Americano
A Café Americano - why actually?
Often there are situations in life when you want to drink a coffee, but you don't feel like drinking an espresso. Be it at work, to have a bit of coffee for a bit longer, or when visiting a coffee house together, in which you don't want to drink your drink quickly in one sip.
Normally we would recommend filter coffee in these situations, but there is often no filter coffee in a cafe, but a selection of "longer" coffee beverages, such as the Café Creme or the Café Americano.
Different "long" coffees make it difficult to choose
So what's the difference and how do you prepare these drinks?
A Café Americano is a double espresso that is diluted with hot water. The mixing ratio can vary, but typically the ratio is 1: 3 (espresso to water). To prepare a nice Café Americano, we recommend first letting the water run into the cup and then extracting the double espresso on it. Then the crema is retained.
A café creme or a lungo, on the other hand, are cups of coffee that are prepared in a fully automatic machine or portafilter and in which the entire amount of water in the drink is used to extract the amount of water. While a double espresso is diluted in the Café Americano, in a Café Creme approx. 120ml water is extracted through the coffee powder in 25 to 30 seconds. This means that the coffee is ground with a different grind than for the preparation of espresso or double espresso.
Due to the more complex preparation of the Cafe Creme and the type of preparation, we therefore recommend that you choose a Cafe Americano for a "long coffee". So you can enjoy the full-bodied espresso taste of your coffee for longer - less concentrated.
Preparation of the Cafe Americano
Now the step-by-step preparation of the Cafe Americano
Fill the preheated large coffee cup with approx. 120 ml of water
Extract double espresso into the cup
Let the coffee cool down a little and enjoy
Of our coffees, the Café Delicado is particularly suitable for preparation as a Cafe Americano. This way, its chocolatey coffee taste comes into its own, while the tangy acidity is diluted a little by the water - ideal for coffee connoisseurs who appreciate these properties in coffee.
Americano in Colombia?
By the way: In Colombia, both Cafe Creme and Cafe Americano are less common, Colombian coffee is more likely to be prepared as "Tinto" in Colombia. You can see how this works in our video here.
You can find more information about Colombian coffee here.
You can order our delicious Café Delicado here for yourself.