What's the Difference Between Latte and Americano? Why is Americano So Bitter?

If you don't drink coffee often, ordering can be a challenge — the menu is a dazzling wall of names. What are the differences? Is Americano the favorite coffee of Americans? How does Americano differ from latte? Today FrontStreet Coffee untangles the two.

Latte vs. Americano

Both latte and Americano are descendants of espresso. The core difference: the former adds milk to espresso, the latter adds water. Latte is the most representative drink of the milk-coffee family; Americano is the most representative of the black-coffee family.

What Is Espresso?

Espresso can be understood simply as super-concentrated, small-volume coffee liquid. True espresso requires a pressure-driven machine that forces hot water through extremely finely ground coffee under sealed pressure (9 bar or above), extracting a rich coffee liquid.

Most espresso is made with blended beans, chosen for low cost and stable flavor. But as drinkers' palates have grown more adventurous, some shops now pull espresso from single-origin beans — known as SOE (Single Origin Espresso).

Every espresso at FrontStreet Coffee's shops uses a blended bean: the medium-dark "Warm Sunshine Espresso Blend," composed of 30% natural-process Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Red Cherry beans and 70% Honduras Sherry beans. The goal is long-term stability, so every customer enjoys consistent quality, cup after cup.

Espresso parameters must be tuned to each machine and grinder. FrontStreet Coffee offers a starting reference: 20g of coffee extracted to 40g of liquid — a 1:2 ratio — at 9 bar in 25-30 seconds, then adjusted to taste.

FrontStreet Coffee's shops run Q18 grinders with Lelit machines. Daily extraction is roughly 19.8-20g of very finely ground coffee yielding 35-38g of liquid in about 27-30 seconds. The Warm Sunshine espresso shows a rich fermented wine aroma, berry sweetness and tang, a vanilla-cream smoothness, and a nut-and-caramel finish.

What Is Latte?

Latte is simply coffee with milk. The preparation is easy: add heated, finely frothed milk to the extracted espresso and pour your latte art.

With hot milk over the Warm Sunshine blend, the sweetness steps forward, wrapped in a gentle fermented-wine aroma, a soft silky texture like vanilla cream, and a hazelnut-chocolate aftertaste. With cold milk, the latte shows gentle vanilla cream with a whiskey-like smoothness and aroma, soft berry acidity, and a nut-caramel finish.

What Is Americano?

Americano is simply diluted espresso: add hot or iced water to the shot to adjust strength, in whatever ratio you prefer.

FrontStreet Coffee's shops mix the Warm Sunshine blend with hot or iced water at a 1:5 ratio. Hot Americano tastes of vanilla cream, a fermentation-like aroma, slight berry acidity, and a caramel-dark-chocolate finish; iced Americano offers a whiskey-like wine aroma, gentle berry acidity, and a hazelnut-chocolate finish.

Why Is Americano So Bitter?

An Americano tastes like its espresso. Espresso's flavor profile is inherently rich and mellow, and everyone perceives bitterness differently — so unless the bitterness is genuinely unpleasant, it's perfectly normal.

If the bitterness is harsh and uncomfortable, the espresso itself may have been poorly extracted. Try increasing the dilution first; if it still tastes off, the espresso extraction parameters need adjusting.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If this has you dreaming of pouring latte art at home, start with FrontStreet Coffee's Classic Blend — a medium-dark, three-origin recipe inspired by the old "Mamba" pairing of Mandheling and Brazil, with a little Robusta added for aroma and crema. It extracts with clear notes of butter, toasted bread, and caramel cookies; the flavor is strong, the body solid, the crema fine, and the extraction rock-steady — the essential home bean for beginners practicing milk-based drinks.

Prefer a nuttier, aromatic profile? FrontStreet Coffee's Signature Blend pairs washed Colombian beans with pulped-natural Brazilian beans for espresso with nuts, dark chocolate, and caramel, and in Americanos, lattes, or flat whites it brings out the soft aromas of cream, almond, and cocoa — crema every bit the equal of a cafe's. And for those planning to open a shop, FrontStreet Coffee's Commercial Blend builds on the Signature formula with a touch of Robusta for deeper brown crema and a heavier body, making latte art effortless no matter what's on the menu.