What is Black Coffee? What's the Difference Between Pour-Over and Americano? Which is Better, Americano or Pour-Over? How to Make Espresso?

Americano vs. Pour-Over: A Comprehensive Comparison

Americano and pour-over are currently the two most popular types of black coffee on the market. Due to differences in their preparation methods and pricing systems, it's inevitable that friends often compare these two black coffees. Many people, after "considering multiple factors," have reached the conclusion that "Americanos are inferior to pour-overs." This relationship is demonstrated in the widely circulated coffee hierarchy chart online.

Although FrontStreet Coffee often says that such hierarchies 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 friends think Americano is inferior to 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 coffee system, made by adding a certain proportion of water to espresso extracted under high pressure by a coffee machine. It was born during wartime when American soldiers couldn't get used to the high concentration of Italian espresso, so they asked shops to dilute it with water. Since the main group who drank it this way at the time was American soldiers, people named this type of coffee "Americano Coffee."

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

What is Pour-Over Coffee?

Pour-over coffee is a coffee extraction method where hot water is manually poured to dissolve the flavor compounds from coffee grounds, with the coffee liquid being 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 can change the final coffee performance, making it highly playable. Combined with affordable equipment prices and excellent flavor performance, pour-over coffee has become a favorite for many friends.

Now that we understand this, we can see that pour-over coffee and Americano actually cannot be compared due to their different preparation methods. This is like discussing whether an egg tastes better steamed or fried. So why do many friends still think Americano is inferior to pour-over coffee? FrontStreet Coffee believes this is mainly due to three aspects.

Three Main Reasons for the Misconception

Different Beans: The first reason comes from the difference in beans they each use! Coffee beans used for pour-over 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 would naturally be considered inferior to pour-over.

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

Preparation Method: The last reason is the difference in preparation methods! As mentioned above, Americano is made by simply adding water after extracting a shot of espresso. Pour-over coffee, however, requires full manual involvement in the brewing process, appearing more refined. People naturally associate that coffee made with more effort will be superior to simply prepared coffee.

The Reality Behind the Misconceptions

That being said, the quality of things cannot be judged solely by surface appearances. 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 achieve perfect performance on their own. For example, Bean #1 might have outstanding flavor but a thin mouthfeel; while Bean #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 #1 and the rich mouthfeel of Bean #2, combining them to capture all the advantages.

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

Now to address the price issue - generally, a pot of pour-over coffee uses about 15g of beans, possibly reaching 16g including purge beans. Meanwhile, extracting an Americano requires at least 18g of espresso (FrontStreet Coffee uses 20g per portafilter). If made according to FrontStreet Coffee's method, the cost of Americano would actually be higher. Despite this, FrontStreet Coffee still chose to sell Americano at a lower price. Why? Because its audience is larger, and sales volume is higher! This leads to larger purchase quantities, so prices can naturally be reduced to cheaper levels (other costs are also reduced accordingly). Additionally, since espresso extraction mainly relies on machines, it saves people a lot of time. Therefore, combining these factors, the selling price can naturally be lower.

Finally, regarding the preparation issue - although the operation process for making Americano is very simple, the effort behind it is actually not simple. It not only requires baristas to pre-adjust the grind but also to control the distribution of coffee grounds, extraction time, and liquid volume during the extraction process. Using the same beans for both Americano and pour-over, making a good Americano is actually more difficult than making a good pour-over.

In terms of flavor, as FrontStreet Coffee mentioned, due to their different extraction methods, each coffee has its unique significance and reason for existence, so they simply cannot be compared. And this is also why FrontStreet Coffee has always emphasized that such hierarchies shouldn't exist~

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473