How Do You Make Americano That Tastes Clean and Balanced?

Americano is espresso diluted with water, and the order of pouring decides the drink. Adding water to the espresso gives a softer, more rounded cup usually called Americano; pouring espresso into water keeps more of the crema and is called a Long Black. Both need a well-extracted shot first, since water only stretches what is already in the cup.

The name caffe americano traces to World War II, when American soldiers in Southern Europe diluted espresso with warm water to match the weaker filter coffee they knew at home. For a hot version, try roughly one part espresso to three or four parts hot water; for iced, pour over cold water and ice. Skimming the crema gives a cleaner, less bitter taste.

Americano may seem to require only espresso and water, but it is the Italian-style drink that best tests a barista's extraction skills. This article begins with the definition and origin of Americano, sorts out the two mainstream methods, Americano and Long Black, analyzes the controversy over long-extraction weak coffee, and gives specific parameters for hot and iced Americano in terms of ratio and steps. At the same time, combined with the Warm Sun Blend used in Front Street Coffee stores, it explains the espresso extraction plan and water dilution ratio, and finally discusses the effect of skimming off the crema on flavor and mouthfeel, helping coffee lovers make a clean, balanced, and delicious Americano at home.

What exactly does Americano mean?

The so-called "Americano" (English: Americano, Italian: Caffe Americano) originally referred to black coffee brewed with a drip pot. Because drip extraction often lasts four to five minutes, the flavor profile is usually relatively plain and soft.

This kind of coffee has a low barrier to making and emphasizes convenience, speed, and casualness. Compared with espresso, its taste is more refreshing, and it is easier to taste the original flavor of the coffee beans. However, the Americano on cafe menus today is already somewhat different from the traditional definition: it is now generally based on espresso and then diluted with a large amount of water, becoming a regular drink that almost every shop prepares.

Since Americano is composed only of espresso and water, there are mainly two mainstream methods: one is to add water to the espresso, and the other is to pour the espresso into water. The former is often called Americano, while the latter is mostly called Long Black.

The origin of Americano

Americano was born after World War II. At that time, many American soldiers came to Southern Europe after the war in Europe, were not used to drinking espresso, and diluted it with warm boiled water. Only when diluted to this concentration were they willing to accept it, which shows that espresso was not loved by everyone from the beginning. Because this way of drinking mainly came from American soldiers, people called it Americano.

At that time, most Americans were used to making relatively weak coffee by filter methods. Even today, drip coffee makers are still commonly used in American households, which is also why drip pots are called American coffee makers. The wide popularity of Americano made by diluting espresso with water is largely thanks to Starbucks' global expansion of stores.

So, is it correct to use an espresso machine to run water for a long time to make a weak cup of coffee? There are two views on this. Purists of traditional espresso believe it is not advisable, because it causes over-extraction, especially in the later stage of extraction, when off-flavors in the coffee grounds and excessive caffeine are also drawn out together. They are quite dismissive of this practice.

But in today's coffee market, for example, cafes in Australia do it this way, and it is quite common. Their reason is: if this counts as over-extraction, then the extraction time of a French press or siphon is even longer, so how should that be explained?

Here we will not first compare the taste differences between the two methods, because once taste is discussed, disagreements easily arise. But it should be known that coffee made by long extraction into a weak brew has a higher caffeine content than a standard espresso diluted with water. Even so, there are still two preparation methods: making espresso first and then adding water to dilute it, and adding water first and then pouring in the espresso.

How is Americano made?

Americano can be said to be the simplest espresso drink, because it consists of only two parts, espresso and water, and iced Americano adds ice cubes as well. But do not become careless just because it is simple; the more basic the part, the more it tests technique, and Americano is often the best way to test a barista's level in extracting espresso.

Compared with milk coffees such as latte, Americano lacks milk's interference with the flavor, so it is the best way to perceive the flavor of the coffee beans themselves. Many baristas order Americano when they go to other cafes, first because it is convenient and quick, and second because it allows them to judge the other shop's standard of output.

Back to the point. It was said earlier that Americano is simple to make, with only two parts, water and espresso, so you only need to pour the espresso into the water. The espresso part should be extracted according to the characteristics of the beans, and different beans correspond to different parameters. For example, Front Street Coffee stores use a Warm Sun Blend - 60 percent Sherry cask coffee beans mixed with 40 percent sun-dried Yirgacheffe. Baristas must debug it every day according to the condition of the beans. In order to highlight the flavor of the sherry cask, they choose 20 grams of coffee beans, extract 40 grams of coffee liquid, and control the time at 27 to 28 seconds.

When making hot Americano, first preheat the cup with hot water, then pour in hot water, and finally pour in the extracted espresso. The ratio of Americano is usually between 1:6 and 1:8, and after repeated debugging, Front Street Coffee chose 1:6, that is, 40 grams of coffee liquid mixed with 240 grams of hot water.

The same applies when making iced Americano: first prechill the cup with ice cubes, then pour in water, and finally pour in the espresso. Because ice cubes need to be added, Front Street Coffee's iced Americano chooses a 1:7 ratio, with 40 grams of coffee liquid mixed with 280 grams of ice-water mixture, of which 180 grams are ice cubes and 100 grams are water.

Does Americano taste better if the crema is removed?

When making hot Americano, you will find a layer of foam floating on the surface of the coffee liquid. That is what we often call coffee crema. This part of the crema comes from the crema produced when making espresso. We know that espresso is divided into three parts: the core, the body, and the crema. Espresso crema is formed like this: under the high pressure of the coffee machine, carbon dioxide in the coffee grounds is dissolved into the liquid. After extraction ends, the pressure returns to normal, and the carbon dioxide in the coffee liquid begins to return to the air, while at the same time encountering the fats in the coffee and being wrapped by them, thus forming crema.

What happens if this layer of crema is skimmed off? Front Street Coffee once tried this: making two cups of Americano, one of which had the crema skimmed off as a comparison. Taking Front Street Coffee stores' Warm Sun Blend coffee beans as an example, the cup with the crema skimmed off was cleaner and had a smoother mouthfeel; the cup that retained the crema had a fuller mouthfeel. Both cups had obvious dark chocolate and slight whiskey oak barrel aromas, with soft acidity, and the difference was actually not great. If you like a clean taste, it is recommended to skim off the crema; if you need continuous output, it is more recommended to retain the crema.

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