What Water Temperature Makes a Great Americano?

Hot Americanos, a close cousin of american drip coffee, were brewed at 55C, 65C, 75C, and 90C, then tasted right after brewing, five minutes later, and twenty minutes later. Water temperature, the coffee-to-water ratio, and tasting timing all change the cup, and the tests show how flavor drifts as the drink cools in each case.

The Americano traces to World War II, when US soldiers asked European shops to dilute strong espresso with hot water to imitate american drip coffee back home. A hot Americano is espresso plus hot water, an iced one is espresso plus ice water. Shops set their own parameters, so no single ratio or temperature is fixed.

The difference between hot Americano and iced Americano ultimately comes down to whether the espresso is combined with hot water or ice water. What seems like a simple combination hides a lot of nuance—water temperature, the coffee-to-water ratio, and when you taste it all influence the final flavor of an Americano. This time, Front Street Coffee brewed hot Americanos using four different water temperatures: 55°C, 65°C, 75°C, and 90°C, and conducted tasting comparisons at three time points—right after brewing, 5 minutes after, and 20 minutes after—using real test data to tell you which temperature is best for serving a dine-in hot Americano, as well as the complete pattern of how coffee flavor changes over time at different water temperatures.

During World War II, American soldiers couldn't get used to the extremely strong small cups of coffee in Europe, so they asked shops to add hot water to dilute it, imitating the taste and flavor of American drip coffee. This coffee became widely popular among American soldiers and was thus named Americano.

From this origin story, we can see that Americano is made by adding water to an espresso base. A hot Americano is espresso plus hot water, and an iced Americano is espresso plus ice water—the principle is just that simple. Though simple, it also contains quite a bit of knowledge. For example: "Is there any requirement for the water temperature of an Americano?" This was a question a friend recently asked at Front Street Coffee.

Like most other coffees, since there are no "hard and fast rules" for Americano brewing parameters, it's usually just whatever the shop prefers. How much water to add, how much ice to add, what temperature the water should be—all of it is adjusted based on one's own understanding of coffee. This leads to the situation where the same coffee is made to different standards at every shop.

And "what temperature of hot water should be used to make a hot Americano" is not a tricky topic. If you regularly read Front Street Coffee's articles, you know that coffee temperature directly affects the taste and mouthfeel we perceive when drinking. Therefore, to make a good Americano, besides understanding coffee extraction and controlling the coffee-to-water ratio well, choosing the right water temperature is equally crucial.

So today, Front Street Coffee will compare the differences between Americanos made with hot water at different temperatures. Let's see which water temperature is most suitable for making the hot Americano served at Front Street Coffee's stores~

To make a hot Americano, use Front Street Coffee's classic espresso blend, a recipe combining beans from three origins: Brazil, Indonesia, and Vietnam. It uses a dark roast, which maximizes the coffee's rich aroma and allows you to easily extract abundant, creamy crema. It's perfect for both a diluted Americano and a milk-based latte, and can be purchased from Front Street Coffee's Taobao store or Front Street Coffee's Tmall flagship store.

To explore the results more objectively, Front Street Coffee will conduct tastings right after the coffee is made, at the 5th minute after completion, and at the 20th minute after completion, to see how the coffee performs differently over time. Then Front Street Coffee will make four Americanos, using water temperatures of 55°C, 65°C, 75°C, and 90°C respectively—from warm to scalding, covering the full range.

Since Front Street Coffee previously conducted an experiment with both dark-roasted and light-roasted coffee, this time Front Street Coffee uses the store's "signature bean"—Sunshine Blend. Sunshine Blend is a medium-dark roast; tasting the espresso on its own, you can perceive whiskey aroma, butter cookie, chocolate, and a slight berry-like sweet-tart note. The parameters are as follows:

Dose: 20g

Grind setting: 1.8 on the Galileo Q18

Coffee-to-yield ratio: 1:2

Extraction time: 30±2 seconds

Americano ratio: 1:4 (i.e., 1ml of espresso is diluted with 4ml of hot water)

