How to Drink Starbucks Americano The Correct Way to Drink Americano Is Americano High in Calories

Espresso: The Foundation of Italian Coffee

Espresso is made by forcing hot water through coffee grounds at high temperature and pressure, quickly extracting the flavor into a concentrated shot. By Starbucks' nutrition facts, a single shot contains just 5 calories and 75mg of caffeine. With no milk added, it's intense — and strong.

Americano: The Diluted Espresso

An Americano adds a large amount of water to a shot of espresso, making it less concentrated and easier to drink. A single-shot Americano likewise contains only 5 calories and 75mg of caffeine.

Do You Know the Different Ways to Make an Americano? What's the Difference Between an Americano and a Long Black?

Making an Americano looks simple but can actually be surprisingly nuanced! Isn't it just espresso mixed with water — iced Americano gets ice water, hot Americano gets hot water?

Not quite! There are actually two different methods: water first, or water last.

The two preparations are:

Americano and Long Black

Water first, then espresso — that's the Americano.

Espresso first, then water — that's the Long Black.

Both use the same coffee-to-water ratio (1:6-8), so does the flavor actually differ? Yes — the difference comes down to how well each method preserves the crema, the foam layer sitting on top of the espresso.

Flavor Differences:

Americano: weaker, less noticeable aroma, heavier bitterness, and a flavor that barely changes as it cools.

Long Black: strong, rich aroma, lighter bitterness — but the flavor flattens as it cools.

FrontStreet Coffee's Recommended Espresso Parameters:

Single Shot: 14g of coffee grounds, extracted for 25-30 seconds to yield 21g of coffee liquid

Double Shot: 21g of coffee grounds, extracted for 25-30 seconds to yield 40g of coffee liquid

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

An Americano is only as good as the espresso behind it. Here are the FrontStreet Coffee beans we recommend for americano lovers, drawn from our house notes:

FrontStreet Coffee Classic Blend

For beginners making americanos on a home machine, start with the Classic Blend — a traditional Italian-style recipe built from Indonesian Mandheling, Brazil Red Bourbon, and washed Vietnam. It carries Asian coffee's low acidity, full body, and herbal-woody tones alongside American coffee's balanced smoothness and creamy texture, with butter, nut, spice, and dark chocolate aromas in extraction. Whether you pull an americano or a latte, the wild character and towering crema are its trademarks.

FrontStreet Coffee Black Cocoa Blend

If value for money is the priority, FrontStreet Coffee's Black Cocoa Blend combines Yunnan small-bean coffee with Brazil Cerrado. The americano shows nut, chocolate, and cream aromas with the gentle acidity of ripe Sanhua plum — a soft overall palate at a friendly price. A true household staple, and versatile enough to be a café's first choice too.

FrontStreet Coffee Strawberry Candy Espresso Blend

Tired of dark-roast espresso? Try the medium-roasted Strawberry Candy espresso blend — the name tells you it's a very sweet coffee. Unlike traditional blends, it unites single-origin Arabicas from three of the world's most famous regions — Colombia, Costa Rica, and Ethiopia — with washed, natural, and honey processing to lift the aromatics. Besides its rose scent and low bitterness with a touch of acidity, the americano and latte both reveal grape, dried blueberry, sweet orange, and fruit-candy flavors in rich layers, with a distinctive almond note in the finish.

FrontStreet Coffee Ethiopia Hua Kui SOE

In cafés, "Hua Kui" refers to a natural-process lot from the Hambella district of Sidamo, Ethiopia — a champion-grade bean at one level, and at another simply an excellent natural batch processed at the Buku Abel station in Hambella. Poured as filter coffee it offers creamy strawberry, guava, dried mango, black tea, and citrus; pulled as a single-origin espresso and diluted with water in proportion, it becomes a Hua Kui SOE americano with no bitterness at all — sweet, tart, and refreshing, drenched in tropical fruit aromas. A genuinely distinctive cup.

FrontStreet Coffee Ethiopia Genlana Estate Geisha SOE

Ethiopia's native Geisha tastes nothing like Panama's, winning attention not only with an outstanding price-to-quality ratio but with a truly distinctive Ethiopian profile. Thanks to the original rainforest's fertile soil and fully shaded growing environment, this native Geisha shows more varied layers. Built for home espresso machines, our Genlana Geisha SOE opens with a clear yellow floral note and bright bergamot, finishing on the sweetness of fresh strawberry. It carries a natural fruit sweetness — as an americano it shows a fresh lime lift and the fermented sweetness of black grapes, with a medium body.