How to Make Iced Americano Taste Good? Why Korean Celebrities Love Iced Americano and Differences Between Iced and Hot Americano

Americano has become the preferred beverage for many young people. Having an Americano after a meal not only helps cut through grease and aids digestion, but also effectively breaks down fats. Combined with appropriate exercise, it can contribute to weight loss, making Americano a preferred coffee drink for many celebrities. FrontStreet Coffee also serves Americano, and many regular customers enjoy coming to FrontStreet Coffee after meals to order an Americano and chat.

What is Americano Coffee?

The preparation method for Americano coffee is very simple: directly dilute extracted espresso with water, and the resulting diluted espresso is Americano coffee. Unsweetened Americano tends to be bitter in taste, which might be initially challenging for those accustomed to milk-based coffees, who often add sugar packets. FrontStreet Coffee believes that whether to add sugar to Americano depends on personal preference—pure Americano has its own distinct flavor, but adding sugar is perfectly acceptable if you don't prefer bitter-tasting coffee.

The bitter taste of Americano coffee partly comes from the fact that Americano coffee beans are generally roasted darker than pour-over coffee beans.

What Beans Does FrontStreet Coffee Use for Americano?

Generally, coffee shops use blend beans or dark-roasted beans for making Americano coffee. In terms of flavor, it's recommended to choose coffee beans with nutty, cocoa, caramel, and chocolate notes. FrontStreet Coffee uses its own custom blend for making Americano coffee, which FrontStreet Coffee named "Sunflower Warm Sun Blend." This blend uses Honduras Sherry and Ethiopian Yirgacheffe Red Cherry coffees. Through continuous experimentation by FrontStreet Coffee's baristas, they achieved a nearly perfect blending ratio of 6:4. The resulting espresso carries distinct fruit acidity, berry flavors, and wine aroma, with a comfortable sweet aftertaste.

The reason for choosing blend beans for Americano coffee is that you can create a desired flavor profile by combining the unique characteristics of each bean. Sometimes Robusta coffee beans are added to coffee blends to increase the crema in the extracted Americano, and compared to specialty coffee prices, adding Robusta beans can also reduce costs.

The Sunflower Warm Sun coffee beans just mentioned by FrontStreet Coffee include Honduras Sherry coffee beans, which use a refined washed processing method combined with whiskey sherry barrel fermentation, adding a wine-like quality to the Americano. Of course, if you don't prefer Honduras's special processing method, you can consider other bean options. For example, FrontStreet Coffee's basic blend uses Yunnan and Brazilian coffees in a 3:7 ratio, resulting in an espresso blend with soft fruit acidity and caramel sweetness. Another option is the premium blend, using Colombian and Brazilian coffee beans in a 3:7 ratio. The characteristic nutty and chocolate flavors of Colombian coffee combined with Brazil's rich peanut and creamy coffee notes create an espresso blend that is very balanced overall, rich in crema, extremely smooth on the palate, with a light aroma but slightly bitter taste characteristic of American coffees.

FrontStreet Coffee's Americano Preparation Method

The most crucial part of making Americano coffee is extracting the espresso. The parameters for each espresso machine are different. FrontStreet Coffee currently uses the Lelit V3 espresso machine, with extraction parameters that have been fine-tuned through multiple extraction adjustments by FrontStreet Coffee.

Pressure: 9 bar

Temperature: 90.5~96°C

Time: 20~30 seconds

Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:1.7~1:2

Dose: 12g (single shot espresso), 20g (double shot espresso)

Extraction yield: 20ml (single), 40ml (double)

Additionally, these parameters are also suitable for making milk-based coffees such as lattes, cappuccinos, etc.

Hot Americano Coffee

FrontStreet Coffee uses double extraction for making Americano, which means 40ml of espresso. You can add appropriate amounts of hot water according to your desired concentration. Of course, the hot water temperature should be around 85°C, and it's best not to add too much water, otherwise the resulting Americano will taste very weak. Generally, traditional Americano uses a 1:8 ratio, but FrontStreet Coffee doesn't currently use this ratio. FrontStreet Coffee adjusted the ratio based on cup sizes for in-store service, ultimately setting the Americano coffee-to-water ratio at 1:4.5.

Iced Americano Coffee

The preparation process for iced Americano coffee is very simple and convenient. You just need to mix ice and water in a 1:1 ratio to achieve your desired water amount, then extract the espresso and pour it in.

Differences Between Hot and Iced Americano Coffee

FrontStreet Coffee has identified the following three differences:

1. Color of the coffee beverage: Hot Americano has a dark brown-black color, while iced Americano shows a transparent brown. This relates to the coffee-to-water ratio. FrontStreet Coffee's hot Americano has approximately a 1:4.5 water-to-coffee ratio, while iced Americano reaches about 1:9.

2. Difference in caffeine content: FrontStreet Coffee's hot Americano uses one shot of espresso, while iced Americano uses two shots.

3. Different taste profiles: Iced Americano's flavors are more restrained, with ice adding a refreshing quality that isn't heavy. Hot Americano is relatively fuller-bodied and aromatic, with surface crema adding layers and a creamy texture to the coffee, naturally increasing its richness. When iced Americano's hot coffee liquid encounters ice, it cools rapidly, causing overall flavor changes while maintaining consistency. However, hot Americano's flavors change relatively as temperature varies. Take FrontStreet Coffee's hot Americano as an example: the coffee has a mixed aroma of floral and wine notes. When hot, it shows distinct fermentation upon entry, and the surface "crema" gives the coffee a creamy smooth texture. As the temperature drops, acidity begins to emerge, and the fermented wine aroma lingers in the mouth. When at a drinkable temperature, sweetness is also very prominent, with caramel flavors.

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account: cafe_style). For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee's private WeChat account: kaixinguoguo0925

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473