The reason why American coffee seems more watered down

A unique extraction preferred by Americans and America in general.

To enjoy a good coffee there are some basic steps to follow and mistakes that we cannot make, but it is clear that there is nothing written about tastes. The beauty of coffee culture is the great variety of different ways that there are in the world to prepare it, and all can respect the perfect serve. But it is true that American coffee has a bad reputation, do you know why it seems more watery? The answer is not as simple as it seems.

What do we understand by American coffee?
Before entering to analyze the drink, we should stop to establish what we mean when we talk about "American coffee." It seems like an obvious answer, but we can actually refer to several different types of infusion. Of course, they all have in common the larger size and a lower proportion of coffee per volume of water.

The usual thing is to hear about American coffee as the type of coffee that is served in the United States, a colloquial expression like that used for American food. We are referring only to the territory of the United States country, and not to the rest of the continent, and it is often used in a somewhat derogatory way. To coffee connoisseurs, this drink seems watery, bland, without body and without aroma.
But there they don`t talk about "American coffee" when they go out for a cup. It depends on the area of ??the country and the customs of each person, but the usual thing is to use terms such as black, cup of joe, regular coffee or simply regular or coffee. They are long coffees, of about 150 ml or more, and that sometimes you can receive already with sugar, unless otherwise specified.

Now, the American caffè is something a little different. It is the Italian term to designate a type of coffee that emerged in the 1950s that mimics the milder flavor of filter coffee. It is said that it arose from World War II to satisfy the palate of American soldiers, accustomed to its large cups of filter coffee. European American is made by adding water to espresso.

America`s favorite coffee.
If you close your eyes and think about the first thing that comes to mind when you think of coffee in the United States, you will probably visualize images from movies or television series, so iconic and that have so penetrated the collective imagination. Whether in the typical diners with waitresses who walk around coffee makers refilling customers` cups, in the most urban cafes with modern sofas and sweets, or in the street stalls of the big cities, it is clear that Americans love the coffee.
Sometimes it seems like they are drinking it all day and they always go with their paper cup on the street everywhere. It is not lacking on office tables, during work breaks and they even take it to accompany lunch or dinner. How can they drink so much coffee? Because they are high-volume infusions in which there is hardly any caffeine, since the proportion of beans used to prepare them is much less than that used for an espresso.

As a result, they are very smooth coffees, with little aroma, without cream and with a very neutral flavor, which accompanies a donut as well as a hamburger with french fries. That is why it seems to us a “watered down” coffee, diluted, without grace. The popular expression aguachirri defines very well the bad reputation that American coffee has among the great lovers of short and full-bodied coffee.

The keys to American coffee.
In the 18th century, with the United States still forming as an independent nation, tea was the most widely consumed beverage. But due to the delicate political climate and strained relations with Europe, it became a luxury and unpatriotic product, so housewives began to infuse coffee. Little by little the drink was gaining followers among the different social groups, especially from the American Civil War, when the soldiers increased their popularity.

Americans have always brewed coffee using filter methods by recreating tea infusion. The French press coffee maker and percolator were very popular, although they gave somewhat mixed quality results. Already at the beginning of the 20th century, the first paper coffee filter was invented, and in the following decades electric coffee makers appeared that would soon reach homes.

The big turning point was marked by the arrival of the first automatic drip machine in the 1970s, and it didn`t take long for knockoffs from many manufacturers to emerge. The country was filled with coffee shops that always had hot coffee to fill cups and glasses at any time, and it was the star machine of any domestic kitchen. Today it is still the most consumed coffee despite the new wave of specialty coffees and the more millennial tastes of young people.
The average American is used to drinking coffee all day, from breakfast to dinner. You will normally drink it black, with sugar, in a cup or long glass, at home or in your neighborhood cafeteria, on the street or in the office rest area. Although it is a coffee very diluted in water, that does not mean that it has to be bad per se, since there are also poor quality and poorly prepared American coffees.

For those of us who enjoy a short coffee, with its cream and intense aroma, the American is poor. We find it incomparable with this freshly brewed espresso, with body and a deep flavor that leaves different nuances on the palate. They are different ways of understanding coffee culture; It would not occur to us to drink the same volume of coffee in a single day or to accompany food with it. But Italian-style coffee is gaining more and more followers in the United States and they know how to appreciate it, it is simply something else.

American coffee with cream?

For many coffee lovers, crema is an essential part. A good espresso should have its top crema layer, at least 3 millimeters long and with a hazelnut or roasted color, without strange stains. Is it possible to taste an American coffee without giving up the cream? It is not the most common because the American consumer is not used to having a cup with cream, but it can be obtained.

Those who want to taste a good American coffee without giving up that honeyed cream can resort to a very simple barista technique. It is about preparing a double espresso in the automatic coffee machine, or a longer coffee, letting the infusion flow directly into a cup in which we have already put water. The amount will depend a bit on taste, but as a general rule we can fill 1/4 of a large cup with mineral water at room temperature.
In this way the freshly brewed coffee will come out in our coffee maker, with all its aroma and flavor, gently falling on the water and melting with it. Thus we obtain an American-style coffee while preserving the layer of cream that we like so much, showing that you can enjoy a really tasty American. It is the alternative to preparing a long coffee that only infuses the same amount of beans in a greater volume of water, diluting its aroma.

How about American coffee? Have you ever tried the coffee that is prepared in the typical diners of the United States? One last curiosity: if you see names like Black eye, Dead eye or Shot in the dark on the cafeteria menu, keep in mind that it is a stronger coffee that usually combines the typical American filter with a more European espresso.