Americano
An Americano is espresso lengthened with hot water. The name comes from the Second World War, when American soldiers in Italy diluted the local espresso to something closer to the drip coffee they knew. It is not weak coffee — it is the same shot, spread over more water.
What you need
- A double shot of espresso — 18 g of coffee in, 36 g in the cup
- 120–180 ml of hot water, just off the boil at around 90–95°C
- A 180–240 ml cup
How to make it
- Heat the cup with hot water and tip it out. A cold cup takes the drink below drinking temperature almost immediately.
- Fill the cup roughly two-thirds with hot water.
- Pull a fresh double shot straight into the water.
- Do not stir. The crema settles on top on its own.
The ratio, and the order
Aim for 1:3 to 1:5 espresso to water. Start at 1:4 — a 40 g double into about 160 ml — and adjust from there. More water does not make it weaker in any way that matters; it makes it longer.
Pouring the espresso into the water, rather than water into the espresso, is the part most people get backwards. Water poured onto a fresh shot punches straight through the crema and breaks it up. Espresso poured into water floats its crema on top and keeps it. In Australia and New Zealand this order has its own name: a long black.
Dose and yield, so the numbers below are unambiguous
Throughout these recipes, a double shot means 18 g of ground coffee going IN and about 36 g of liquid espresso coming OUT, in 25–30 seconds. That 1:2 ratio by weight is the modern specialty standard, and 18 g is the usual dose for a 58 mm double basket; anywhere from 17 to 20 g in is normal depending on your basket.
The two numbers are different things and it matters: the grams of coffee you grind are not the grams of espresso in the cup. Weigh both if you can.
The traditional Italian figures are smaller. The Istituto Nazionale Espresso Italiano certifies a SINGLE at 7 g ± 0.5 of coffee producing 25 ml ± 2.5 in the cup, in 25 seconds ± 5, at 9 bar and 88°C — so a traditional doppio is around 14 g in rather than 18. Both are correct; they are different traditions, and the modern one is what most specialty cafés and home machines are built around.
Common mistakes
- Boiling water. Water at a full 100°C scorches the crema and brings out bitterness that was never in the shot.
- Letting the shot sit while you fetch the water. Espresso starts to go flat and sour within about 30 seconds.
- Too much water. Past about 1:6 the drink thins out and tastes hollow.
Iced?
That is a different drink with a different method — see our Iced Americano recipe, where the order and the dilution both change.
Which coffee to use
Anything on our shelf works, but milk drinks reward a coffee with body and sweetness over one built for delicate florals — the milk will bury the top notes either way. Check the tasting notes and the process on each product page; a natural or a honey-processed lot usually cuts through milk better than a light washed one.