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Americano has become the drink of choice for many young people. A cup of Americano after a meal not only cuts through greasiness and aids digestion, but also effectively breaks down fat; combined with proper exercise, it can help with weight loss, which is why Americano has also become the coffee drink of choice for many celebrities. Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) also serves Americano, and many regulars like to come to Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) after a meal and order a cup of Americano while chatting about everyday matters.
    

So what is Americano? The method for making Americano is very simple: just add water directly to extracted espresso; that is, diluted espresso is Americano. Unsweetened Americano tastes rather bitter, and for people who often drink milk coffee it may take some getting used to at first, so they are used to adding a packet of sugar. Front Street believes whether to add sugar to Americano can depend on your own taste; pure Americano has its own Americano flavor, but if you do not like coffee with a bitter flavor, adding sugar is not out of the question.
 

 
The taste of Americano is on the bitter side; one reason is that the roast level of Americano coffee beans is generally darker than that of pour-over coffee beans.
 
What beans does Front Street use for Americano?
 
Coffee beans used to make Americano in general coffee shops are often blends or dark-roasted beans; for flavor, it is recommended to choose coffee beans with flavors including nuts, cocoa, caramel, chocolate and so on. The beans used to make Americano at Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) are Front Street's own blend, which Front Street named Sunflower Warm Sun Blend. This blend uses Sherry from Honduras and Red Cherry coffee from Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia; through continuous blending by Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) baristas, a fairly perfect blending ratio of 6:4 was obtained. The espresso produced has obvious fruity acidity, along with berry flavors and wine aroma, and a comfortable sweet aftertaste.
 

 
One reason the coffee beans used to make Americano are chosen as blends is that by using the characteristics of each bean, you can blend a flavor you like. Sometimes Robusta coffee beans are also added to a coffee blend to increase the oily mouthfeel of the extracted Americano; on the other hand, compared with specialty coffee, adding Robusta coffee beans can reduce costs.
    

The Sunflower Warm Sun coffee beans just mentioned by Front Street include Sherry coffee beans from Honduras. The Sherry coffee beans use a refined washed plus whiskey sherry cask fermentation method, adding a wine note to the Americano. Of course, if you do not like the special processing method used in Honduras, you can also consider other beans. For example, Front Street's basic blend uses Yunnan coffee and Brazil coffee blended in a 3:7 ratio; this espresso blend has soft fruity acidity and caramel sweetness. There is also a specialty blend, using Colombia coffee beans with Brazil coffee beans, blended in a 3:7 ratio; Colombia coffee's distinctive nut and chocolate notes blended with Brazil's rich peanut and cream coffee flavors make this espresso blend very balanced overall, rich in crema, extremely smooth on entry, fresh and light yet with a slightly Americano-style bitterness.

  
FrontStreet Americano Recipe
   

Americano is mainly about extracting espresso, and the parameters used on every espresso machine are different. FrontStreet Coffee currently uses a Lelit V3 espresso machine, and the extraction parameters used are those adjusted after many rounds of extraction at FrontStreet.

Pressure: 9 bar
Temperature: 90.5~96°C
Time: 20~30 sec
Dose-to-water ratio: 1:1.7~1:2
Dose: 12g (single espresso) 20g (double espresso)
Extracted espresso yield: 20ml (single) 40ml (double)
At the same time, these same parameters also apply to making milk coffees, such as latte, cappuccino and so on.
 
Hot Americano
 
FrontStreet uses a double extraction to make Americano, that is, 40ml of espresso, and you can add an appropriate amount of hot water according to the strength you want. Of course, the temperature of the hot water is best at around 85°C, and it is also best not to add too much hot water, otherwise the Americano produced will taste very weak. Generally, the traditional Americano ratio is 1:8, but FrontStreet Coffee currently does not use this ratio. FrontStreet adjusted it accordingly based on the cup volume served in store, and finally set the Americano dose-to-water ratio at 1:4.5.
 

 
Iced Americano
 
Making iced Americano is very simple and convenient. You just need to mix ice and water at 1:1 to make the amount of water you need, then extract the espresso and pour it in.

Hot | The Difference Between Iced Americano Coffee, FrontStreet Coffee lists the following three aspects:

1. The color of the coffee drink: hot Americano is brown-black, while iced Americano takes on a transparent brown. This is related to the ratio of coffee liquid to water. FrontStreet Coffee's hot Americano has a water-to-liquid ratio of about 1:4.5, while the iced Americano reaches about 1:9.

2. The difference in caffeine content: FrontStreet's hot Americano uses only one espresso, while the iced Americano uses two.

3. The mouthfeel is different: the flavor of iced Americano is a bit more restrained, and the addition of ice makes it crisp and light rather than heavy. Hot Americano, relatively speaking, is heavier with abundant aroma; the crema on the surface crema adds to the coffee's sense of layering and creamy mouthfeel, so the body naturally goes up as well. The hot coffee liquid of an iced Americano cools rapidly upon meeting the ice, causing the overall flavor to change and remain consistent. But hot Americano's flavor changes relatively as the temperature changes. Take FrontStreet Coffee's hot Americano as an example: the coffee has a mixed aroma of floral and wine notes; when hot, it has an obvious fermented feel on entry, and a sip together with the "crema" on the surface gives the coffee a creamy, smooth mouthfeel. As the temperature drops, acidity begins to appear, and when you close your mouth the fermented wine aroma lingers in the mouth for a long time. At a pleasant drinking temperature, the sweetness is also very obvious, with caramel notes.