What's the Difference Between Black Coffee and Americano? Is Pour-Over or Americano Tastier? Why Do So Many People Love Americano?

Americano vs. Pour-Over: Why Do People Think Americano is Inferior?

Americano and pour-over are the two most popular black coffees on the market today. Since there are differences in their preparation methods and pricing systems, it's inevitable that people often compare these two types of black coffee. Many people have reached a conclusion based on "multiple considerations" that: "Americano is not as good as pour-over." This relationship is shown in the long-standing coffee snobbery chart that circulates online.

Although FrontStreet Coffee often says that this snobbery shouldn't exist, there are actually quite a few friends who hold these misconceptions. Therefore, today FrontStreet Coffee would like to share with everyone why some people think Americano is not as good as pour-over coffee. First, let's briefly understand what Americano coffee is and what pour-over coffee is!

What is Americano Coffee?

Americano coffee is a member of the espresso-based coffee system, made by adding a certain proportion of water to high-pressure extracted espresso. It was born during wartime because American soldiers couldn't get used to the strong Italian espresso, so they asked shops to dilute it with water. Since the main group who drank coffee this way at that time was American soldiers, people named this type of coffee "Americano."

Due to its affordable price and excellent energizing effect, Americano has now become the flagship product ("sales champion") in most coffee shops and is the daily go-to for many office workers.

What is Pour-Over Coffee?

Pour-over coffee is a method of coffee extraction where hot water is manually poured to dissolve the flavor compounds from the coffee grounds, and the coffee liquid is released simultaneously during brewing, hence also known as drip coffee.

Since pour-over coffee requires human involvement throughout the extraction process, its variables are basically controlled by people. Different equipment and different parameters will change the final coffee performance, making it highly enjoyable to experiment with. Coupled with affordable equipment prices and excellent flavor performance, pour-over coffee has become the favorite of many friends.

From what we've seen here, we can already know that due to the different preparation methods of pour-over and Americano coffee, they actually aren't comparable. This is like discussing whether an egg tastes better steamed or fried. So why do many friends still think Americano is not as good as pour-over coffee? FrontStreet Coffee believes this is mainly composed of three aspects.

Different Bean Usage: Coffee Price and Preparation Differences

The first reason comes from the difference in the beans they each use! The beans used for pour-over coffee are basically single-origin beans, while those used for espresso are generally blended coffee beans. Since blends are mostly composed of commercial beans, and commercial beans are traditionally considered inferior to single-origin beans, espresso using blends naturally seems inferior to pour-over.

The second reason is the price issue! Typically, the price of pour-over coffee is higher than that of Americano. Take FrontStreet Coffee as an example - FrontStreet Coffee's pour-over coffee starts at 30 yuan per cup, while Americano coffee sells for 23 yuan per cup. Since quality is often linked to price, people naturally think that the more expensive pour-over coffee must be better than Americano.

The final reason is the difference in preparation methods! As mentioned above, Americano is made by simply adding water to an extracted espresso shot. Pour-over coffee, however, requires full human investment throughout the brewing process, appearing more refined. Naturally, people will associate that coffee made with more effort will be superior to simply made coffee.

That being said, the quality of things cannot be judged solely by appearance. Although Americano uses blended beans, we need to know that blends don't necessarily mean low quality. Many times, businesses use blends because single-origin coffee beans cannot deliver perfect performance. For example, Bean No. 1 might have outstanding flavor but a thin mouthfeel; while Bean No. 2 has a rich mouthfeel but slightly weak flavor intensity. Therefore, if we want both flavor and mouthfeel, we can blend to take the excellent flavor of Bean No. 1 and the rich mouthfeel of Bean No. 2, combining them to gather all the advantages.

Take FrontStreet Coffee's "Warm Sun Blend" as an example - although it's a blend, it's made from two single-origin beans: Honduras Sherry and Ethiopia Red Cherry, in a 7:3 ratio. The flavor profile includes both stable aromas like whiskey and butter cookies, plus some lively berry notes from Ethiopian beans, creating a very rich层次. Although it's not a single-origin, its performance is outstanding. Even though few people do this, from this we can see that espresso blends aren't necessarily inferior to pour-over single-origin beans.

Now let's address the price issue. Generally, a pot of pour-over coffee uses about 15g of beans, possibly reaching 16g including cleaning beans. However, extracting an Americano requires 18g of espresso beans to start (FrontStreet Coffee uses 20g per dose). If made according to FrontStreet Coffee's method, the cost of Americano would actually be higher. But even so, FrontStreet Coffee still chooses to sell Americano at a lower price. Why? Because it has a larger audience, so sales volume is higher! This leads to larger purchase quantities, naturally allowing prices to be pushed lower (other aspects of cost are also reduced simultaneously). Additionally, because espresso extraction mainly relies on machines, it saves a lot of time. Therefore, the selling price can naturally be lower.

Finally, regarding the operation issue, although Americano's preparation process when serving is very simple, the effort behind it is actually not simple. It not only requires baristas to pre-adjust the grind but also control the distribution of coffee grounds, extraction time, and liquid volume during extraction. If the same bean is used for both Americano and pour-over, making a good Americano is actually more difficult than pour-over coffee. In terms of flavor, as FrontStreet Coffee mentioned, since the extraction methods differ, each coffee has its unique significance, so they simply cannot be compared. And this is why FrontStreet Coffee always emphasizes that this snobbery shouldn't exist~

Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473