Today we are going to talk about a question that many coffee shop regulars are confused about: What do Americano, black coffee, espresso, and drip coffee specifically mean?

As for the American coffee and drip coffee, which are the most popular among guests in "Friends of Coffee", their similarity in appearance is more than 99.9%, both are pitch black .

1. Classification of coffee

Before discussing the specific names of coffee, let’s take a broader view and look at the classification of coffee. From the fruit on the tree to the coffee in our hands, there are roughly five major links: planting, harvesting, processing, roasting, and extraction. Based on different links, we can classify coffee differently.

For example, the following hot-selling product of a certain father can be called Sumatra coffee beans (planting origin), semi-washed beans (processing method), or dark roasted beans (roasting degree).

"Drip" and "Italian" actually refer to the method of coffee extraction , while "American" involves the subsequent preparation of coffee liquid.

2. Coffee extraction

The so-called extraction is to grind the coffee beans into powder and then use water to extract the soluble substances in them. Common extraction methods include dripping , Italian style , soaking and boiling .

Drip coffee : hot water is passed through a layer of coffee powder under normal atmospheric pressure to extract the aromatic substances of the coffee powder. Coffee made in this way is also called hand-poured coffee .

Common hand brewing tools include Melita filter cup, Chemex, V60 filter cup, etc. In Coffee Friends, Sun Hujun used a combination of a fine-mouthed kettle, filter paper, filter cup and sharing pot.

Hand brewing is a gentle and natural extraction method that can faithfully present the natural flavor of coffee beans. Because the filter paper will block the oil components of coffee, the final brewed coffee is very clear in color, usually with a dark red hue.

Look, is there a dark red hue?

Because of its low equipment investment and simple operation, hand brewing is the first choice for many people to make their own coffee at home. However, hand brewing is actually a very skillful extraction method, because factors such as the amount of powder, grinding degree, water volume, temperature, etc. will affect the final taste. However, the process of constantly exploring and adjusting various variables is the fun of many coffee lovers.

Americans invented the electric drip coffee pot based on the principle of hand-brewed coffee, which is commonly known as the American coffee machine . Therefore, the American coffee machine does not make American coffee, but drip coffee.

Italian coffee : Use an Italian coffee machine to pressurize hot water to 9 atmospheres and then push it through extremely finely ground coffee powder, instantly extracting the soluble ingredients. The drink made in this way is Italian coffee or Italian espresso.

If drip coffee is characterized by cleanliness and clarity, espresso is characterized by richness and intensity. Moreover, the lipid components in the coffee beans are emulsified and produce a caramel-like aroma. In addition to being rich, another major feature of Italian coffee is the thick layer of foam on the surface - crema .

The dense foam on the surface of the coffee liquid is crema

Crema is the result of the combined effect of carbon dioxide and air pressure changes. The carbon dioxide in the coffee beans will dissolve in water under the high pressure of the espresso machine, but the coffee liquid that returns to normal atmospheric pressure can no longer trap these carbon dioxide. Therefore, countless small bubbles emerge from the liquid and remain on the surface, which looks like a layer of floating foam.

Crema is an important criterion for checking whether coffee beans are fresh . Because the longer the date of roasting, the lower the carbon dioxide content in the coffee beans, and the less foam in the coffee liquid. Next time when the waiter makes espresso, you can check whether there is crema. After all, whether a coffee shop that uses stale beans is reliable... I'll give you a look and let you experience it yourself.

Immersion coffee : Unlike drip coffee and espresso coffee, which allow water to flow through the coffee powder, immersion coffee brewers soak the coffee powder and water together to achieve a more consistent extraction. The coffee produced in this way will retain more oils and have a thicker and richer taste.

French Press

Cold Brew Pot

Boiled coffee : The equipment needs to be placed on a heat source to continue heating. Representative tools are Turkish coffee pots and moka pots. Because the water temperature can easily rise, these tools often brew very strong and very bitter coffee. Occasionally, some people also call the coffee brewed in a moka pot Italian coffee. But strictly speaking, this is just a brewing method that Italians like to use at home, not real Italian coffee.

Moka Pot

Turkish coffee pot

The above are some of the more common extraction methods. In addition, the portable and highly playable AeroPress and the highly ornamental siphon pot are also popular extraction tools.

AeroPress

Siphon pot

Coffee made with any of the above methods/tools is black coffee . Simply put, regardless of the extraction method, coffee that looks like a black liquid is collectively called black coffee. After the extraction is completed, different materials are added to the coffee liquid to make a variety of fancy coffee drinks. Among them, the most familiar to us is probably Italian base coffee .

3. Italian-style coffee

As the name suggests, Italian-style coffee is made by adding various ingredients to Espresso. The more common drinks are:

Espresso Field Guide (Note 1)

The most popular coffee among cafe owners and employees is probably Americano... After all, espresso plus boiled water, done!

It's espresso mixed with boiled water.

In Italian, "caffè Americano" specifically means "American coffee". It is said that during World War II, when American soldiers were marching in Italy, they felt that espresso was too strong, so they asked to add some hot water to dilute the coffee to the taste of their home country. Later, this kind of coffee was called Americano, or American light coffee (Note 2).

Milk is also a common role in fancy coffee. For example, latte is actually a mixture of 2 ounces (about 56 ml) of espresso, 10 ounces (about 296 ml) of milk and a small amount of milk foam, which is also the ratio of Starbucks' medium latte. If you are like me, and like the affordable feeling of "3 yuan to upgrade to a large cup"... then congratulations, you will get a mixture of 56 ml of coffee liquid and about 400 ml of pure milk!

You think you are drinking coffee, but you are actually drinking milk...

In addition to milk, sugar, cream, chocolate and ice cream, you can also add fruits, spices, nuts, wine and other ingredients to a cup of fancy coffee. For example, the orange in the latte of Coffee Friends uses a combination of homemade orange honey + espresso + milk.

Today, the most common coffee we see in most coffee shops around the world is Italian-based coffee. However, the popularity of Italian coffee is not due to the Italians, but to the Americans.

In 1987, Howard Schultz, then CEO, introduced lattes and cappuccinos made with espresso and dense milk foam, transforming Starbucks from a coffee bean roasting retailer to a fashionable coffee house. As Schultz imagined, Starbucks became "the third good place besides home and office" and quickly expanded into a chain giant (Note 3).

The rise of the green mermaid has profoundly influenced coffee companies around the world. From Costa, McCafe, Tim Hortons, to unknown coffee shops in second-, third-, fourth- and fifth-tier cities, and even Luckin and Coffee Box, which are very successful in Internet marketing, Italian-based coffee occupies half of the menu.

However, in recent years, the coffee industry has shown a trend of "returning to basics", emphasizing the natural flavors of different coffee beans through simple and gentle extraction methods such as hand pouring, French pressing, and siphoning. The rise of brands such as Blue Bottle, Intelligentsia, Stumptown, and Counterculture all show that consumers recognize this concept. Even Starbucks has begun to provide hand pouring coffee in some stores.