden Cup Standard and taste the beginning, middle, and end separately. Generally speaking, the beginning will be very aromatic, but depending on the roast level and recipe of the coffee beans, it may be just right or slightly sour. In fact, that is precisely the super-strong espresso diluted to the Golden Cup Standard (Espresso Ristretto).
Front Street, by repeatedly changingthe coffee-to-water ratio of Americano, from one cup at a 1:4 ratio, one cup at 1:4.5, and one cup at 1:5, continuously tasting to find an espresso base that best suits the general public while highlighting the coffee's flavor, ultimately settled on a base ratio of 1:4.5 for Americano. This is because the Americano beans used by Front Street are blended from Honduras Sherry coffee and sun-dried red cherry from the Yirgacheffe region of Ethiopia in a 7:3 ratio, and a 1:4.5 ratio best highlights this Warm Sun blend's winey aroma and cocoa aftertaste.
Of course, many customers also ask at Front Street Coffee's store,what kind of coffee beans are better for Americano. Generally, Americano is made withespresso beans. Compared with traditional pour-over coffee beans, the roast level is usually darker, and the coffee beans used for espresso are generally blends made from multiple kinds of coffee beans. Of course, coffee beans from a single origin and single estate can also be used to make an espresso base, and the resulting coffee is simply called SOE single-origin coffee. SOE single-origin coffee magnifies the strengths of a certain coffee bean, and of course the price is also much higher.
The coffee beans in Front Street's store that can be used to make Americano include four flavors of espresso blends. The first is a more balanced espresso bean. It uses deeply roasted beans from Guatemala, Colombia, Brazil, and Tanzania blended in a 3:3:2:1 ratio to make espresso beans. This blend is very suitable for friends who are just starting with espresso, because this espresso bean performs in a relatively balanced way in acidity, bitterness, and aroma. It has the acidity of Tanzanian Kilimanjaro coffee beans, the rich fruity aroma and smoky feel of Guatemala, and the higher-body nutty and chocolate flavors of Colombia. After Front Street blends these coffee beans in proportion, it forms a very balanced espresso.
If you want to highlight the bitterness of Americano, Front Street suggests adding an appropriate amount of Robusta coffee beans to increase the richness of crema. Robusta coffee beans can play a very large role in coffee blends. As for Front Street Coffee, the espresso beans blended from Colombia, Brazil, and Robusta coffee in a 3:6:1 ratio are an espresso bean with a strong nutty chocolate flavor paired with the rich, full-bodied crema mouthfeel of Robusta coffee beans. For an Americano with an acidic taste, you can try using Tanzanian coffee beans and Yirgacheffe coffee, plus Brazilian and Colombian coffee beans to reduce the acidity brought by African beans, in a 4:2:2:2 ratio. Then, according to the Americano water-to-coffee ratio you like, you can make a delicious cup of Americano!
The weather in Guangzhou has been rather hot recently. You can use a 1:1 ratio of ice water, then pour the extracted espresso into the prepared ice water, and finally stir it a bit so that the temperature of the iced Americano is even, and then you can enjoy a cup of iced Americano. Now that Front Street has mentioned iced Americano, Front Street will briefly tell everyone about cold brew coffee. This is because many customers do not understand the difference between Americano and cold brew coffee.
Cold brew coffee takes longer to make than Americano, and the production methods are also different. Americano is made by extracting coffee liquid from an espresso machine under high temperature and high pressure, then adding hot water, and the Americano is complete. The method for making cold brew coffee is to put freshly ground coffee powder into a filter bag, seal it, soak it in ice water, and then place it in the refrigerator for about twelve hours, and the cold brew coffee is complete. Front Street Coffee previously used Yirgacheffe coffee beans to make cold brew coffee. It smells of light floral and berry aromas, and when drunk it also has a refreshing citrus acidity, very cooling. Compared with Americano, one advantage of cold brew coffee is that it can be kept for a long time. Even when stored in the refrigerator for a long time, it still carries the corresponding citrus acidity flavor, but Front Street still recommends drinking it as soon as possible, so that you can perfectly taste the best flavor of each coffee bean.
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.
