What is Black Coffee? Understanding the Difference Between Starbucks Pour-Over and Americano

Understanding "Jai Fei": The Meaning Behind Black Coffee

Recently the term "Jai Fei" has been popping up everywhere, and plenty of people want to know what it actually means. Here at FrontStreet Coffee, we're happy to explain.

"Jai Fei" comes out of Cantonese culture. Take Hong Kong: coffee arrived there early as an imported drink, and in Hong Kong-style tea restaurants the famous "Yuanyeung" is coffee mixed with milk tea. In Cantonese, the character "Jai" (Zhai) means "simple" or "plain," so "Jai Fei" was coined to mean black coffee — coffee with nothing added — distinguishing it from milk coffee. Hence the saying "Jai Fei without milk"!

So Jai Fei and black coffee are effectively the same thing. Which raises an obvious question: "If I want an Americano, can I just say 'give me a Jai Fei'?" In a specialty coffee shop, that might put the barista in an awkward spot, because an Americano is only one kind of black coffee. Pour-over, French press, siphon — all of those are Jai Fei too. When a barista hears "Jai Fei," they won't necessarily assume you want an Americano, unless Americano happens to be the only black coffee their shop serves.

Americano: A Popular Type of Black Coffee

So an Americano is just one member of the Jai Fei family. How is it made? Most shops pull espresso on a semi-automatic espresso machine, then dilute it with an equal proportion of water — a dilution that makes the coffee far more approachable for many drinkers.

Flavor in an Americano is 70% decided by the coffee beans and 30% by the barista's skill. Start with the beans: FrontStreet Coffee uses its Sunflower Warm Blend, combining Sherry coffee beans — vanilla, cream, and wine notes — with natural-process Red Cherry beans that bring brown sugar and berry character. That combination is why so many customers find FrontStreet Coffee's Americano particularly distinctive.

FrontStreet Coffee's Americano Preparation Method

FrontStreet Coffee builds its Americano by dosing 20g of coffee grounds to extract 40g of coffee liquid in 28 seconds for the espresso base, then adding 160ml of water in a 1:4 ratio.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If the idea of pure, no-frills black coffee appeals to you, FrontStreet Coffee's PWN Golden Mandheling is the bean for the job. As one of Asia's most famous specialty coffees, it is sorted three times by hand plus once by machine, leaving the beans even and bright; after a medium-dark roast they carry rich notes of spice, caramel, cedar, and dark chocolate. As a black coffee it delivers a full, velvety body with a clean finish — perfect for drinkers who want depth without acidity.

For the French press drinkers among black-coffee lovers — the classic immersion way to make Jai Fei — grind to coarse sugar (EK43s at setting 10.5, or 26 clicks on a hand grinder), use a 1:15 ratio, steep about 4 minutes at roughly 90°C water, then press slowly and pour gently. If you'd rather have fragrance than body, FrontStreet Coffee's Strawberry Candy blend — Costa Rican honey-process coffee combined with Panamanian washed Geisha — brews up rose, citrus, grape, and dried-blueberry aromas in the press, and turns strawberry-marshmallow sweet with a splash of milk.