Testing James Hoffmann’s Insane Americano Recipe | COFFEE BREAK!

Testing James Hoffmann’s Insane Americano Recipe | COFFEE BREAK!

From IT’S JUST COFFEE! by Ben Bicknell & Rohan Cooke

June 8, 2026 · 25 min

About this episode

The episode tests James Hoffmann's theory on improving Americano coffee by adding steamed water through a blind tasting.

James Hoffmann claims that adding steamed water to your long black creates a better drink… so we put his theory to the test. In today’s Coffee Break we conduct a blind tasting to compare steamed water, boiler water, and water from a kettle. Our very own WBC judge decides–groundbreaking or gimmicky!? CHAPTERS ! 00:00 James Hoffmann’s Steamed Water Americano Theory 01:03 Why Long Blacks and Americanos Are So Inconsistent 02:35 Why Espresso Machine Water Could Be the Problem 03:52 Making the First Steamed Water Long Black 06:34 Blind Taste Test: Boiler Water vs Kettle vs Steamed Water 09:52 First Taste Test Results 10:52 Round Two: Retesting the Theory 12:38 Final Verdict on Steamed Water Coffee 15:12 The Bigger Problem With Long Blacks in Cafes 17:23 Does Crema Make Coffee Taste Worse? 19:14 The Problem With Macchiatos, Long Macs and Magics 21:39 Should Cafe Menus Be Simpler? 23:39 Final Thoughts: Is the Hack Worth It? Coffee Break is your weekly inside scoop into the coffee community. Everything from on the fly barista tips, honest and unfiltered cafe reviews (eek), hospitality stories and gate kept coffee secrets. James Hoffmann’s Theory…

People in this episode

Hosts: Ben Bicknell, Rohan Cooke

Topics covered

  • coffee
  • Americano
  • blind tasting
  • espresso
  • barista tips
  • cafe reviews

Keywords

  • Americano
  • steamed water
  • blind tasting
  • coffee theory
  • barista tips
  • cafe reviews

Sponsors

Marco Beverage Systems

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