Americano may have already become the mainstream in coffee shops, especially in summer, having a cup oficed Americanomust feel especially refreshing. Coffee has become a daily habit for many people, sometimes to enjoy the slow moments of life, and sometimes to add a boost of mental energy to a weary life of day-night reversal. No matter why people drink coffee, the fact is that many have already made coffee their daily essential "coffee ration."
However, coffee is a crop, and there can be times when brewing coffee is not so stable. Although sometimes we can accept a less-than-perfect cup of coffee based on subjective feelings, we cannot deny that if most people could understand more coffee knowledge or brewing techniques, the coffee could taste better.
Americanogives people the impression of being bitter. If you taste a sourAmericano, you would surely ask: Is this normal? Or is this a good Americano? Actually, it is normal for Americano to have sourness, because coffee beans themselves are rich in acidity; it's just that as roasting time increases, the acidity gradually diminishes. Most Americanos we drink daily use dark-roasted coffee beans, but some beans can still show acidity even under dark roasting. However, more and more Americanos nowadays are gradually shedding that burnt-bitter coffee taste and moving toward coffee with acidity. The current taste trend in coffee drinking is shifting from the traditional burnt-bitter coffee flavor to floral and fruity acidity flavor types, or rather, to single-origin SOE coffee with a single flavor profile.
When brewing coffee, the three substances of bitterness, sweetness, and acidity dissolve at different rates. At the beginning of brewing, acidic substances are extracted most easily, followed by sweet substances, and finally bitter substances are gradually extracted. If a cup of coffee is very sour, it may be that before the extraction of sweetness and bitterness even began, the extraction ended, which means the coffee may be under-extracted. If a cup of coffee is very bitter, it may be due to prolonged continuous extraction, causing excessive extraction of bitterness. This could also mean the coffee is over-extracted.
If an Americano is too sour, how should it be adjusted?
The taste of coffee is influenced by the entire coffee processing chain, from picking and processing green beans, to coffee roasting, all the way to the end of brewing a cup of coffee. Some coffees naturally have a sour aroma in their flavor, so we cannot say that all sourness in coffee is a bad flavor. Just like an apple, which tastes sweet overall but also carries a slight tang—this acidity actually makes the apple's sweet-and-sour taste better. "Bad sourness" usually refers to an overly sharp vinegary acidity.
Roast level: We usually use dark-roasted coffee beans to make Americano, so the taste isn't so sour. If it is sour, it may be that the coffee beans' roast level has become lighter, so you should try brewing with darker-roasted coffee beans. For example, Brazilian coffee beans, Colombian coffee beans, and so on.
Lower water temperature: Appropriately lower the water temperature, extend the extraction time, and keep the coffee grounds as still as possible in the water; this can also soften the coffee's acidity.
Finer grind: If the coffee grind is too coarse, it will also be very sour. We can adjust it finer to increase the extraction rate. This way the coffee will be less sour, and the bitterness will increase somewhat.
Increase the amount of water poured: You can adjust the brewing by increasing the amount of water poured. For example, if the original coffee-to-water ratio is 1:15, you can adjust it to 1:16 or 1:17.
Extend the total extraction time: When the total extraction time is too short, relatively more acidity and less bitterness are extracted. So when the total extraction time is extended, theoretically more sweetness and bitterness will be extracted. As general advice, for 15g of grounds, even after extending, the extraction time should not exceed 2 minutes 15 seconds.
Aside from reasons related to the beans themselves, it may be channeling. Channeling causes part of the coffee to be over-extracted and part to be under-extracted, so the coffee you drink will be both bitter and sour. If you want to avoid channeling, you can use a distribution tool to distribute the grounds evenly. However, channeling inevitably exists—it's just a matter of how much. What we can do is minimize it as much as possible.
SOE Americano
SOE Americano is now popular in coffee shops, and SOE Americano expresses the sourness of Americano even more vividly. SOE means "single origin espresso," which is espresso extracted from single-origin coffee beans, and its significance lies in expressing the flavor of a single-origin coffee. Therefore, coffee beans with distinctive flavor characteristics are chosen, such as Yirgacheffe, which has strong flavor expressiveness, while beans like Brazil, Blue Mountain, and Mandheling are rarely used as SOE, because coffee made from these beans cannot be distinguished from traditional espresso blends. In terms of roasting, these SOEs are roasted slightly lighter, but a bit darker than pour-over, to highlight the coffee beans' original flavor. So an Americano made withSOE coffee beanswill show obvious fruity acidity. For example, an Ethiopian SOE Americano will be very sour.
The Americano served at Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) shops uses an espresso blend made of 30% Yirgacheffe coffee beans + 70% Sherry coffee beans. Although Yirgacheffe coffee beans account for a relatively small proportion of the entire blend, under pressurized espresso extraction, the acidity of the Yirgacheffe beans is amplified, adding a lively berry-like sweet-and-sour note to the espresso.
An Americano is espresso diluted with water. After dilution, the berry-like sweet-and-sour becomes a bright acidity like citrus fruits. If it is a hot Americano, after it cools, the aroma in the coffee dissipates and the temperature drops, making it taste even more sour. This is also why Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) often reminds everyone to drink coffee while it's hot.
Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) - Warm Sun Blend Coffee Beans: Ethiopian sun-dried Red Cherry coffee beans (30%) + Honduran Sherry barrel coffee beans (70%), with rich wine aroma, vanilla cream, berry sweet-and-sour, and roasted nut flavor notes.
Honduran Sherry coffee beans made into SOE coffee are also very delicious. People nowadays are gradually pursuing single-flavor Americano, because single-flavor coffee can better reflect the local coffee flavor, and SOE coffee made this way is also very tasty. Of course, a single SOE coffee is still not as rich as an Americano.
"Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) - Front Street Dark Cocoa Blend Coffee Beans": Yunnan washed small-bean coffee (30%) + Brazilian semi-washed coffee beans (70%), with soft fruity acidity, caramel, and nut flavor notes.
"Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) - Front Street Specialty Blend Coffee Beans": Colombian washed coffee beans (30%) + Brazilian semi-washed coffee beans (70%), with nut, dark chocolate, and caramel flavor notes.
Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) - Front Street Commercial Blend Coffee Beans": Robusta washed coffee beans (10%) + Colombian washed coffee beans (30%) + Brazilian semi-washed coffee (60%), with nut, cocoa, and caramel flavor notes.
Front Street brewing suggestions:
Whether it is Americano or pour-over coffee, to brew a delicious cup of coffee, you still need to pay attention to the freshness of the coffee beans. Front Street has always believed that the freshness of coffee beans has a great relationship with the flavor of the coffee. Therefore, the coffee beans shipped by Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) are all within 5 days of the roasting date. Front Street's roasting philosophy is "freshly roasted good coffee," so that every customer who places an order receives the freshest coffee. The resting period for coffee is about 4-7 days, so when customers receive it, it is exactly at its best flavor.
For friends who need ground coffee, Front Street kindly reminds you: once coffee beans are ground in advance, they no longer need to be rested, because during transportation, the pressure generated by carbon dioxide inside the packaging can also make the coffee flavor smoother. So once you receive the coffee grounds, you can immediately brew a cup and start drinking. However, coffee grounds need to be brewed promptly, because after coffee grounds contact air, they oxidize relatively quickly, meaning the coffee's flavor will dissipate fairly quickly and the coffee won't taste as good. Therefore, Front Street recommends buying whole beans and grinding fresh right before brewing, so you can better taste the coffee's flavor.
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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
