Mike Panic wrote:That's what I've often wondered getting Americano's at Starbucks. It is more money for a larger cup of hot water, same amount of shots. Granted that larger cup costs slightly more than a smaller cup, but there is no extra go-fast in there.

As far as the shots go for starbucks Americanos it's 2 for tall, 3 for grande, 4 for venti, and they've made it to where each of their sizes are 4 ounces larger that the size below.

Hmm, I'd wondered about this myself. You know this to be proper procedure? It's been a looong time now, but whenever I've ordered an Americano at Starbuck's, I always got the "deer in the headlights" look when I said "charge me for whatever size has two shots and put it in your smallest cup, and can you leave some room?"... They'd invariably ask again what size I wanted to order and start pointing at cups. If I was real lucky they'd leave me some room in the cup.

What temp for the water?
Geoff

I prefer not too hot - that means I draw water to the cup just when I remove the portafilter from the group to dry it and dose. Then I dose, level, tamp and the water is waiting this 30 seconds and gets a bit cooler (yes - I don't dose as I grind; I remove the pf from the group when the grinder stops - that keeps the pf warmer)

Heat the freshly drawn tap water with the steaming wand to a hot to the touch cup. Then grind and pull a shot into the cup. Not sure how hot the water is. Probably somewhere between 60-80C.