Americano is just adding more water, so does overextraction necessarily hurt it, as much as a latte/cappa?

Thanks in advance.

I can still taste the bitter over extraction in an Americano. Actually, I think it accentuates it since the other flavors are diluted the drink is not as strong which makes the objectionable flavors jump out more. Milk is heavy and masks flavors where water is clean and opens the flavors up. Like adding a dash of water to a single malt, it opens up the aroma and separates the flavors. Your drink will only be as good as the worst part, using bad coffee to make a latte or Americano will just give you a bad latte or Americano.

+1 on the coffee. The better the espresso, the better the americano

-1 on the malts. Malt whisky is about 60% water, cask strength ~35%. Adding a few drops, other than adding some trace minerals, does little to change the aromas. What happens when you add water is the whisky is splashed and vapors released. Think of Edgerton's famous milk drop coronet flash photo. The same can be achieved by swirling the whisky around the glass. Try this test : have someone dribble a dash of water down the side of the glass and swirl another glass. Now try to choose.

Best americano is brewing espresso into water.
Overextraction will taste bad.

To have the greatest tasting americanos of given coffee you should experiment a little with the way of brewing the shot, the volume of water corresponds more or less with the general preference for smaller or bigger cup of coffee; it's not that the best tasting on its own shot will make the best tasting americano.

bigbad wrote:Americano is just adding more water, so does overextraction necessarily hurt it, as much as a latte/cappa?

Test it out for yourself. It's what in the cup that matters and how it tastes to you (or whoever is drinking it). I'd agree that poor espresso makes for a poor Americano. And as much as people love to parrot that "milk hides all evil", poor espresso makes for a poor latte. Maybe those people can't tell the difference but I can.

Yes, it tastes overextracted. kinda bleh. I like my coffee more mmm.