Is Your Americano Sour? Is It Normal for Specialty Black Coffee to Have Acidity?

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Is Sour Americano Coffee Spoiled?

Recently, some friends asked FrontStreet Coffee: "Is Americano coffee with a sour taste spoiled?" Not at all! It's normal to taste sourness in black coffee such as Americano, pour-over, and cold brew.

Why Are Some Americanos Bitter While Others Are Sour?

The Americanos we typically drink have a bitter taste because most coffee shops use medium-dark roast or darker coffee beans to make the base of Americano - espresso. With extended roasting time, coffee beans undergo a longer caramelization reaction, gradually deepening their color while making their flavor increasingly rich and mellow.

Espresso is a concentrated coffee liquid extracted in small quantities by forcing hot water through finely ground coffee powder under pressure in a vacuum environment using a pressurized coffee machine. The increased concentration also makes the coffee's flavors more intense. Although diluted with water to make Americano, everyone's perception of bitterness differs, so some find Americano very bitter, while others think it lacks flavor.

From the above, we can understand that the flavor profile of Americano primarily comes from the coffee beans themselves. Americano can have a sour taste when businesses use coffee beans with fruity acidity characteristics to make espresso, which might be single-origin beans or a blend.

For example, FrontStreet Coffee's daily production uses a "Sunflower Warm Sun Blend" consisting of 30% Ethiopian natural-processed Yirgacheffe coffee beans blended with 70% Honduras Sherry coffee beans. The natural Yirgacheffe provides sweet and sour flavors to the espresso, giving it whiskey aroma and vanilla cream-like mellow flavors while injecting gentle fruit acidity, making the coffee's layers more complex and rich.

Is Sourness in Coffee Always Normal?

Additionally, we can't rule out operational issues. For instance, the extraction process might have channeling effects, which cause some parts of the coffee to be over-extracted while others are under-extracted, resulting in a sour and astringent taste in the coffee. Alternatively, if the coffee grind is too coarse, the coffee will have a sharp, thin, and sour taste; if ground too fine, it will produce both sharp sourness and bitter, scorched flavors.

Of course, coffee should be consumed promptly after preparation. As coffee temperature decreases, its taste becomes increasingly sour. Generally, coffee left for more than one hour is not recommended for consumption. This is especially true for coffee with milk/sugar added, as over time, it may undergo quality changes, producing sour flavors that are harmful to health.

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