Straight espresso shot versus shot for Americano

[LBIespresso]

I noticed that when I drink straight espresso I like the brightness in my shots but not as much in my Americanos. So I have been pulling shots for my Americanos a little longer or hotter or finer depending on the bean to get there. This had me wondering what others here do.

I did some searching on this topic and see that as usual, the most common advice is let taste be your guide.

But I am curious. What do you guys do differently if anything when pulling for a straight shot from pulling a shot for an Americano.

[redbone]

My daily routine for years involves making an espresso for myself and and Americano for my wife. I have taste tested and tweaked shots to optimize the espresso as a straight shot vs Americano.

I tend to pre-infuse less time for the Americano and pull slightly longer. This adds greater acidity and slight bitterness which balances well with the added hot water and cream my wife adds. My regular espresso shot gets lost in the mix of hot water and cream otherwise.

[LBIespresso (original poster)]

Btw, here is one of the posts I found in that search about this topic:

Dialing in Americano vs Espresso

The other posts that I found interesting did not address the topic directly so I did not bother to include them here. But for those interested if you do the search yourself you will be reading a lot about the temp and volume of water added as well as water or espresso first.

[LBIespresso (original poster)]

I tend to pre-infuse less time for the Americano and pull slightly longer. This adds greater acidity and slight bitterness which balances well with the added hot water and cream my wife adds. My regular espresso shot gets lost in the mix of hot water and cream otherwise.

Similar to what I do but I have not tried altering pre-infusion time. Thanks for the tip!

[redbone]

I also pull the Americano shot last, under the premise that the group is hotter even if slightly resulting in greater extraction.