Easy Homemade Iced Americano Recipe with Step-by-Step Visual Guide and Flavor Description

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As one of the best-selling products in coffee shops, Americano can be considered number one!

This is partly because it's quick to make, cost-effective, and contains caffeine, making it deeply loved by office workers; partly because most Americanos use espresso blend coffee beans, making it easy to maintain consistent quality; partly because Americano coffee beans typically have balanced flavors that are widely accepted by consumers; and partly because Americano is black coffee that, when consumed in moderation without adding milk, sugar, or other ingredients, can help with digestion and relieving greasiness.

What is Americano?

Many people, when hearing about black coffee, immediately think of Americano. Although Americano belongs to the black coffee family, it's not the only member! All coffee made with only two ingredients—coffee beans and water—without adding any materials or supplements, can be called black coffee.

However, a standard Americano must be made by adding water to espresso coffee.

The English name for Americano is "Americano," which according to the Cambridge Dictionary is defined as: "a type of coffee drink made by adding hot water to espresso coffee." Adding hot water to espresso coffee creates an Americano—in simple terms, diluted espresso is Americano.

Did Americano originate in America?

The origin of Americano is actually in Italy! It's said that during World War II, American soldiers in Italy found the local espresso too harsh and strong, so they added hot water to the pressurized extracted espresso to dilute it before drinking.

This is currently one of the most convincing origins, especially in an era when people still had requirements for coffee bean quality and pursued coffee flavors, the taste of espresso was not quite satisfactory.

But at that time, Italian working people urgently needed a beverage that could be made quickly and provide an energy boost to stimulate their physical functions during break time. Therefore, they invented pressurized steam coffee machines that could quickly extract a small portion of coffee with strong flavor.

Americano Coffee Bean Recommendations

For making Americano/espresso coffee, FrontStreet Coffee recommends using coffee beans specifically blended for espresso. The reasons for recommending blended coffee beans are: firstly, because of lower cost; secondly, because the coffee beans used in blends have complementary effects that can balance and stabilize the flavor of each cup; and thirdly, because most blended coffee beans use medium-dark or darker roasts, making them less likely to produce sharp acidity or thin coffee flavors after extraction.

Currently, FrontStreet Coffee sells four types of espresso blend coffee beans.

「FrontStreet Coffee - Warm Sun Blend Coffee Beans」: Ethiopian natural processed red cherry coffee beans (30%) + Honduras sherry barrel-aged coffee beans (70%), with rich wine aroma, vanilla cream, berry sweetness and acidity, and roasted nut flavors.

「FrontStreet Coffee - Specialty Blend Coffee Beans」: Colombian washed coffee beans (30%) + Brazilian semi-natural processed coffee beans (70%), with nut, dark chocolate, and caramel flavors.

「FrontStreet Coffee - Commercial Blend Coffee Beans」: Robusta washed coffee beans (10%) + Colombian washed coffee beans (30%) + Brazilian semi-natural processed coffee (60%), with nut, cocoa, and caramel flavors.

「FrontStreet Coffee - Basic Blend Coffee Beans」: Yunnan washed small bean coffee beans (30%) + Brazilian semi-natural processed coffee beans (70%), with mild fruit acidity, caramel, and nut flavors.

Of course, you can also use single-origin coffee beans for espresso (SOE) extraction. However, it's important to note that not every single-origin coffee is suitable! Many single-origin beans that taste good in cupping, pour-over, or cold brew extraction can easily have their flavors overly amplified when extracted under extremely fine grinding and pressurized conditions.

For example, FrontStreet Coffee's currently sold light-roasted Ethiopian Guddi coffee beans, when extracted using drip/immersion methods, exhibit bright citrus acidity, white floral notes, and the sweetness of honey green tea. Under espresso machine pressurized extraction, the coffee flavors become sharp, thin, and can easily have astringent notes.

So if you want to make SOE, you can choose single-origin coffee beans specifically customized for SOE, or select coffee beans roasted to medium or darker levels.

Espresso Coffee Making

The soul of Americano lies in the making of espresso. The performance of each coffee machine and grinder is different, so there's no standard answer for espresso extraction parameters—you need to adjust based on the actual situation.

If you're extracting espresso for the first time, FrontStreet Coffee suggests using the following parameters as a starting point (20g of coffee grounds to extract 40g of coffee liquid, time 25-30s), then taste to determine if the espresso's strength/flavor is within your expected range, and then adjust the parameters accordingly.

Americano Coffee Making Ratio

Taking FrontStreet Coffee's store's making method as an example, FrontStreet Coffee uses Sunflower Warm Sun blend coffee beans for espresso. Baristas must adjust daily based on the bean's condition. To highlight the sherry barrel flavor, they chose an extraction plan of 20 grams of coffee beans to extract 40 grams of coffee liquid, with a time of 27 to 28 seconds.

FrontStreet Coffee once determined the water ratio for Americano for this bean. Using the above extraction method, after two rounds of range narrowing, they finally made three cups of coffee at ratios of 1:4, 1:4.5, and 1:5 for comparison. They ultimately determined a 1:4.5 ratio, which better highlights the Warm Sun blend's wine aroma as well as vanilla and chocolate flavors, while maintaining good texture.

But such a ratio is only suitable for "FrontStreet Coffee Sunflower Warm Sun Blend Coffee Beans." Using FrontStreet Coffee's other series of espresso blend coffee beans is not applicable, as they would taste relatively strong, and the espresso extraction parameters would also need adjustment. When the Americano ratio is difficult to grasp, it's recommended to start from 1:5. If the coffee tastes too strong, increase the water ratio; if it's too weak, decrease the water ratio.

Professional coffee knowledge exchange | For 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: qjcoffeex

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473