Is Hot or Iced American Coffee Better? Why Does Hot American Coffee Taste as Bitter as Traditional Chinese Medicine?

How to Make Hot Americano Less Bitter

Hot Americano has long been jokingly nicknamed "herbal medicine" or "herbal tea" for being more bitter than other coffees — which is why so many people default to iced Americano instead.

But iced Americano, refreshing as it is, holds little appeal in cold weather, and most of us still want a cup of hot coffee to warm us up. So: is there a way to make hot Americano less bitter and more pleasant?

Yes — if you know where the bitterness comes from, you know how to adjust it. Many people first think of temperature and concentration, and indeed FrontStreet Coffee explained in an earlier article ("Why Is Hot Americano More Bitter Than Iced Americano?") that heat heightens our taste buds' bitterness perception and higher concentration intensifies flavor. But those are amplifiers, not the root cause — they merely magnify the espresso's inherent taste. Which gives us the clue: fix the coffee itself. Most cafés choose darker-roasted espresso beans and high-extraction recipes so the coffee can stand up to milk. If all you want is an Americano, you're free to choose different beans and different extraction entirely.

Choosing Coffee Beans

Americanos are just diluted espresso, with nothing masking the flavor — what you taste is the coffee itself. So if bitterness is the enemy, start by choosing beans that aren't roasted so dark.

Caveat: the lighter the roast, the higher the bean quality must be. Without the roasty depth to mask imperfections, every flaw shows. That's why last century's roasting was dominated by dark roasts — bean quality back then generally couldn't bear the light. So the direction is clear: for a hot Americano that's neither bitter nor aggressively sour, choose medium-dark roasts. Brazilian beans are excellent — low acidity, affordable — yielding an Americano without prominent bitterness that still works in milk drinks.

You can also get the best of both worlds through blending, like FrontStreet Coffee's "Warm Sun" — a medium-roast blend with balanced sweetness, acidity, and bitterness in distinct layers that still supports milk coffee. (An example, not an ad.)

For an Americano with minimal bitterness and fuller sweet-sour character, look to medium-light and medium roasts from Ethiopia, Panama, or Colombia — beans with prominent floral and fruity aromas, at relatively higher prices.

Adjusting the Extraction

With beans chosen, adjust the extraction. Cafés typically push extraction rates up so bitter substances can compete with milk in a fixed cup size. Without milk coffee to worry about, you have options — the Ristretto style is a great one: take only the front-to-middle of the shot, skipping the late-stage bitters, for a high-sweetness espresso and an Americano without pronounced bitterness. (See "What Is Ristretto?" for the details.)

Also worth noting: since an Americano dilutes espresso with water anyway, espresso concentration doesn't matter here. Whether you pull 36ml from 18g or 90ml — it doesn't matter! The coffee gets diluted in the end either way; just aim for a reasonably complete extraction. If you're not fully confident in extraction theory, stick with conventional parameters.

Whether to Keep Fine Powders

As FrontStreet Coffee has noted many times, espresso basket holes aren't fine enough to stop the smallest particles, which ride out with the oils, float awhile, then sink and blend into the cup as the crema fades.

Fines add mouthfeel — but they're also bitterness contributors. To reduce bitterness, try placing 1-2 round filter papers at the bottom of the portafilter: fewer fines in the cup, slightly less bitterness.

You could also paper-filter the finished shot to strip oils and fines, but that adds hassle and costs the coffee some aftertaste. You can't have your cake and eat it too — the trade-off is yours to make.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Following the logic above, FrontStreet's Brazil-sourced beans are the natural pick for a smooth hot Americano: the Fazenda Rainha (Queen Estate) yellow Bourbon shows roasted peanut, dark chocolate, and sugarcane sweetness with low acidity, and it pulls a mellow, balanced shot that still shines in lattes. FrontStreet Coffee's Black Cocoa Blend — Yunnan Arabica with Brazil Cerrado — is the value alternative: nut, chocolate, and cream aromas with soft plum acidity.

For a brighter, sweeter Americano, the medium-roast Warm Sun blend balances sweetness, acidity, and bitterness in clean layers, while the Strawberry Sugar blend goes further: rose, strawberry gummy, dried blueberry, and grape-citrus notes with an almond-sweet finish — a medium roast with enough body for milk coffee and enough fruit to make a hot Americano taste nothing like herbal tea.