Americano is arguably a world-renowned coffee drink. Its composition is very simple: espresso diluted with an appropriate amount of water.
In Australia, there is also a locally distinctive coffee called "Long Black," which is likewise made from espresso and water. After the Australian version of latte, Flat White, became hugely popular in China, some cafés directly introduced Australian espresso products as a whole and integrated them into their existing espresso menus. As a result, for a time, we could see Americano and Long Black coexisting.
Front Street Coffee will first briefly explain what this Long Black is. In Australia, people generally use Black Coffee to refer to black coffee and White Coffee to refer to coffee with milk. Espresso is called Short Black, and after adding an appropriate amount of water to Short Black, it is called Long Black, generally translated in China as 长黑 or 澳黑.Although Americano and Long Black are both made from water and espresso, Australians are full of individuality, so there must be a difference between the two. Front Street Coffee learned that a widely circulated claim online says the difference lies in the order of preparation: Americano is made by putting espresso first and then pouring in water to dilute it, while Long Black is made by adding water to the cup first and then pouring in espresso.
What is the basis for this? It turns out that the biggest difference between these two methods is the degree to which the crema is preserved. If espresso is put in first and then water is poured in, the crema will be broken up; if water is put in first and then espresso is poured in, the crema will be completely preserved on the surface. This layer of crema can provide the coffee with a full body.
This sounds very reasonable, but this is not the difference between Americano and Long Black. That is because the preparation method of Americano does not specify whether water is poured first and then coffee, or coffee first and then water. Therefore, Americano can be made either way. But Long Black has a particular requirement regarding the order of water and coffee: water is first placed in the cup, and then espresso is extracted into the water. Front Street Coffee suspects that this rumor about the difference being in the pouring order spread in order to find a distinguishing point.
The most obvious difference between Americano and Long Black is the amount of water added. Americano generally has more water added, and the ratio of coffee to water is usually between 1:5 and 1:8. This is because Americans are used to drinking drip coffee, which is very weak and just needs a bit of coffee flavor. So after espresso became popular, Americano made with espresso as the base also needed a lot of water to recreate that light coffee taste.
Australians pursue coffee flavor more. As Front Street Coffee shared before, the difference in taste between Flat White and latte is that Flat White has a richer and more intense coffee flavor. Long Black has a stronger coffee flavor and a smaller cup size compared with Americano. The usual method for Long Black is to extract two shots of espresso (40g) into a cup containing 100-120ml of water, with a rich layer of crema remaining on the surface.Adding water at a ratio of 1:3 currently dilutes the concentration of the espresso. On one hand, it reduces the sharpness of the espresso; on the other hand, the diluted coffee flavor is easier to perceive, and retaining the oil on the surface allows the coffee to maintain a mellow mouthfeel, offering a rather unique experience.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
