What kind of American coffee do you have? The difference and practice of Americano and Long Black&Lungo

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In a broad definition, American coffee can be the general name of any black coffee. For example, if you press the pot, the coffee made by dripping can still be called American coffee. So in this article, the drink that adds hot water to espresso is defined as American coffee.

Americano knows from his name that he is very popular in North America. And the reason why the definition of American coffee is so broad, we can see two points.

Coffee drinkers are very common in the United States, and it is a readily available drink.

No matter how black coffee is made, it is called Americano, so the simple making more or less reflects that this drink is more than a taste, but a drink. In fact, that's true. In North America, especially breakfast, you can see a lot of people on their way to work, holding a huge take-out cup with about 300ml's black liquid in it. Of course, at home, American coffee is no stranger at home. It can also be found everywhere in Starbucks and Costa.

Here you can launch its other two brothers, one is Long Black and the other is Lungo. Yes, they are also black coffee, a mixture of espresso and water, and they don't add anything else. So what's the difference between them?

Generally speaking, Americano is to add espresso first and then water. Long Black is more famous in Australia and New Zealand. Now it is also becoming popular in London, England. (to a large extent, it is because many boutique coffee shop owners or baristas in Australia are from Australia.) it first adds water and then begins to extract Espresso. In fact, in Australia, if we say Short Black when we order coffee, it is actually Espresso. Where's Lungo? In particular, it is obtained by changing the scale of the grinder to increase the flow rate of the original extraction of espresso. In terms of capacity, Americano will carry more capacity than Long Black (250ml Vs 150) and Lungo will have the least capacity, about 60%.

At this point, some people will ask that the way to add water is different, what is the flavor?

To be honest with you, this diary is probably the hardest to write. Because I hope this kind of diary can give you a profound and simple understanding of coffee. I don't want to use too many proper nouns to describe coffee that we are already familiar with. Therefore, I try my best to describe it in more down-to-earth language. If we need to discuss it, we can discuss it in depth in the coffee common sense group.

First, let's compare Americano with Long Black. The only difference between them is that the order of water and Italian enrichment is different. The former is to release Espresso first, while the latter is to release hot water first. Such a different order will actually lead to two differences.

1. The floating grease on Americano will be unstable because it is washed away by later hot water. And Long Black is to let espresso gradually fall into the surface of hot water. So as you can see from the picture, the grease of Long Black is relatively deep from the beginning, and it is also relatively long-lasting.

two。 Assuming that both Americano and Long Black use the hot water of the coffee machine, Long Black's hot water falls into the cup and waits for espresso extraction, which will take a little more time to cool.

Summing up these two points, we find that the Long Black has more grease, and it is possible (only possible, because we assume it is coming out of the outlet of the coffee machine) that the temperature of the Americano is higher. So what does this mean to our flavor?

I would like to introduce a little bit about the grease of espresso, which is an important symbol that distinguishes espresso from other low-pressure coffee. Because the insoluble substances in oil (crema) are the result of emulsification under high pressure. Together with carbon dioxide, it contains many flavors and aromas. At the same time, because of its insoluble ingredients, this layer of oil will form a film on the coating of our tongue in the mouth. This film not only brings us a lasting aftertaste, but also weakens our sensitivity to bitterness.

So in the same espresso, the same volume, Americano will be a little more bitter than Long Black. Here, I need to remind you that the amount of fat can judge the freshness of coffee. But the amount of fat does not determine the flavor of coffee. If the coffee is very bad, although it is very fresh, the presence of grease tends to degrade our senses.

Long Black is to add water first.

It's still standard espresso, but there's Americano with water on the left and Long Black on the right.

You can compare grease.

The stability is also different.

After comparing the difference between Long Black and Americano. Then we can take another look at Lungo. Lungo is very popular in Italy. And the volume is only about 60ml. Therefore, less water will naturally bring a more mellow taste. Lungo actually means Long in English, and more accurately, Lungo is a long-extracted version of Espresso. Here, I would like to quote some knowledge about extraction, but just taste it.

For coffee, no matter what kind of extraction it is, it is the process of contact between water and coffee powder and filtering out insoluble particles (except Greek, Turkish coffee). Coffee itself, after all, is a fruit, it has fiber, it cannot be 100% dissolved in water, and only 30% is dissolved at most. According to a large number of experiments, it is necessary to extract coffee reasonably, whether it is Italian concentration, siphon, or hand-brewing. The best extraction rate ranges from 18% to 21%. Too little, can not fully reflect the flavor, too much, we extract is mixed flavor.

Therefore, if the extraction time of espresso is to be lengthened, the flow rate of water must be accelerated, otherwise the flow rate of water is the same as that of espresso, and if we stretch it for a longer time, we will certainly over-extract, so that the taste of coffee will be mixed. Therefore, making lungo is a bit of a hassle, and the grinder needs to be thickened to increase the space between coffee powders, reduce resistance to allow water to pass faster, and reduce stay time. In a coffee shop, espresso and lungo means you have to have two separate grinders. (of course, you can achieve Lungo by reducing the amount of powder, but the flavor will be quite different.)

Compared with the three, Lungo oil is the most stable.

I hope this explanation can give you a more intuitive concept, in fact, this concept is the Al's Rule simplified version of Illy in the early years. If we want to dig deeper, we will focus on the extraction section in the future. For ordinary consumers, the significance of knowing Lungo lies in that it lengthens the extraction of Espresso and tastes lighter than espresso, but at the same time it will be a little bitter. Compared with Americano, it tastes more mellow, while Americano may be more bitter.

In today's society, black coffee is a bit like bitter tea. In fact, good black coffee can give you a taste of coffee, which is not only bitter, but also sweet and sour. And similarly, it can give you a lasting aftertaste and fragrance. Although espresso condenses the most essential flavor of coffee into a 30 ml essence through high pressure and high temperature. But not only espresso dishes can feel the original taste of coffee. Because of the excessive mellow taste, the extremely compressed flavor is indeed prohibitive to friends who have just learned about coffee. Moreover, it is not the more concentrated the better, balance is a key. This is why Ristretto (the pre-20ml part of espresso) will not be mainstream.

Scottie Collaghan, the third runner-up in 2009WBC and the 2008 Australian champion, thinks Long Black is the hardest to make. To a large extent, in busy coffee shops, the water coming out of the coffee machine is on the high side (96.97 °), and they can't get away from it and mix it with cold water to reach the expected temperature, or they may not have enough money to buy a Bunn hot water dispenser.

But I know that many small coffee shops in China do not have the same people coming and going as abroad. Many baristas can do a series of experiments according to the characteristics of their coffee beans, according to the water ratio of black coffee, temperature to make a cup of delicious coffee dedicated to customers. I think this is meaningful, because in China, there is a lot of room for improvement to allow consumers to choose between the loyal Espresso and the variant ice cream.