How to Taste a Cup of Americano? What Are the Essentials for Making Café Americano?

Starting a refined day for office workers often only requires a cup of freshly ground coffee, and the Americano is the top choice for countless professionals.

Regardless of the contributing factors, the Americano is always the "pillar" of a coffee shop. Therefore, its taste often directly affects people's first impression of the establishment, even leading to sighs like "if they can't even make a proper Americano, forget about other coffees." In their view, if a cup of Americano tastes good or decent, they'll likely return next time; but if they barely take a few sips long after receiving it, it indicates it's not quite appealing, making a repeat purchase unlikely.

However, as the saying goes, "it's difficult to cater to all tastes." From a consumer's perspective, whether a cup of coffee tastes good is highly subjective. Some prefer rich, mellow, and bitter coffee, while others favor light, refreshing, and acidic coffee. Different preferences deeply influence our final impression of an Americano. So, if we set aside personal preferences and approach it purely from a tasting perspective, what should a good Americano taste like (in terms of mouthfeel)?

What are the differences between Americanos from different coffee shops?

FrontStreet Coffee often hears people say, "An Americano is nothing more than espresso diluted with water, so every shop's taste is pretty much the same."

Actually, that's not the case. FrontStreet Coffee believes that simpler things often test one's skills more. Although almost all Americanos are essentially a cup of hot (or iced) coffee with approximately 7-12% concentration, significant differences can arise due to various factors including different coffee beans, espresso conditions, extraction ratios, water amount, temperature, and water quality.

For the latter three factors, these typically depend on each shop's product customization and can be considered fixed elements. Only the espresso is the variable adjusted daily. For example, FrontStreet Coffee uses a 350ml glass cup for iced Americano, with 90g ice + 180g drinking water + double shot of espresso; while for hot Americano, they use a 250ml ceramic cup with 180g warm water + double shot of espresso.

In other words, an excellent Americano not only requires high-quality coffee beans but also proper extraction tailored to those beans and finding the right concentration for the final product. With these factors in place, a good Americano cannot be separated from the following three points:

1. Smooth mouthfeel with a clean aftertaste

We all know that crema is the soul of an espresso. Because espresso with crema smells incredibly aromatic, feels rich in body upon entry, and leaves lingering fragrance after swallowing.

Therefore, to ensure consistent quality and make espresso both aromatic and with good crema, most coffee shops prioritize medium-dark roasted espresso beans. For example, the espresso extracted from FrontStreet Coffee's specialty blend primarily features caramelized aromas, often expressing flavors of chocolate, cocoa, and roasted nuts. These beans produce rich and dense crema. However, once over-extracted, the crema will mix with large amounts of extremely fine powder, easily causing clumping and hardening, which leads to rough, dry, and unpleasant mouthfeel in the Americano.

So, a good Americano should first be smooth to drink, with no uncomfortable experience after swallowing. Conversely, if it feels like a tire-like stimulation when drinking, or if it's dry, rough, or sticks in your throat, then without FrontStreet Coffee emphasizing it, I believe everyone knows this definitely doesn't qualify as "good coffee."

2. Noticeable aroma, not bland

Although people often say that high-end ingredients only need simple cooking methods, in reality, how many high-end ingredients do we encounter in daily life? Therefore, when we have the most common ingredients, what we can do is find the right parameters to make them present better results.

As a coffee that's extracted and then diluted with water, whether hot or cold, the flavor core of an Americano lies in that small cup of espresso. At this point, finding the right coffee-to-water ratio becomes key to making the coffee taste good. Precisely because it's the base, the espresso's concentration cannot be too low, and it must have complete flavor expression. Otherwise, when poured into water, it will either be bland and tasteless or full of "watery" sensation.

Taking FrontStreet Coffee's Guaxupé SOE coffee beans as an example, considering they belong to the fruity acidic coffee category, the water proportion shouldn't be too large. If we want the Americano to showcase citrus and berry flavors, FrontStreet Coffee will adjust the parameters to: 20g coffee powder extracted for 28-33 seconds to yield 36g coffee liquid, then poured into 160ml warm water. This way, the coffee liquid to water ratio will approximately be 1:4, tasting sweet and sour with clear fragrance and noticeable black tea sensation.

3. Balanced flavor, neither overly bitter nor sharply acidic

Compared to other extraction methods, espresso extraction seems somewhat "extreme." It's a process that requires obtaining coffee liquid through high temperature and rapid extraction with extremely fine grinding similar to flour. At this point, both good and bad elements are directly amplified. Simply put, bitter coffee easily becomes more bitter, while acidic coffee easily becomes more acidic.

Therefore, to determine whether an Americano is good, besides feeling its mouthfeel, aftertaste, and aroma, we also need to see if the taste is balanced and palatable after the prepared espresso is mixed with water. For example, whether dark roast Americano has burnt flavors, whether medium-dark roast coffee beans taste overly bitter, or whether light-medium roast Americano has sharp acidity are all aspects we need to pay attention to.

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473