What is Americano?

"Americano" (English: Americano, Italian: Caffe Americano), traditionally is a black coffee made with a drip coffee maker, because the general extraction time is relatively long (about four or five minutes), so the coffee taste is also more plain.

Americano is simple to make, emphasizing convenience and speed, free and casual, compared to espresso,Americanothe mouthfeel is relatively more refreshing, and it can better restore the original taste of the coffee beans. But now theAmericanoin coffee shops is somewhat different from the traditional definition; today'sAmericanohas a different way of making it. Now Americano is based on espresso and diluted with a large amount of water, making it a must-have drink on every coffee shop's menu.

We understand thatAmericanocontains only two ingredients: espresso and water. So there are two mainstream methods: one is to add water to the espresso, and the other is to pour the extracted espresso into water. The former is mostly called Americano , and the latter is mostly called long black.

AmericanoOrigin

Americano was born after World War II. When the Americans ended the European war, many troops came to Southern Europe. They couldn't drink espresso, so they diluted it with warm water. Because only at such concentration could they accept it, which shows that espresso is not something everyone loves from birth! Because this way of drinking was mainly by American soldiers, people named it Americano.

Because at that time most Americans used the filter method to make milder coffee. Even today, most Americans use drip coffee makers at home, which is why drip coffee makers are also calledAmericanomakers. But the popularity of Americano made by diluting a shot of espresso with water owes much to Starbucks' global store expansion.

So is it correct to use an espresso machine to run water for a long time to make a mild coffee? There are two opinions here. Traditional espresso purists believe it is not okay, because the coffee would be over-extracted, especially in the later stage of extraction, when the off-flavors of the coffee grounds and too much caffeine are also pulled out, and these people deeply despise this method.

But in today's coffee market, for example, coffee shops in Australia do this, and it is fairly common. They say if doing this over-extracts the coffee, then aren't the extraction times of a French press and siphon longer than this? So what's wrong with doing it this way!

Let's not compare the taste differences between these two methods first, because disagreements arise as soon as this topic is mentioned. But what should be known is that the caffeine content in a mild coffee extracted for a long time will be higher than the caffeine content in a coffee made by diluting a standard shot of espresso with water. Even so, there are still two preparation methods: first making espresso and then adding water to dilute it, and first putting water in the cup and then adding espresso.

How to make Americano?

Americano can be said to be the simplest espresso coffee, because Americano consists of only two parts: espresso and water, while iced Americano has an extra ingredient: ice cubes. But don't relax just because Americano is simple; the simplest part is also the part that tests skill the most. Americano is often the espresso drink that best tests a barista's espresso extraction technique.

Compared with milk coffees like latte, Americano, because it lacks milk's influence on the coffee flavor, best allows you to perceive the flavor of the coffee beans themselves. Many barista friends choose Americano when visiting other coffee shops: first, because it is convenient and quick; second, because it lets them know the standard of the shop's output.

Back to the point. We just said that Americano is simple to make, with only water and espresso as its two parts, so you only need to pour the espresso into the water. The espresso part needs to be extracted according to the characteristics of the beans; different beans have different extraction parameters. For example, Front Street Coffee stores use a Warm Sun blend—60% sherry barrel coffee beans mixed with 40% sun-dried Yirgacheffe. Every day the baristas need to adjust according to the condition of the beans. To highlight the sherry barrel flavor, they chose an extraction plan of 20 grams of coffee beans, extracting 40 grams of coffee liquid, with a time of 27 to 28 seconds.

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

Similarly, when making iced Americano, pre-cool 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 uses a ratio of 1:7, with 40 grams of coffee liquid mixed with 280 grams of ice-water mixture, including 180 grams of ice cubes and 100 grams of water.

Americano: Is it better to remove the crema?

When making hot Americano, you will notice a layer of foam floating on the surface of the coffee. That is what we often call coffee crema. This part of the crema comes from the crema produced when making espresso. We know the three parts of espresso are the core, the body, and the crema. The crema of espresso comes from coffee grounds under the high pressure of the coffee machine: carbon dioxide is dissolved into the liquid, and then when extraction ends, the pressure returns to normal, and the carbon dioxide in the coffee liquid begins to return to the air, while encountering the fats in the coffee and thus being wrapped up. This is the reason crema is produced.

What if we scrape off the crema? Front Street Coffee tried making two cups of Americano, one with the crema scraped off as a control group. Using Front Street Coffee stores' Warm Sun blend coffee beans, the cup with the crema scraped off was cleaner and smoother in mouthfeel, while the cup with the crema retained had a slightly thicker mouthfeel. Both cups had obvious dark chocolate and a slight whiskey oak barrel aroma, with soft acidity, and the difference was actually not big. If you like a clean taste, it is recommended to scrape off the crema; if you need continuous output, it is more recommended to keep the crema.

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