Why coffee shops are 'quietly' rebranding Americanos with new name

These days, ordering a coffee is no longer the simple task it once was, thanks to a variety of milks, syrups and sprinkles you can adorn your drink with.

Often it proves so overwhelming that you give up and resort to the black coffee you always get... walking out of the shop while looking mournfully at someone else’s iced oat milk mochaccino with hazelnut syrup.

And now there’s some new lingo to navigate, as a number of coffee shops have started turning their backs on Americanos.

The beverage is essentially just a shot of espresso let down with hot water, served with or without milk.

As the story goes, the Americano – which means ‘American’ in a number of European languages including Italian and Spanish – was introduced during WWII when US soldiers based in Italy diluted espresso with water to make it closer to what they were used to back home.

Other reports have suggested that the term was coined in Central America as a derogatory way to describe milk or weak coffee by nations more into stronger variations.

Whatever the origins, the name’s clearly stuck – until now, that is.

A number of coffee shops are now ditching the label in favour of something else, a move that would appear to have inevitably political roots.

The Canadiano, as it’s now being dubbed in cafes, started as a nod to national pride in Canada, but has since morphed into something deeper.

It’s believed to have all stemmed from a cafe and roastery named Kicking Horse Coffee, which is based in British Columbia.

In a since-deleted Instagram post in early February, it shared a call to action asking others to join in with a radical rebrand of the Americano.

The cafe said: “For 16 years, the Kicking Horse Café has been quietly calling Americanos ‘Canadianos’.

“Today, we’re officially making it a thing and asking coffee shops across the country to make the switch. Join us. Call them Canadianos.”

It didn’t take long for the idea to catch on, with William Oliveira, owner of Cafe Belém in Toronto, saying he’s followed suit – having done so amid news of US President Donald Trump’s tariffs on goods imported from Canada and Mexico.

He told Today: “I was worried that we were going to maybe attract the wrong clientele, people who were going to get very offended.”

When Oliveira changed the name on his menu a few weeks back, when the proposed tariffs were in people’s minds, he found that customers have mostly reacted positively.

“A lot of people were very gung-ho about it, standing up for being a Canadian at this time,” he explained, adding that Canadians don’t want to ‘let people believe that we’re people that can just be pushed around’.

Food writer Stephanie Gravalese argues that the move serves as a ‘quiet rebellion’.

“At first, it was a playful nod to national branding,” she wrote for Forbes.

“But after Kicking Horse’s post, the term ‘Canadiano’ started circulating online, sparking conversations about identity, food culture, and how even a coffee order can carry meaning.

“Some cafés embraced the idea, while others saw it as a lighthearted way to poke fun at food trends.”

Gravalese added: “The Canadiano isn’t just about coffee—it’s part of a long history of rebranding food during political tensions,” sharing examples of sauerkraut being renamed ‘Liberty Cabbage’ during WWI to distance the dish from its German roots, and French fries being rebranded as ‘Freedom Fries’ in the early 2000s to protest France’s opposition to the Iraq war.

She believes the Canadiano is a ‘small but symbolic’ act of ‘national branding’, which is ‘playful but pointed’.

“Unlike economic retaliation, it’s a subtle, everyday gesture,” Gravalese concluded, writing: “The Canadiano isn’t an aggressive statement - it’s a quiet one. But it still resonates because food has always been a way for people to express something bigger than what’s on their plate (or in their cup).”

Tyla has reached out to Kicking Horse Coffee for comment.