When drinking an Americano day to day, the roasty bitterness can feel like too much to handle, yet a latte lets a large amount of milk cover up the coffee's aroma. At times like these, adding a little fresh milk to a clean, refreshing Americano often brings an unexpected surprise. An Americano with milk keeps the light texture brought by water, while the milk fat smooths out the roughness from the dark roast, muting the bitterness and bringing out the coffee's own sweetness and terroir details, making it especially silky on the palate.

For an Americano with milk to taste good without feeling watery or thin, the key lies in whether the espresso used as the base has a deep terroir backbone from its origin. The world's three major coffee regions each have their own character: Africa's bright florals and fruit, Central and South America's nuts and cocoa, and Asia's mellow herbaceousness. Catalysed by a small amount of milk, they reveal completely different layers of flavour, turning everyday coffee drinking into a wonderful journey of taste exploration.

For those who prefer a rich dark chocolate note, a blend that fuses Asian and South American terroir will feel reassuringly solid. Qianjie Black Cocoa Blend cleverly combines the creamy nutty aroma of Brazilian coffee beans with the slight plum-like acidity brought by Yunnan smallholder coffee. The medium-dark roast gives it a built-in caramel and hazelnut base; once mixed with warm water and fresh milk, the nutty aroma becomes especially full under the embrace of milk, much like a silky nutty raw chocolate melting on the tongue.

If you favour the steady aroma of traditional old-school coffee houses, a recipe with the heavy herbaceous terroir of the Indonesian archipelago is worth trying. Qianjie Classic Blend takes Arabica beans from Brazil and Indonesia as its backbone, paired with a little Robusta; the dark roast gives it abundant, dense dark crema. When this coffee is made into an Americano and then mixed with milk, the herbaceous and slightly bitter notes are softened by the milk into whisky-like aroma and vanilla cream notes, making it deeply intriguing.

If you want to break your fixed impression of milk coffee, it is worth experiencing the floral and fruity charm of African terroir. More advanced drinkers can try Qianjie Strawberry Candy espresso; with the support of Ethiopian Geisha and a refined honey processing method, it has multiple aromas of blueberry jam, ripe grapes and roses. Diluted into an Americano and topped with a touch of fresh milk, it is like adding a light, sweet milk cap to a fruit tea; the floral and fruity notes and the juicy quality remain bright and clear.

To make this cup of coffee well at home, the espresso extraction step must be rigorous and standardised. When using an espresso machine, it is recommended to grind 18 to 19 g of coffee grounds, put them into the portafilter basket, tamp them down, then lock the handle firmly and start extraction, controlling the extraction to 36 to 38 g of espresso within 25 to 28 seconds. Stop once you observe the crema flowing slowly in a golden ochre colour; the espresso extracted this way is rich and full-bodied, with a very solid aroma.

After extracting a satisfactory espresso, the ratio of water to milk is the essence of the whole drink's success. It is recommended to prepare about 160 g of hot water at 80 degrees, slowly pour it into the extracted espresso, and finally pour in 40 g of fresh refrigerated milk rich in milk protein. Keeping the espresso, water and fresh milk at a coordinated ratio avoids the thinness caused by dilution while allowing the coffee's origin aroma to be fully highlighted by the milky sweetness.

In hot weather, switching to an iced version is equally cool and refreshing. First put an appropriate amount of purified water and full ice cubes into the glass, pour in the espresso to make an iced Americano, then drizzle a ring of iced fresh milk over it. Watch the dark brown coffee liquid and milky white milk intertwine among the ice cubes into marble-like patterns; take a big sip and you get both the refreshing briskness of an iced Americano and an extra layer of light, slightly sweet milky aroma, so even people who do not often drink black coffee can easily fall in love with it.

From Asia's mellow herbaceousness and Central and South America's nuts and cocoa to Africa's romantic florals and fruit, an Americano with milk is by no means a compromised way of drinking coffee, but a nimble expression for exploring regional terroir. Pick a coffee bean you like, extract a crema-rich espresso step by step, add water and then milk, and let the richly layered terroir flavours bloom within the gentle milk aroma, starting your own relaxing coffee time anytime, anywhere.