How does lungo coffee relate to a long black?

Lungo belongs to the espresso family, like Ristretto, and is made directly on an espresso machine with no added ingredients. Its defining trait is a longer extraction that yields more liquid while strength drops. A Long Black is a different drink: espresso is poured first and then diluted with water, the reverse of an Americano, which starts with water.

Because a Long Black uses less water than an Americano, its coffee strength is higher. Lungo is often confused with Long Black, and claims that the two differ only in pouring order are not accurate. Adjusting grind, dose, and extraction time lets you pull a modern-tasting Lungo that avoids the bitterness people associate with over-extracted shots.

Lungo is often mentioned alongside Long Black, leading many coffee enthusiasts to confuse the two. In fact, Lungo belongs to the espresso family and, like Ristretto, is a type of coffee made directly with an espresso machine and with no additional ingredients. Its defining trait is that it extracts more coffee liquid by extending the extraction time, while the strength drops accordingly. This article will sort out Lungo's historical origins, its differences from Long Black and Americano, and how to adjust parameters to make a modern-tasting, non-bitter Lungo, while also introducing how Front Street Coffee's classic espresso blend performs when making Lungo.

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"Lungo" often appears in discussions together with "Long Black," and this has given rise to quite a few misunderstandings. For example, Front Street recently saw someone online say: "The only difference between a Lungo and an Americano is the order in which the espresso and water are added," and others believe that "a Long Black is just an Americano made with Lungo as the base." These statements are clearly not accurate enough.

From this, it's clear that many friends still lack a clear understanding of what kind of coffee Lungo actually is. Today, Front Street will break it down in detail: what exactly is Lungo? Long black

The one that truly differs from Americano in preparation method is actually the Long Black. Its most notable feature is that the order in which the espresso and water are added is the reverse of an Americano: adding the espresso first and then diluting with water makes a Long Black, while adding water first and then pouring in the espresso makes an Americano.

In addition, there is also an obvious difference in strength between the two. An Americano uses more water, while a Long Black uses less. Precisely because a Long Black uses less water, its coffee strength is higher. Since Front Street has already analyzed Long Black in detail before, this article will not repeat it; those interested can click to read: "What Is an Aussie Black?" As for Lungo, it is an entirely different thing from them. What is Lungo?

Although it differs from the traditional method of making espresso, Lungo, like Ristretto, is a member of the espresso family. Both are products made directly with an espresso machine, with no additional ingredients.

If traditional espresso means extracting the substances in coffee to an appropriate degree (taking 20g of grounds as an example, extracting about 40ml of coffee liquid), then Ristretto limits the amount of extracted substances: with the same dose, the extracted liquid volume is smaller, but the strength is higher (taking 20g of grounds as an example, extracting about 30ml of coffee liquid). Lungo, by contrast, obtains more coffee liquid by extending the extraction time: with the same dose, the extracted liquid volume is much greater, but the strength is lower (taking 20g of grounds as an example, extracting about 100ml of coffee liquid).

This Lungo extraction method is obviously not easy to understand in modern times. With an espresso machine extracting so efficiently, to still extract five times the coffee liquid relative to the dose, how could it not be bitter? "Of course it will be bitter! If all the substances in the coffee beans are extracted, the bitter compounds released in sufficient amounts will inevitably be hard for people to accept!" However, in the era when espresso machines were first invented, this approach was actually the most reasonable choice.

As we know, in the early days of their invention, espresso machines did not have today's high pressure; pressure could only reach 1.5 bar to 3 bar. Such low pressure obviously could not fully extract the flavor substances from coffee in a short time. So, to increase the extraction yield, people had to find another way. At the time, people chose to extend the extraction time and use a large amount of hot water to draw out the flavor substances from the coffee. The result was predictable: the extracted coffee had relatively low strength and also carried bitterness. But the extraction yield was satisfied, and with dilution by the high liquid volume, the espresso's taste was still considered fairly good by people at the time.

As times changed, coffee machines became more advanced and more efficient, and people no longer had to rely on long extraction to obtain an espresso with a suitable extraction yield. But this long-extraction method did not disappear. To distinguish it from today's espresso, people gave it the name "Lungo." In Italian, Lungo means "long, extended." One can imagine that Lungo was defined as the stretched-out version of espresso.

However, due to limited applications, Lungo was not widely used and gradually faded from people's memory, which is why many friends online today cannot distinguish between Long Black and Lungo. If Lungo were made according to current extraction parameters, it would inevitably be unbearably bitter. But espresso and people's preferences are constantly changing, so we can naturally also "iterate" Lungo by modifying the parameters to make a non-bitter Lungo that better suits modern tastes. How to extract a "modern Lungo"?

To make Lungo, you can use Front Street's classic espresso blend, a recipe composed of beans from three origins: Brazil, Indonesia, and Vietnam. It uses a dark roast, which can maximize the coffee's rich aroma and also allow everyone to easily extract abundant, dense crema. Whether making an Americano diluted with water or a latte paired with milk, it is very suitable. It can be purchased and ordered at the Front Street Taobao store or the Front Street Tmall flagship store.

Actually, it's very simple. If today's long, efficient extraction would over-extract the coffee, then we only need to lower its extraction efficiency to ensure that this cup of coffee will not be over-extracted even with a long extraction time.

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.