Americano: Pour Water First or Last? What's the Difference Between Americano and Long Black? Should You Pour Espresso Last or First in a Long Black?

FrontStreet Coffee has found that many friends are still caught up in the question of whether an Americano should be made with water first or espresso first. Whenever FrontStreet Coffee serves an Americano, someone always asks: "The most authentic way to make an Americano should be espresso first and then water, so why do most Americanos served nowadays pour the water first and the espresso after?"

To answer that question, we first need to understand the difference between Americanos made with different pouring orders. Before that, though, FrontStreet Coffee should remind everyone that coffee made by pouring water first and espresso after is not necessarily a Long Black. Besides the pouring order, a Long Black and an Americano also differ in concentration. FrontStreet Coffee has explained this in detail in earlier articles, so we will not go into it again here.

Next, let FrontStreet Coffee make two Americanos with the same beans and the same parameters, the only difference being the order in which the espresso and water are poured, and see what differences emerge.

Where do Americanos with reversed steps differ?

For this comparison, FrontStreet Coffee uses the FrontStreet Classic Italian Blend from the bean list. Because it is blended from beans from three regions, Brazil, Indonesia, and Vietnam, it not only has a richer, more mellow flavor but also yields an espresso with extremely rich crema.

The extraction parameters stay the same: 20g of coffee grounds, 30s, 40ml of coffee liquid.

Once the coffee is extracted, we build Americanos in different orders. The steps are: one cup gets 40ml of espresso poured in first, followed by 160ml of 70°C hot water; the other cup does the opposite, with 160ml of 70°C hot water poured in first, followed by 40ml of espresso.

In the image above, the left side shows the Americano made espresso-first, and the right side shows the one made water-first. The first difference is in appearance. In the espresso-first cup, the water is added afterward, and the force of the pour disperses the espresso crema, leaving only a thin layer of white foam on the surface. The water-first cup preserves the crema well, so it keeps a golden, rich layer.

Besides appearance, Americanos made in different orders differ in taste. Pouring espresso first and then water lets the water impact the espresso, blending coffee, crema, and water perfectly so that every sip tastes the same.

When the espresso is poured last, then without much stirring the first few sips differ somewhat from the later ones. This is because the crema floats on the surface, bringing richer aroma and bitterness, and because the espresso and water have not blended evenly, so different positions in the cup hold different concentrations. That said, the difference is extremely subtle. In a blind tasting without a direct side-by-side comparison, most people cannot tell them apart. FrontStreet Coffee's two Americanos made with the Classic Italian Blend, for instance, mainly taste of rich chocolate, butter, and nuts. Compared with the difference caused by pouring water first or last, the difference caused by pulling slightly more or less espresso is actually greater.

Why did the order change?

Earlier Americanos were in fact made espresso-first, and that came down to the serving habits of the time. In many coffee shops, we can see espresso machines lined with coffee cups. This serves two purposes: preheating the cups, and keeping them within easy reach.

That way, baristas can grab the right cup and place it under the spout when making espresso. After extraction, milk or water is added to the cup as needed. So early on, most espresso drinks were built espresso-first, with the other ingredients added afterward. Later, people began using espresso cups to catch the shot, aiming for faster, more convenient service. When an espresso cup catches the shot, we can prepare the other ingredients in advance during extraction. For an Americano, for example, we can pour the water into the cup first, then just wait for the extraction to finish and pour in the espresso, ready to serve.

This not only speeds up service noticeably but also gives the coffee a better appearance. Many customers are amazed when they see FrontStreet Coffee's Americano topped with rich crema, which shows how popular that visual effect is. This is why today's coffee shops do not pay too much attention to the order of espresso and water when making an Americano, focusing instead on whatever is most convenient and comfortable.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Whichever order you pour, the cup is only as good as the bean behind it, and Brazil is the backbone of most espresso blends for good reason. As the world's largest coffee producer, Brazil grows an enormous range, and its beans carry moderate acidity with a fine balance of sweetness, bitterness, and body, which makes them ideal for medium roasting, when they give off a nutty aroma and a mellow, softly acidic cup that works as a single origin or in a blend.

If you want to taste the Brazilian character on its own, FrontStreet's Cerrado Red Bourbon is a classic single origin from the well-known Cerrado region, a red Bourbon variety from South America. Medium-roasted, it shows rich notes of creamy peanut, toast, caramel, and hazelnut, with a round body, no sourness, and a light bitter finish. It brews well as pour-over and also works in a Moka pot, as espresso SOE, in a siphon, and in a French press. For something rarer, the FrontStreet Queen Estate from Mogiana, near South Minas, grows the uncommon yellow Bourbon, a natural mutation of Red Bourbon, on fertile red volcanic soil for cleaner fruit and a sugarcane sweetness all its own, alongside fruit and chocolate notes.