Take your Americano to the next level—with just one little trick

Americano is the most common type of coffee, made by adding espresso to hot water. People's attitudes towards Americano are mostly polarized. One is "I only drink Americano, it's fragrant and pure!" The other is "Americano is not good because it's too bitter and strong."

But for many coffee addicts, American coffee is like blood.

Well, in this issue of Coffee Fever, I will share with you a little trick from James Hoffmann to elevate your American coffee and make it taste even better!

It’s a very simple and easy method, and it only requires two spoons!

After we make American coffee, we just need to scoop off the grease on the surface of the American coffee. (Of course, if time permits or if you are more particular, you can also use filter paper to filter the American coffee.)

At the same time, we can also use this method on espresso. Just scoop off the grease on the surface of the espresso, and you will be surprised! The espresso without grease will have a brighter taste and richer layers.

1

The Origin of American Coffee

After talking about the tips, we must of course popularize American coffee. American coffee was born after World War II, when the US military came to southern Europe. However, they were not used to the strong espresso, so they diluted it with water. At that time, the main drinkers were American soldiers, so this kind of coffee was later called American coffee.

In North America, American coffee is very popular. We can see people drinking American coffee everywhere during commute. In China, most coffee shops also offer American coffee, but most people who like American coffee are foreigners or people who have lived abroad.

▲American coffee is mostly sold as takeout

2

The difference between Long Black, Americano and Lungo

There are many ways to make American coffee today. Long Black, Americano and Lungo are the three most common types of American coffee we are exposed to. What are the differences between them?

Long Black is to add water into the cup before extracting espresso; Americano is to extract espresso now and then add water into the cup; and Lungo is to change the scale of the grinder to speed up the flow rate of espresso without adding additional water. Lungo means "long" in Italian, which means "elongated espresso". The extraction time is usually about 1 minute, a single dose is 60-85ml, and a double dose is 120-170ml.

I don’t know if you have tried this little trick before. If you already love American food, maybe you will be even more addicted to it after trying it!