Why Do Iced Americanos Taste Different at Coffee Shops? How to Make a Standard Iced Americano?

"Have you changed your beans? This Americano seems..."

Many baristas feel uneasy when hearing these words, fearing that negative descriptions like "too bitter," "too astringent," or "unpleasant" might follow. They tentatively ask if something's wrong, only to hear the customer reply: "It's delicious! It feels different from before!" The barista's face then lights up: "No, it's still the same bean~"

This past Monday, exactly this conversation unfolded at FrontStreet Coffee, when a customer held an iced Americano and said: "It tastes different from last time. This one has more noticeable fruit acidity and feels refreshing!" Here's the question: In the same shop, using the same coffee beans, can Americanos really vary significantly under different circumstances? And what factors influence these changes?

What Makes Americano Change Flavor?

As one of the best-selling products in countless coffee shops, Americanos are convenient, quick, and affordable, meeting most people's daily caffeine needs. Making an Americano involves just a few simple steps: take a cup, add water, pour espresso, and perhaps add ice. Simply put, Americano coffee is espresso diluted with water. Since water is colorless and tasteless, the "culprit" that can change an Americano's flavor must be the espresso.

Standard Preparation at FrontStreet Coffee

Typically, each coffee shop's espresso beans, dosage amount, and preparation ratios are fixed. At FrontStreet Coffee, we use the Sunflower · Warm Sun blend beans, with 20 grams of coffee grounds to extract 40 grams of liquid espresso. For hot Americanos, we use approximately 200ml ceramic cups and add 160ml of hot water to the espresso at a 1:4 ratio, with temperature slightly adjusted based on weather or customer preferences. For iced Americanos, we replace hot water with 90 grams of ice and 160 grams of room temperature water.

Under these conditions, the same Americano from the same shop theoretically shouldn't have significant differences in its main flavor profile and concentration. For example, when FrontStreet Coffee makes Americanos using Warm Sun, they should have vanilla, cream, fermented wine aroma, cocoa, and slight fruit acidity flavors. The concentration should fall within 1.4-1.7% range, tasting refreshing with balanced sweetness and acidity, with rich coffee flavor but without bitterness.

Factors That Change Americano Flavor

Since we haven't changed the beans and the extraction ratio is fixed, what causes Americanos from the same coffee shop to "change flavor"?

1. Bean Resting Time

As is well known, freshly roasted coffee beans contain large amounts of carbon dioxide. The darker the roast, the more porous the texture becomes, and the more gas they contain. These gases inhibit the dissolution and release of flavor compounds to some extent.

When extracting freshly roasted coffee beans with a pressurized espresso machine, we can see numerous bubbles discharged along with the coffee liquid, making the espresso appear to have rich crema. However, this crema is very unstable, with a rough surface that might even clump, and the flavor lacks body and aroma. This is under-extraction caused by excessive gas. Therefore, to make a good espresso, the bean resting step is essential. FrontStreet Coffee typically rests the roasted Warm Sun espresso beans in a cool place for about 10 days before use.

Since roasted beans continuously release gas, the taste of espresso also changes as the beans age during use. For example, when FrontStreet Coffee extracts espresso within 10-20 days of resting, the crema layer is relatively large, and Americanos typically show characteristics of raspberry's bright acidity along with vanilla, cream, and slight fermentation notes. When using beans 20-30 days after roasting, the crema significantly decreases, and later-stage flavor compounds like caramel, wine aroma, and nuts begin to release more. At this stage, Americanos taste slightly richer and fuller.

2. Weather Changes

Besides the beans' natural condition, espresso extraction is also affected by air temperature and humidity. Therefore, when encountering low-pressure, high-humidity rainy days, or the "returning south" humidity that we in Guangdong dread most, when both indoors and outdoors are muggy and damp, baristas face double challenges when adjusting espresso extraction.

When indoor humidity is higher, the air is filled with active water molecules, increasing the possibility of coffee beans that should be stored dry being attacked by moisture. Ground coffee is more likely to "clump" and stick to the grinder's burrs and channels. Clumped coffee grounds not only lead to uneven extraction but also cause channeling effects. One espresso might taste good, while the next might show slight bitterness, off-flavors, or saltiness.

Additionally, lower atmospheric pressure makes the espresso machine's pressurization effect weaker than usual, which is why espresso on rainy days often lacks aroma compared to sunny days and has a more monotonous flavor. Therefore, to avoid coffee with abnormal flavors, responsible baristas constantly monitor espresso extraction conditions to make quick adjustments.

3. Hopper Pressure

Filling the hopper is a preparation step almost every barista does before morning calibration. This provides a relatively stable pressure value for the espresso grinder, making the particle size of the powder more uniform and thereby reducing extraction variations.

FrontStreet Coffee once conducted a comparative experiment. When less than 1/4 of coffee remained in the hopper, the grinding became coarser as pressure decreased, causing the extraction time for a double espresso using the same amount of grounds to shorten by 3-5 seconds. The taste also differed significantly from the morning calibration. Therefore, for baristas managing the bar to maintain stable extraction throughout the day, they should never wait until the hopper is completely empty before refilling.

4. Continuous Brewing

When a grinder continuously brews multiple cups, the constantly high-speed rotating burrs generate heat, causing the subsequently ground coffee to become coarser or have uneven particle sizes, which then leads to unstable espresso flow rates. On the other hand, the heating of burrs also accelerates the volatilization of flavor compounds from coffee particles. At the same time, during extraction, the puck temperature also increases, thereby reducing the viscosity of the final coffee.

Of course, there are many other reasons why Americanos might taste off, such as baristas accidentally bumping the portafilter, poor distribution or tamping, extracting too much or too little coffee liquid, not adjusting parameters that match the bean's flavor profile... These easily overlooked details all test whether a barista's basic skills are solid.

The Art and Science Behind Great Coffee

FrontStreet Coffee explains all this not to encourage people to find fault with baristas, nor to complicate simple concepts, but to provide different perspectives for understanding the logic behind delicious flavors, exploring the charm of the espresso system, and discovering more possibilities in a cup of Americano coffee.

- END -

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473