If you have an espresso machine and an espresso grinder at home, a Cafe Americano is the best choice for preparing a long coffee. This involves pouring a single or double espresso over a chosen amount of water.
The advantage: since part of the liquid in the final drink doesn't have to flow through the coffee, it won't be over-extracted. This way we avoid bitterness in the coffee that doesn't taste good.
A good alternative is preparing a Café crème. However, this requires a second grinder. Constantly adjusting the grinder between different drinks isn't practical, as fine-tuning the grinder takes a lot of time.
Cafe Americano Recipe
Pour 100 grams of water into the cup.
Then pull a "regular" double espresso and pour it over the water.
The final drink will have a volume of approximately 145 milliliters. We generally recommend not taking the water from the coffee machine's tank, but instead heating it separately to about 75 degrees.
The amount of water added can also be adjusted using the bypass calculation, allowing you to adjust the strength intentionally.
Cafe Americano, Caffè Americano or Lungo
As is often the case with coffee questions, one could create entire etymological coffee treatises about the Americano and research the word's origins. Formally, the Italian spelling and pronunciation is probably correct. After all, we owe the Americano to visitors to Italy who found the concentration of espresso an acquired taste. Diluted with water, espresso becomes much more accessible. This is how it quickly got its name: Caffè Americano.
The spread of this drink around the world pushed the Italian spelling into the background and replaced it with the popular Cafe, which also corresponds to "coffee" in Spanish and French and has been spread in German through cafés.
The Cafe Americano is in no way comparable to a Lungo. With a Lungo, all the brewing water runs through the coffee, resulting in pronounced bitterness. The Cafe Americano is also significantly stronger in concentration than filter coffee.
Which Coffee for the Americano?
By using an espresso grinder, you're often limited to espresso beans when preparing a Cafe Americano. As a result, the Americano also tastes and smells "espresso-like". However, the Americano makes a significant quality leap when you choose lighter coffee roasts for preparation. Filter coffee roasts are even well-suited for the Americano. The large amount of water perfectly balances the sharp acidity of filter coffee roasts, and the drink is very well-balanced.