After brewing, Front Street Coffee tasted it immediately! Through tasting, it was found that right after brewing, the 55°C and 65°C Americanos, because their temperatures weren't that high, could be sipped immediately after completion. We could directly taste the Sunshine Blend's whiskey aroma, butter cookie, and berry flavors, with a good balance of sweet and tart and a clear, distinct finish. The only drawback of the 55°C Americano was that it wasn't hot enough—it drank like a warm Americano;

The 75°C Americano was a bit hot at first, so it could only be drunk slowly by slurping or taking small sips, so its flavor expression at the start was relatively less rich than the first two. We could only taste the more intense flavors like whiskey aroma and butter cookie, with a fairly high sweetness and almost no berry tartness, but it was still quite good; and the 90°C Americano, because its temperature was too high, was almost impossible to drink—we could only take in a tiny amount of coffee to sense it. Although the flavors stood out, the experience came more from aroma inhaled through the nose, and the taste was neither here nor there.

After sitting for 5 minutes, the coffee temperatures had all dropped by about 10°C on average. Front Street Coffee then tasted again: the original 55°C Americano now tasted lukewarm. Because it was close to room temperature, the coffee's taste and flavors were very prominent, but the aroma was starting to become less rich, and bitterness had increased; the original 65°C Americano's mouthfeel went from slightly hot to warm. Like the 55°C coffee, its taste and flavor expression were more prominent than five minutes earlier. But because its temperature hadn't dropped too low, its aroma was still rich and bitterness hadn't yet emerged;

The original 75°C Americano was now the best performer among the four, because at this point it was very easy to drink, with rich aroma and layered complexity, very close to how the original 65°C Americano performed right after brewing; and the original 90°C Americano was still scalding, still requiring small sips, with both mouthfeel and taste inferior to the first three.

At 20 minutes, none of the coffees' aromas were as prominent as before. The original 55°C coffee was no longer warm—it drank like a room-temperature Americano, so its mouthfeel and taste were greatly diminished compared to before, with the shortest enjoyable window; next was the 65°C Americano, whose temperature had dropped below 45°C, with mouthfeel and taste performing somewhat better than the former; the 75°C Americano was still warm, so we could still experience good mouthfeel and taste from it; although the 90°C Americano had dropped to a temperature at which it could be drunk in large gulps, because of the loss of aroma, its flavor no longer performed outstandingly. Compared to the first three cups, it provided the least quality experience throughout the process.

So if we rank them by the overall experience of a hot Americano right after brewing, the order is: 65°C > 75°C > 55°C > 90°C; and if we rank them by the aroma and overall performance the coffee provides over 20 minutes, the order is: 75°C > 65°C > 55°C > 90°C.

It can be seen that a dine-in hot Americano is not really suitable for brewing with water that's too hot. Because high-temperature water not only easily burns the mouth but also lowers the sensitivity of the taste buds, affecting our taste experience. At the same time, an overly scalding temperature can cause us to miss the coffee's "golden" tasting window, unable to freely enjoy it when the coffee's aroma is at its richest. So if you're serving a dine-in hot Americano, it's best not to use water that's too hot.

Of course, water that's too cold won't work either. Although a lower temperature lets the coffee enter its optimal drinking temperature immediately after brewing, the time it takes to cool down will also be shorter. And not everyone will finish a cup of coffee in a short time, so if you use water that isn't hot enough to make an Americano, the "hot Americano" experience will be greatly compromised because it cools down too quickly.

Therefore, when making a dine-in hot Americano, Front Street Coffee controls the water temperature at 75±5°C. This ensures the coffee has enough temperature to extend the enjoyable window, while not being so hot that the taste buds struggle to recognize the coffee's deliciousness.

But there are two things to note. One is that when serving a hot Americano, it's best to use a preheated coffee cup. Otherwise, a cup that hasn't been preheated will draw heat from the water, lowering the coffee's temperature in the cup; also, the temperatures recommended by Front Street Coffee above are only suitable for dine-in service, not for takeout. Because takeout involves a 10–30 minute delivery time, we need to factor in the temperature the coffee will lose during delivery, so that the customer receives a hot Americano at a suitable temperature~

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