I have recently purchase a La Pavoni lever.

In my past (pre La Pavoni) life, I was a pour over drinker.

I have been making Americanos, but have no idea if there is a better method than what I am doing now.

I pull my espresso, then keep pulling until I get the desired quantity for my cup of joe.

I imagine you might suggest pulling the espresso and then add boiling water, but that would reduce the amount of coffee I am getting from the additional pulls.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Terrence7 wrote:I have been making Americanos, but have no idea if there is a better method than what I am doing now.

I pull my espresso, then keep pulling until I get the desired quantity for my cup of joe.

I imagine you might suggest pulling the espresso and then add boiling water, but that would reduce the amount of coffee I am getting from the additional pulls.

Pull the best shot you can manage. Then add water. Or the other way around (like I do): pull the shot into the water.

I like the term "long black", from the Australian terminology. Americano has always seemed like a derogatory term to me, kind of like gringo.

Some people refer to what your doing by running all the the water through the puck as a caffe crema. The grind is usually slightly coarser than you'd use to make a traditional espresso.

jpender wrote: I like the term "long black", from the Australian terminology. Americano has always seemed like a derogatory term to me, kind of like gringo.

"Long black" is totally fine though.

Terrence7 wrote: I pull my espresso, then keep pulling until I get the desired quantity for my cup of joe.
I imagine you might suggest pulling the espresso and then add boiling water, but that would reduce the amount of coffee I am getting from the additional pulls.

Why don't you try the other way, pull the shot and add water, and let us know what you find. I would be interested to know which way is better. I am using Robot, so I can only add hot water after I pull the shot. I did some taste comparison between the fists and the second halves of the shot and found that the "tail" often tastes worse than "head". Kind off like the fists and the second brew of a tea bag. So I decided that longer pulls are not beneficial, and sometimes even detrimental, to the taste in a cup. But this may only be true with the Robot due to temperature drop during the pull. So I would be very interested to see what you find with your machine.

I thought 'Americano' had rather innocuous roots in the coffee nomenclature, what would be offensive about it? That we Americans can't handle unadulterated espresso? This is just patently ridiculous! I like pouring the water-just off the boil-first in a clear cup, mostly for the visual of the espresso hitting the water.

Terrence7 wrote:I have recently purchase a La Pavoni lever.

In my past (pre La Pavoni) life, I was a pour over drinker.

I have been making Americanos, but have no idea if there is a better method than what I am doing now.

I pull my espresso, then keep pulling until I get the desired quantity for my cup of joe.

I imagine you might suggest pulling the espresso and then add boiling water, but that would reduce the amount of coffee I am getting from the additional pulls.

Thanks for your thoughts.

So do I understand correctly: you make an espresso into a large cup. Then without removing the portafilter, you raise the lever and extract through the puck again and repeat to fill your cup? How many times? Depending on how much ground coffee goes into the basket you might get 40 ml or more volume per pull. So for an 8 oz cup your level would travel 6 or more times, each time the water probably a bit hotter through the grounds.

Pull a single time then add hot water and skim off the floating crema. Compare the two.

RickVanCleef wrote:"Long black" is totally fine though.

I never thought of that as racist. Do you see that?

Stanford55 wrote:I thought 'Americano' had rather innocuous roots in the coffee nomenclature, what would be offensive about it?

I was called that one time in very much derogatory way. Perhaps that made me over sensitive. But I also love Australia and am envious of their coffee culture.

RickVanCleef wrote:"Long black" is totally fine though.

You beat me to it.

Any word can be said or used in an offensive way, but Americano (translated, American) is innocuous and common use, meant as American way. I see more chuckles, blushes and offense in "long black".