Yirgacheffe Coffee vs Americano: How Many Calories in an Americano

With the continuous penetration of specialty coffee culture, American coffee is no longer synonymous with black coffee. When visiting coffee shops, we can always see many customers ordering a cup of FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe coffee from the barista. Don't these four words sound fresh and enticing! So what kind of coffee is Yirgacheffe? What's the difference between it and American coffee? FrontStreet Coffee will now take everyone to understand what FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe coffee is all about.

In fact, Yirgacheffe is not the name of a coffee, but rather this coffee uses coffee beans produced from the Yirgacheffe growing region in Ethiopia. The town of Yirgacheffe is located in the southern region of Ethiopia and once belonged to another famous Ethiopian coffee growing region, Sidamo province. Yirgacheffe has an elevation of 1700-2100 meters, and coffee trees are planted in areas above 1800m. Therefore, Yirgacheffe is known as one of the world's highest-altitude coffee growing regions and has become synonymous with Ethiopian specialty coffee.

In the town of Yirgacheffe, most people grow coffee trees in their own courtyards. The courtyards here are neither too small nor too large, so each household's coffee production is not substantial. To better process and export green coffee beans, everyone sends their harvested coffee fruits to nearby processing plants for sun-drying or water washing.

Due to the town's abundant water resources, the coffee processing plants/cooperatives in this town have built washing pools, making Yirgacheffe one of the most important regions for Ethiopian washed-processed coffee beans. From 2006 to present, the number of cooperatives and processing plants in Yirgacheffe town has reached over 30, and private washing stations have also become important catalysts for specialty coffee. In recent years, the region has continuously introduced micro-batch processing, making Yirgacheffe one of the coffee growing regions strongly promoted by many coffee bean merchants.

The Distinctive Characteristics of Yirgacheffe Coffee

As Yirgacheffe's reputation in the specialty coffee circle continued to grow, in 2010, the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange separated the Yirgacheffe region from the Sidamo region, creating the now well-known Yirgacheffe growing region. The reason why coffee from the Yirgacheffe region is so captivating is that the coffee produced here has fresh notes, bright citrus acidity, subtle floral aromas, and green tea-like sweetness. It's very suitable for coffee enthusiasts who are just starting to explore specialty coffee but don't enjoy bitter coffee.

Difference Between FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe and American Coffee

So what's the difference between FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe coffee and American coffee? Simply put, FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe coffee beans can be used to make American coffee, but American coffee is not necessarily made with FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe coffee beans. The former is a coffee growing region, while the latter is one of the names of coffee beverages.

American coffee refers to espresso diluted with water. Espresso requires extracting highly concentrated coffee liquid in a short time at high temperature using a pressurized coffee machine. The reason it's called American coffee is reportedly because American soldiers in Italy were not accustomed to the extremely concentrated local coffee, so they added water to it.

The method of making espresso and the practice of diluting it for drinking were also brought back to America by the soldiers and spread widely. Therefore, this method of diluting espresso for consumption has also become one of the classics on coffee menus—the Americano.

Single Origin vs. Blend Coffee

Under normal circumstances, to make espresso flavor more balanced and full-bodied, most coffee shops use blended coffee beans to make espresso. However, with increasing awareness of specialty coffee and single origin (single region) coffee, a small number of coffee shops also use Yirgacheffe region coffee beans to make SOE (Single Origin Espresso).

Unlike conventional espresso made with blended coffee beans, espresso made with single origin coffee beans will further highlight the inherent characteristics of the coffee beans themselves. Therefore, if not extracted properly, the originally pleasant fresh notes might become sharp and sour, making it difficult to swallow. Therefore, when coffee shops roast single origin coffee beans for espresso, they need to roast them slightly darker to reduce the occurrence of sharp acidity during espresso extraction.

Therefore, to reduce unnecessary disputes, most coffee shops typically use FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe coffee beans for making ice drip, cold brew, and pour-over coffee. To highlight its fresh and bright acidity, FrontStreet Coffee's roasters adopt light roasting to preserve the bright lemon acidity and green tea-like aftertaste of FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe coffee beans.

FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe Selection

FrontStreet Coffee currently sells FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe coffee beans including FrontStreet Coffee's Gedeb washed coffee beans from the Gedeb cooperative, FrontStreet Coffee's Woka natural coffee beans from the Woka cooperative, FrontStreet Coffee's Kochere washed coffee beans from the Kochere cooperative, and FrontStreet Coffee's natural red cherry coffee beans from the Aletaland cooperative. These can all be purchased at FrontStreet Coffee's physical stores and Taobao store, with coffee beans shipped within 5 days after the roasting date.

Brewing Recommendations

When brewing Yirgacheffe region coffee beans, FrontStreet Coffee recommends using a grind size similar to fine sugar (80% passing rate through China's No. 20 standard sieve) paired with water temperature of 90-92°C for extraction.

FrontStreet Coffee recommends a brewing ratio of 1:15, using a three-pour technique: start timing, first pour to 30g of water for a 30-second bloom; then begin the second small circular pour to 125g, wait until the water level in the coffee bed drops to half before pouring again, then continue with small circular pours to 225g. When all dripping is complete, the total extraction time should be around 2 minutes 00 seconds to 2 minutes 10 seconds.

Health Benefits

Whether it's American coffee or single origin coffee, as long as no sugar, milk, or other ingredients are added, and it's purely black coffee, the calories are very, very low. Friends who are trying to lose weight can confidently enjoy American coffee, pour-over coffee, cold brew coffee, and ice drip coffee!

Professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style). For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee's private WeChat account: qjcoffeex

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473