Korean Job Discussion Forums

[myenglishisno]

Just wondering. I've explained to my students that this was Konglish and that North Americans use the term "black coffee" however they were pretty insistent that "Americano" was used in Europe (I've never been to Europe so excuse my ignorance).

I've been seeing the word everywhere lately and it's starting to bug me. There is even a song on the radio ("아메리카노... 좋아, 좋아, 좋아!" ad infinitum).

[alongway]

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Americano

It's certainly not Konglish.

[cj1976]

I heard it came about because American GIs weren't manly enough to drink European coffee, which (like American beer) they preferred watered down a bit.

[pkang0202]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caff%C3%A8_Americano

Wikipedia and Google can answer a lot of other questions for you too.

[xhaktmtjdnf]

Does anyone know where that Americano jingle is from? I've also heard kids singing this.

[cfile2]

[jpe]

Do they not call it an Americano in America? What do you call an espresso with hot water?

[DejaVu]

[talika]

I may be wrong, but I think the term Americano came from Italian. I know for a fact, having lived in Italy, Americano refers to the "watered down version of espresso". Italians drink shots of expresso, and they considered the watered down version to be an American coffee, hence the term "Americano".

If you go to Starbucks, Americano refers to the one or two shots of expresso with 80% water, aka "black coffee".

Americano is not Korean, that is definitely for sure.

[UknowsI]

As the OP mentioned: for people who grew up without much of a coffee shop culture, it is often common to just say black coffee and coffee with milk/cream since that is typically what you will make at home. I still wish I could just order a "black coffee" and get today's brew if it's ready and an americano otherwise. For me, the biggest difference between drip coffee and americano is the waiting time.

[myenglishisno]

Wow, thanks for all the info. Glad I was able to get solid answers.

I always drink coffee with milk and sugar but lately I've been weening off of it which brought me to ask this question. When I first came to Korea, the only kind of coffee you could get in most places was Maxim. Now I think most Koreans think they have the world's best coffee shops.

Anyway, what annoys me is that it's impossible to get a coffee with milk and sugar here. You can get a "Caff� Latte" but I don't want that. I want a double double. I guess for that I need to drink Maxim, which is crap.

So Americano it is...

[UknowsI]

You can usually get a coffee with milk if you ask for an americano with milk and do some explaining. It gets tedious to explain it every time, but it might be worth it if you have a coffee shop you visit regularly.

[chasmmi]

[pkang0202]

Regular coffee is called Drip Coffee or Wondu Coffee. Almost every coffee shop I've been to have drip coffee.

The thousands of dunkin donuts and krispy kreme have drip coffee.

if you are complaining that you can't find normal drop coffee in Korea, then I don't know what to tell you. It can be found in practically every corner.

[joesp]