Which is Better: Yirgacheffe Coffee or Americano? How Many ml of Espresso Should Be Extracted for SOE Americano?

How important is espresso to a coffee shop? Lattes need it, Americanos need it, and even creative drinks require it. Beyond coffee shops, beverage and dessert shops also almost always find a use for espresso. So what is the difference between espresso and the Americano we hear about most often? And how do we define a cup of black coffee? FrontStreet Coffee will discuss what black coffee is and the differences between espresso and Americano.

What is Black Coffee?

Put simply, black coffee is coffee without any added decorative ingredients, such as milk, syrup, juice, or other colored and flavored materials. Common black coffees include espresso, Americano, brewed coffee, pour-over coffee, cold brew coffee, iced drip coffee, and more, all of which can be defined as black coffee. Drinking black coffee is about experiencing the original flavor of coffee. Once other ingredients are added to alter the flavor, you lose the soul of black coffee, its acidic aroma and rich body.

FrontStreet Coffee suggests that if you want the most authentic flavor of coffee, try pour-over or French press. With these two methods FrontStreet can showcase the layered complexity of coffee with a clean taste, while the latter displays coffee's most authentic side, preserving oils and enhancing mouthfeel. If you want to enjoy a cup of black coffee quickly, then Americano is your best choice.

What is Americano Coffee?

Americano is simply espresso diluted with drinking water. Is it that simple? Yes, that simple. But a good Americano needs a good-tasting espresso as its base. So what makes a good espresso base? Before discussing espresso, FrontStreet Coffee will first cover the origin of Americano.

The Origin of Americano Coffee

The name "Americano" literally means "American" in Spanish or Italian. The coffee's name is directly tied to its creation, as many believe it was invented for Americans. According to legend, Americano originated when American troops came to Southern Europe after the European war. They could not accept drinking straight espresso, so they diluted it with warm water. Because only that concentration was acceptable to them, it shows that espresso was not naturally loved by everyone from the start. Since this way of drinking was mainly used by American soldiers, people called it Americano coffee.

What is Espresso?

Espresso is a type of coffee that originated in Italy and is extracted quickly under high pressure. Traditionally, a single shot of espresso has a capacity of about one ounce.

How to Define a Qualified Espresso?

A qualified espresso needs espresso beans with a stable flavor. FrontStreet Coffee uses a blend of Ethiopian sun-dried red cherry and Honduras sherry coffee beans, the FrontStreet Sunshine Blend. The coffee extracted from these beans has a rich whiskey aroma, gentle berry acidity, and a nutty aftertaste.

Besides having stable espresso beans, a barista needs to watch the parameter details during extraction. Making espresso may look like a few simple steps, but there are many details to attend to. During extraction, for example, you need to focus on each parameter: the exact amount of coffee grounds used, the amount of coffee liquid extracted, the extraction time, and the machine's pressure, all of which a barista must monitor constantly.

What is Yirgacheffe Americano? How to Make It?

For most Chinese drinkers, espresso first and foremost leaves an impression of bitterness, worse than drinking traditional Chinese medicine in their minds. In recent years, however, with the development and innovation of specialty coffee, more and more high-quality beans have been applied to espresso machines, presenting taste profiles different from traditional bitterness under the combined influence of high temperature, high pressure, and fine grinding. The most representative is SOE (Single Origin Espresso), and FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe SOE is a well-known example.

The name Yirgacheffe comes from Yirgacheffe town, set at ultra-high altitudes of 1700-2100 meters. During the day it is often foggy, with spring-like weather year round. Coffee farmers plant coffee trees alongside other crops in their backyards or in fields in front of their homes. Strictly speaking, Yirgacheffe is a sub-region of Ethiopia's Sidamo province, lying northwest of Sidamo. Later, because the coffee produced here had a unique flavor and became world-famous, it broke away from Sidamo and formed a school of its own.

The classic FrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe is known for its bright, uplifting lemon acidity, white-floral notes, and honey-like sweetness. Unlike traditional bitter coffee, FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe has none of the heavy, burnt bitterness; instead it presents a refreshing, fruit-tea-like flavor profile that leaves a deep impression from the first sip. Today FrontStreet Coffee's bean menu offers four types of Yirgacheffe: the Gedeb Cooperative, Red Cherry, Konga, and Kochere. Below, FrontStreet Coffee uses the sun-processed Yirgacheffe Red Cherry to demonstrate how to make a standard Yirgacheffe iced Americano. The resulting SOE has not only pleasant floral notes but also elegant citrus and berry aromas on entry, making it very suitable for those who prefer refreshing tastes.

FrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe Americano Brewing Parameters:

Coffee beans: FrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe · Red Cherry
Coffee grounds amount: 20g
Coffee liquid amount: 40g
Grounds-to-liquid ratio: 1:2
Extraction time: 26-32 seconds
Grinding setting: Galileo 2.0 scale

Step one: FrontStreet Coffee first wipes the portafilter basket dry, turns on the grinder, and grinds a double shot of coffee grounds, placing it on an electronic scale and adjusting to reach 20 grams. Then use a tool to distribute the grounds evenly and firmly tamp the puck to ensure more stable extraction. Turn on the extraction switch to run water, moistening the shower head while washing away any stuck grounds, gently lock the portafilter onto the group head, and start extraction. When the electronic scale shows 40 grams of coffee liquid extracted, around 30 seconds, you can stop.

Step two: prepare a cup with about 300ml capacity, add 80g of ice and 170g of water, then pour all the freshly extracted espresso into the ice water, and a delicious Yirgacheffe iced Americano is complete.

How to Determine the Ratio for Americano Coffee?

The traditional Americano ratio is 1:8, with a double shot of espresso (60ml) mixed with 480ml of water. You can adjust the ratio according to the shop's cup sizes, approximately 1:7 or 1:8. But this ratio does not apply to all espresso beans. Some FrontStreet Coffee espresso blends contain Robusta beans, which increase the coffee's intensity, so the ratio needs to be adjusted accordingly.

For example, FrontStreet Coffee's Sunshine Blend has a fresher flavor profile. After tasting Americanos made with different ratios, we settled on 1:4.5 as the most suitable for the Sunshine Blend as an Americano. At that coffee-to-water ratio, it better highlights the blend's wine-like notes and cocoa aftertaste while maintaining richness.

How Many Calories in Americano Coffee? How Much Caffeine in Americano Coffee?

A hot Americano has approximately 9 calories, and its caffeine content ranges from 101 to 200 milligrams.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

For a Yirgacheffe Americano or SOE, the bean choice makes all the difference. The FrontStreet Washed Yirgacheffe is the classic expression, prized for white jasmine florals, bright citrus and lemon acidity, and a tea-like body; affordable and approachable, it is the bean many drinkers begin specialty coffee with. If you want to showcase a single cooperative, the FrontStreet Washed Gedeb Cooperative, in the Worka area at Yirgacheffe's southeastern edge and once part of the Worka cooperative under the YCFCU, follows traditional washed processing and is often called the last unspoiled corner of Yirgacheffe, offering fresh, bright citrus and lemon acidity with jasmine fragrance and no traditional bitterness. For the natural side of the region, the FrontStreet Sun-Dried Red Cherry is made only from fully ripe, sound cherries, dried on raised beds for three to five weeks and turned every two to three hours in the first days; it keeps the classic Yirgacheffe character while adding tropical fruit from the sun-drying, with citrus acidity, berry-juice body, honeyed sweetness, and a creamy smoothness.