History of Term "Americano"?

[CoffeeHD]

A barista recently informed me that an Americano is called an "Americano" because Americans typically weren't "tough enough" to drink straight shots of espresso like Europeans. Anybody know if there's any fact to this?

 

[TheGourmetCoffeeGuy]

Have heard that "Americano" was created in Europe to ridicule the perception that Americans prefer weaker coffee but who really knows if this is true or not?
After all, a well-made "Americano" has the subtle aroma of Espresso, lighter body and less bitterness. It is a delicious and very popular drink.

 

[shadow745]

Have heard that "Americano" was created in Europe to ridicule the perception that Americans prefer weaker coffee but who really knows if this is true or not?
After all, a well-made "Americano" has the subtle aroma of Espresso, lighter body and less bitterness. It is a delicious and very popular drink.

Coffee is acidic by nature, but if all the steps leading up to an extraction are done right there should be no noticeable bitterness. Once the beans I choose to use have aged 4-5 days they begin to mellow out and a good extraction has strong notes of unsweetened baker's chocolate with an almond/nutty finish. No bitterness whatsoever. If people come to expect bitterness from espresso there are a number of things being done wrong... grind too fine, dose too high, beans are stale, temperature not in a decent range. I get so damn tired of hearing people say "well eXpresso is supposed to be dark and bitter" as they just don't know what they're missing.

 

[Nathaniell]

The true story is that an American walked into a French cafe one day, said, "this coffee is not as awesome as it should be", made the Americano, and thus it was born. This man was rumored to be Chuck Norris, but it is possible it was Charlie Sheen.

 

[aobecksy]

maybe historically by the time the beans arrived to america, then were disseminated into the frontier, they did get extracted more bitterly back in the day

 

[coffeeroastersclub]

In the era of WWII Americans enjoyed sipping their coffee, not doing shots. Since Europeans basically only had espresso machines, the Americans (to satisfy their way of drinking coffee) added water to the espresso to make it coffee-like in body, etc. The Europeans, used to being lazy and not wanting to expend extra energy by saying "He wants an espresso with a cup of water added to it", just shortened their sentences to, "He wants an americano", saving the effort of having to say an extra 11 words.

Len