What Temperature Makes the Best Hot Americano?

First came the biting cold wind, followed by a sudden temperature drop. Under this double effect, everyone at FrontStreet Coffee has become "frozen people" today. Without a cup of hot coffee in hand, it's impossible to warm up for a while. If that's still not enough, then we can only have another cup~

Taking advantage of winter, hot Americano, which usually has a very low presence, has recently started to attract everyone's attention. Everyone is holding a cup, and although it still hasn't surpassed iced Americano, it's finally no longer obscure. As more and more people order hot Americano, some friends have discovered why the temperature of hot Americano from every coffee shop seems to be different? Water temperatures range from 60°C to 80°C, or even higher. So at which temperature range does hot Americano have the best flavor and mouthfeel?

To explore the results more objectively, FrontStreet Coffee will next use a full-bodied dark roast espresso blend coffee bean and a medium-light roast single-origin coffee bean that mainly expresses fruity acidity for testing. Then we will compare them at four temperatures (60°C, 70°C, 80°C, 90°C) one by one, while keeping other parameters and brewing details as consistent as possible. Without further ado, let's get started right away.

Dark Roast Coffee Beans: FrontStreet Coffee Blend · Classic Italian Coffee Beans

Espresso Flavor: Dark chocolate, cream, hazelnut, caramel

Grind Size: 2.0

Extraction Parameters: 20g coffee grounds, duration 30-31 seconds, 40g coffee liquid

Brewing Ratio: 1:4.5 (40g coffee liquid + 180ml hot water)

The espresso made with dark roast blend beans has rich crema, and all four cups of coffee smell of hazelnut and caramel. The 60°C and 70°C hot Americanos can be sipped directly, so the most complete crema is retained during tasting. In comparison, the 70°C Americano is slightly superior in flavor, showing rich aromas like creamy chocolate, nuts, and caramel biscuits, with a more obvious sweet aftertaste. The 80°C coffee was a bit hot at first, so I could only take a small sip, and the taste was just average. As the temperature decreased, the changes in coffee aroma and sweetness were the most rich and layered.

After placing it indoors for 20 minutes, the 60°C Americano dropped below 45°C, the aroma began to weaken, and the bitterness increased, making it have the shortest optimal tasting time. As for the 90°C Americano, because the water temperature used was close to boiling, it could only be tasted in large gulps after fifteen minutes of preparation, so almost no crema was retained, and a lot of aroma was lost, leaving only roasted flavors mixed with some dull bitterness.

Hot Americano Aroma and Mouthfeel Ranking: 70°C > 80°C > 60°C > 90°C

Medium-Light Roast Coffee Beans: Costa Rica Baha Coffee Beans

Espresso Flavor: Grape, blueberry, rose, cream, fermented wine aroma

Grind Size: 1.6

Extraction Parameters: 20g coffee grounds, duration 28-29 seconds, 40g coffee liquid

Brewing Ratio: 1:4.5 (40g coffee liquid + 180ml hot water)

Because the Baha coffee beans, which mainly express floral and fruity acidity, are relatively lighter in roast, the extracted espresso has relatively thin crema, and there's almost no foam after pouring hot water. In terms of flavor, there wasn't much difference among the four freshly made hot Americanos, all showing citrus and blueberry acidity, as well as a light fermented taste.

Among them, the 80°C hot Americano offers the best tasting experience. As it cools to close to 70°C, it presents delicate floral aromas and raisin-like sweetness. Like the dark roast blend Americano group, the 90°C hot Americano tastes predominantly acidic overall, with the most平淡 aroma. The flavors of the 60°C and 70°C Americanos are mediocre. Although there are no negative tastes, because the initial temperature is lower, they cool faster, so the optimal tasting time provided is also shorter.

Hot Americano Aroma and Mouthfeel Ranking: 80°C > 70°C > 60°C > 90°C

Conclusion

From this, it seems that whether using light roast or dark roast coffee, it's not very suitable to use water at high temperatures above 80°C to make hot Americano. Not only does it easily scald the mouth, but the burning sensation of the liquid will obviously overwhelm the perception of taste buds, making the sense of taste less sensitive. At the same time, overly hot Americano will also make the waiting time for cooling longer, and the more volatile aroma compounds in the coffee will dissipate, thus greatly reducing the flavor.

In addition, friends who often drink pour-over black coffee should know that coffee liquid will have different flavor expressions at different temperatures, and the bitterness will also become more obvious as the temperature decreases, especially below normal human body temperature. Therefore, in addition to the optimal tasting temperature of coffee, FrontStreet Coffee also considers that everyone usually takes more than 20 minutes to finish a cup of coffee, so when making hot Americano, we will try to use preheated coffee cups and control the temperature at the medium-high range of 75-80°C. Otherwise, after just a few sips, the coffee will cool down, and it will be difficult to even finish the whole cup, let alone appreciate the flavors.

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FrontStreet Coffee

No. 10, Bao'an Qianjie, Yandun Road, Dongshankou, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province

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