Front Street has noticed that quite a few friends are still stuck on the question of "should you add water first or espresso first when making an Americano?" Because every time Front Street serves an Americano, there's always someone asking: "The most authentic way to make an Americano should be to pour the espresso first and then the water, but why do most Americanos nowadays pour the water first and then the espresso?"To find the answer to this question, we first need to understand the differences between Americanos made with different pouring orders. But before that, Front Street needs to remind everyone that coffee made by pouring water first and then espresso is not necessarilyLongblack.Because besides the different pouring order, Long Black and Americano also differ in concentration. Front Street has explained this in detail in many previously shared articles, so we won't go into too much detail here.So next, let Front Street make two cups of Americano. They use the same coffee beans and the same parameters—the only difference is the order in which the espresso and water are poured. Let's see what kind of differences there really are between them!What's the difference in Americanos made with reversed steps?The coffee beans Front Street used for this sharing are the Front Street Classic Espresso Blend from our bean list. Because it's a blend of coffee beans from three regions—Brazil, Indonesia, and Vietnam—it not only has a richer, fuller flavor, but the espresso it produces also has an extremely thick layer of crema.The extraction parameters remain the same: 20g of grounds, 30s of time, 40ml of coffee liquid.After the coffee is extracted, we make Americanos in different orders. The specific steps are: for one cup, pour 40ml of espresso into the cup first, then pour in 160ml of 70°C hot water; for the other cup, do the opposite—pour 160ml of 70°C hot water into the cup first, then pour in 40ml of espresso.In the image above, the left is the Americano made by pouring espresso first and then water, while the right is the Americano made by pouring water first and then espresso. We can clearly see that the first difference between them is in appearance.For the Americano with espresso poured first, because the water is added later, the impact force of the water when poured in disperses the espresso's crema, and the final Americano looks just like what we see—only a thin layer of white foam on the surface. The other cup, because the espresso is added later, retains the crema very well—as we can see, it has a rich, golden layer of crema.Besides appearance, Americanos made with different orders also differ in another way—their taste. The method of pouring espresso first and then water causes the water to hit the espresso, allowing the coffee, crema, and water to blend perfectly, so every sip tastes the same;whereas the method of pouring espresso last, because it hasn't been stirred much, means that without using a spoon to stir, the first few sips will taste somewhat different from the later ones. This is because the crema floats on the surface, carrying richer aroma and bitterness, and also because the espresso and water haven't blended evenly yet, so the concentration varies at different positions, creating differences in taste.But hey! This difference is extremely subtle. Without a direct side-by-side comparison, most people can't tell them apart in a blind tasting. For example, these two Americanos Front Street made with the Classic Espresso Blend mainly taste of rich chocolate, butter, and nutty flavors. Compared to the difference caused by pouring water first or last, the difference from extracting a bit more or less espresso is actually greater~In earlier times, Americanos were indeed made by pouring espresso first and then water, and the reason for this was the serving habits of that time! In many coffee shops, we can see espresso machines covered with coffee cups. The purpose of this is partly to preheat the coffee cups, and partly for convenience of grabbing and placing.This way, the barista can conveniently grab the corresponding coffee cup and place it under the espresso spout when making espresso drinks. After the espresso is extracted, they then add milk or water to the cup as needed. So early espresso drinks mostly followed the order of pouring espresso first and then adding other ingredients.Until later, people started using espresso cups to catch the espresso, in order to serve more quickly and conveniently. When we useespresso cupsto catch the espresso, we can prepare other ingredients in advance during the extraction process. For example, for an Americano, we can pour water into the cup first, and then simply wait for the espresso to finish extracting, pour it into the cup, and serve it directly.This approach not only greatly speeds up serving, but also gives the coffee a better-looking appearance. Quite a few customers have exclaimed upon seeing the rich crema floating on the Americanos Front Street serves, which shows that the visual effect provided by crema is very popular.So this is why coffee shops nowadays don't pay too much attention to the order of espresso and water when making Americanos(pouring)—the main idea is to do whatever is convenient/comfortable~ The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
