The Difference Between Americano and Pour-Over Coffee_ Do Americanos Need Single-Origin Beans? An Introduction to Americano Coffee Beans

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I love pour-over single-origin coffee, believing I can taste the different flavors of various coffee beans and even experience the "romance" of making coffee by hand. But sometimes I find myself confused - since the principle of pour-over coffee is the same as an American coffee machine, why don't we just use machines to extract coffee directly? Wouldn't that be more convenient?

The Difference Between American Coffee and Pour-Over Coffee

Setting aside the joy and "romance" of the manual coffee-making process

Today

we will provide a detailed explanation for this confusion

Believe me, after reading this article

regardless of your level of understanding of specialty coffee

you will gain new insights

Actually, American coffee machines and pour-over methods have both differences and similarities. Let's first discuss American coffee machines, also known as American drip coffee. In 1963, Bunn successfully developed the first commercial American coffee machine, and after improvements, it entered American households in 1967.

Drip coffee machines are extremely easy to use - even someone who has never made coffee before can easily brew a cup of American drip coffee: place filter paper in the filter cup, pour ground coffee into the filter cup, attach the filter cup to the drip machine, add purified water or soft water to the top of the machine (remember not to use tap water, as its high hardness and scale will reduce the coffee machine's lifespan - soft water with TDS below 100 is best), set the temperature, and when the water reaches your set temperature, it will extract evenly (as shown in the picture below).

A Quick Note on Choosing American Coffee Machines

I don't recommend buying American drip machines that cost two to three hundred yuan on certain online platforms. The American coffee they produce is either unevenly extracted or over-extracted, resulting in a burnt, bitter taste that significantly diminishes the enjoyment of a delicious cup of coffee.

Low-end drip machines don't require filter paper and mostly use mesh filters like this. These mesh filters allow water to pass through quickly, causing under-extraction. If the coffee is ground too fine, water will remain in the coffee grounds for too long, causing over-extraction, resulting in coffee that tends to taste bitter and astringent.

Professional American coffee drip machines use filter cups that require filter paper. The benefit of filter paper is that it slows down coffee extraction. For example, if you use coarsely ground coffee, the filter paper slows down the extraction speed, actually achieving more uniform extraction.

Now, let's discuss the water outlet holes. To save costs, low-end American drip machines typically have only one water outlet hole in the center. This means the center outlet can only pour water over the middle of the coffee grounds. In contrast, pour-over coffee requires circular pouring from inside to outside to ensure even water distribution and uniform extraction, preventing some coffee grounds from being over-extracted while others are under-extracted.

So how do American drip machines simulate the pour-over brewing process? You may have noticed that it has ten holes, meaning its water outlets are evenly distributed above the filter cup. The purpose is to ensure even extraction of coffee grounds and maximize the simulation of the pour-over brewing process.

Professional American drip machines also use more advanced temperature control systems. Coffee is very sensitive to water temperature - too high or too low temperatures will affect the extraction of coffee flavors.

Currently, international cupping competitions all use American drip machines because many of them meet the Golden Cup standards of the SCAA (Specialty Coffee Association of America) and can produce a perfect cup of coffee.

Demonstrating the Differences in Pour-Over Coffee

To visually demonstrate the differences in pour-over coffee, let's use pictures to explain.

PS: As we all know, to make pour-over coffee, you first need a suitable kettle. Some people prefer gooseneck kettles for the Japanese style, while others like grenade-style American kettles for quick pouring. But regardless of the method, good taste that suits your preferences is what matters most.

The Complete Pour-Over Process

Ground coffee beans (Small Fuji scale 3.5)

20 grams of coffee grounds, approximately enough for 1-2 people

First bloom with 30g of water, pouring evenly from inside to outside. The bloom water should be poured slowly with a fine stream, staying as close to the coffee bed as possible.

When the coffee grounds stop expanding, it's time for the second pour

Second pour: circle evenly from inside to outside, avoiding contact with the filter cup walls, as water will flow down the filter cup's channels, causing under-extraction.

Third pour: reach the appropriate water volume. Here we use a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, meaning we pour 300g of water.

After reaching 300g, stop pouring. The total drip time should be approximately 2 minutes and 20 seconds.

A cup of pour-over coffee is complete

The Art and Science of Pour-Over vs. Drip Coffee

The pour-over coffee brewing process is more complex than that of American coffee machines, which allows for more possibilities and uncertainties. This is one of the reasons we are passionate about pour-over coffee. American coffee machines are too stable - every cup meets Golden Cup standards, making them rigid and uninteresting. Pour-over coffee displays more open flavors, allowing you to taste more nuances with finer flavor details. In contrast, coffee made by drip machines has more compact flavors with relatively fewer flavor notes than pour-over. This is also why in World Cupping competitions, when using triangular cupping to find one different coffee among three, the difficulty is higher when using drip machines. The water temperature is also relatively higher than in pour-over, so flavors don't open up as much. People with less sensitive senses of smell and taste would find it difficult to distinguish between two beans from the same state using the same processing method.

The same coffee bean can exhibit different flavor characteristics when brewed using different pour-over methods, though its main flavor profile remains unchanged. In contrast, drip machine production is more rigid - its extraction can only meet Golden Cup standards but is difficult to vary significantly, though it is very consistent.

American Coffee Bean Brand Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee roasts popular American coffee beans: Yirgacheffe coffee, Golden Mandheling coffee, Brazilian coffee, and others, all with full assurance of brand and quality. More importantly, they offer extremely high value - a half-pound (227 grams) package costs only about 70-90 yuan. Calculating at 15 grams per pour-over cup, one package can make 15 cups of coffee, with each cup costing only about 5-6 yuan. Compared to café prices that often reach dozens of yuan per cup, this represents exceptional value.

END FrontStreet Coffee: A Guangzhou-based roastery with a small shop but diverse bean varieties, where you can find both famous and lesser-known beans. Online shop services are also available. https://shop104210103.taobao.com

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473