How To Brew An Americano with Prismo

The “Prismocano” is a manual take on a North American café classic drink of espresso diluted with hot water called an Americano. It’s basically a way of making a cup of coffee with an espresso. The legend goes that American soldiers in Italy during WWII would add hot water to espresso to create a cup that they were more familiar with.

This is my favorite recipe for really fruity coffees like naturals or coffee from Kenya. Two of our favorites are La Palma Natural Gesha #346 from Onyx Coffee Lab and the Ethiopia Bedhadtu Jibicho Natural from Andytown Coffee Roasters. Ready to brew?

The Ingredients
20 grams of light to medium roasted coffee
60 grams of 212°F water 
200 grams of 180°F water

The Recipe
1) Grind the coffee as fine as you can.

2) Attach Prismo to the bottom of your AeroPress®. To prep before brewing, pour 50ish grams of hot water into your AeroPress and swirl around. Then, dump the hot water out over your plunger to pre-heat as well. We can conserve water and get a better plunge by doing this!

3) Add your 20 grams ground coffee and the 60 grams of 212°F water to your AeroPress®.

4) Set a timer or start counting. 

5) Swirl or stir the brew to make sure all the coffee is exposed to water and there are no hydrophobic clumps. I recommend swirling since there is so little liquid. 

6) When your timer reaches 60 seconds, plunge your Prismo brew into your Mighty Small Glass Carafe and add the 200 grams of 180°F.

7) Enjoy!

Temperature Tip: To get the two different water temperatures required using the same kettle with minimal water waste, heat only a small amount of water to boil (~250 grams). After pouring the first 60 grams at 212°F, add around 50 grams of room temperature water to your kettle and turn the dial on Stagg EKG down to 180°F. This will help to cool the water, so it reaches the cooler temperature we will use to dilute the Prismo shot at the end.