Americano or Filter?
Make no mistake, i’m an espresso boy. My career in coffee has developed from a love of espresso and the milky drinks that go with it, for me filter has until now been a cheap and easy way to stew coffee to the brink of glorious insipid death. It’s only in the last year that I have really come to appreciate the potential genius of good filter coffee, as well as other brewing methods and i’m pretty excited about it.
I was once told that the Americano spawns from WW2 when the US troops in Italy wanted something like their filter coffee from back home, the Italians watered down the espressos and aptly named them Café Américano. The drink tastes a bit dull, it is harder to pick out the subtle distinctions, the crema lasts only a short time and it can sometimes look unattractive.
I have heard people ask if the addition of water to espresso is comparable to adding water to whiskey. It is true that adding water to a whiskey will open up some ethanol micelles aromas (and mask some unwanted long chain ester compounds), as well as diluting the alcohol content thus preventing anesthesia of ones nose! Whether water in espresso is as advantageous I really don’t know, one thing I do know is that whiskey is diluted only a tiny amount, usually no more than 50/50, whereas an Americano is probably closer to 20/80. Who knows perhaps a drop of water in your espresso could work?
So, back on to filter. I purchased an aeropress about a year ago hoping that I would be able to get espresso like results at home for only £25. Of course I was in for a shock, aeropress is nothing like espresso but it’s frickin’ tasty in its own right.
Playing around with it over the last year has shown me that I can get a very different interpretation of a coffee from using aeropress over espresso/Americano. For example, I recently purchased 250g of Honduras La Fortuna CoE, it was too fresh to make espresso with so I pressed it. The result was a very decent cup of coffee, some sweetness and a good bit of body. A few days later I judged the coffee to have de-gassed enough to try an espresso and it came alive, syrupy, chocolatey, beautiful. Similarly, around the same time I was drinking Costa Rica de Licho which was far better suited to the aeropress, for me it was truly spectacular. The Costa Rican coffee as an Americano is unrecognisable in comparison to a decent aeropress at home.
I also recently paid a trip to Monmouth coffee in London. They do have espresso machines, but nearly everybody was drinking fresh filter (blend of your choice) from paper cups. I saw my coffee ground and then watched it drip through the filter and it was served to me a minute later. The result was an excellent cup of coffee, minimum effort and a bit of bravado thrown in for good measure. The experience really opened my eyes to filter and thoughts of including a filter offering in the restaurant, namely for the tables who commonly order ‘Four coffees please’.
So maybe this is news only to me, but I reckon it’s time to offer something instead of just Americanos. I’m going to purchase some press pots and give them a go, obviously i’m going to need another grinder, am I right in thinking a more consistent size of ground is required for filter? This could also open up the opportunity to offer different blends to my customers, maybe a breakfast filter blend, something fruity and fresh, then in the evening something a little more chocolatey, nutty, fuller.
I think espresso is massively overhyped and our expectations are absurd. It is simply a way to brew a cup of coffee, though one that is a bit fizzy and quite strong.
Filter coffee (or brewed coffee if we are being a bit more inclusive) is a wonderful thing. I love my press, aeropress, chemex, clover, one cup melitta and the coffees they produce. (I need a vac pot!)
Americanos are probably the least appetising of all the black coffee drinks to me. They seem like an odd compromise. I want one of the Clover “Stupid Americanos” badges. Again - most are made way, way too weak - I tend toserve them in a 1:2 or 1:3 ratio at most. I really ought to work out the ratio that best mimics the brewing ratios of filter coffee.
Sorry for ranting. Like the new blog look!