Americano

Americano is an espresso lengthened with hot water. You pull a shot (usually a double) and add hot water to fill the cup, producing a longer, milder black coffee with a strength somewhere near filter coffee, though the flavor profile stays espresso-like.

Why it matters: it is the simplest way to get a large black coffee from an espresso machine, which is why nearly every cafe offers one. The name traces to American GIs in wartime Italy diluting unfamiliar espresso to resemble the drip coffee they were used to.

The key distinction is order and ratio. In an americano, water is added to the shot, which disturbs and thins the crema. Its antipodean cousin, the long black, reverses this: espresso is poured over pre-measured hot water, preserving more crema and aroma. How much water you add is to taste, but a common range is roughly 1 part espresso to 2 to 4 parts water. Both are different from a lungo, where the extra water is brewed through the grounds rather than added after. See cafe-menu-decoded.