It’s appropriately named since Americano coffees are really only something one would order in America. Try ordering this in Italy or other parts of the world, and you may get some strange stares.
Americanos are something I like to brew almost every day at home as my second coffee of the day. My first coffee for the day is usually cut with some oat and or other milk, so for a second drink I want something with no added sugar.
What’s an Americano?
An American is simply put, a single or double shot of espresso poured into water. This drink is delicious served either hot or iced. At home, in colder months I’ll make an Americano with varying amounts of water depending on how cold im feeling at the moment. For takeout orders I like it iced to not have to deal with a sloshing cup of hot coffee in the car.
Here’s my recipe for an Americano.
Equipment you’ll need
- Good coffee beans
- Espresso machine
- Espresso grinder
- Hot water
Start with good coffee beans
When there’s no milk being added to your coffee, there’s nothing for it to hide behind, so you need to start with good beans and pull a proper shot. There are some local shops I frequent that have amazing baked goods, but their Americanos suffer. Not even their amazing pastries can mask it.
Find some beans with a flavor profile you like and store it properly.
Weigh out the beans
For this recipe, we’re going to pull a double shot with 18g beans–so weigh out 18g of beans. Volumetric measurements like scoops introduce too much variation between scoops so it can make dialing in your espresso shot like trying to hit a moving target.
I’m using an Acaia – Lunar scale.
Grind the beans
Use a grinder capable of grinding fine enough for espresso. There are few grinders capable of grinding coarse enough for drip coffees, that can also go fine enough for espresso, so most people are going to want to use an espresso-specific grinder.
I’m using a Eureka – Mignon Silenzio grinder.
Prepare the espresso puck
Make sure the same amount of beans you originally weighed out, are now in the portafilter. Declump the grounds and or use a distribution tool if your grinder produced clumpy grounds.
Tamp the coffee puck
Tamp as evenly as you can. The goal is to compress the puck as much as you can so every shot you pull can eliminate puck tamping as a variable.
You can’t tamp too hard–the goal with tamping is to remove as much air as we can between the grounds, compressing it. Espresso grounds will all typically hit that goal of maximum compression around 20 lb of force (you can tamp on a body weight scale to get a feel for what that’s like). You can tamp beyond that without worry of messing anything up, but it takes extra unnecessary energy and you may hurt your wrist.
Pull the shot of espresso
How much liquid you pull will depend on your beans. I typically pull a 1:1.5 or 1:2 ratio. Meaning for 18g of beans, ill pull between 27g and 36g of espresso in the cup, over about 25 to 35 seconds from the start of turning on the pump.
If your shot tastes sour after mixing it, you may need to grind finer. If it tastes too burnt or bitter, you may be over extracting and need to grind coarser.
Pour the espresso shot into water or ice
If preparing a hot Americano, pour the freshly brewed shot into hot water. How much water will be based on how much liquid you want and what strength you prefer. I like about a 1:1 ratio of espresso to water for my hot Americanos.
For an iced Americano, fill a large (~16 oz cup) full of ice and pour the espresso into it.
Proper Americano ratio of coffee to water
There’s no fixed rule for a proper ratio of coffee to water in Americanos as it may vary a lot between baristas. I can tell you that I enjoy anything from 1 part coffee to 0.5 parts water or 1 part water for a hot Americano.
When you order iced Americanos at coffee shops there’s a lot of ice and water in the cup, so after melting and dilution that ratio is probably something more like 1 part coffee to over 6 parts water easily.
If it’s your first time making an Americano whether its hot or cold I would start with 0.5 parts water, and slowly add more until it tastes good to you.