The difference between American coffee and Long Black black coffee is to see who pours the water first.

Not long ago, a friend came to the Qianjie store for coffee with a friend. When popular science came to Long Black, he mentioned a folk saying: "American coffee refers to the first concentrated and then diluted with water, while Long Black first adds water in the cup and then pours into the concentrated. The distinction between the two is to see who pours the water first and who pours the coffee first." Is that true?

In fact, the order of pouring water is really not the key to distinguish American coffee from Long Black.

American coffee (Americano), made only of espresso and water, is the signature drink of almost every cafe and the well-known representative of black coffee. Rumor has it that this world-class drink was born after World War II, because American soldiers could not accept heavy Italian concentrate, so they diluted it with water until it was to their taste.

In Australia, coffee on the menu is usually divided into black coffee (Black Coffee) and white coffee with milk (White Coffee). When locals call Espresso Short Black,Short Black plus a certain amount of water, it is called Long Black, and it will be translated into black and Australian black in China. There is actually a difference between Short Black and Long Black.

In the earliest days, due to the habit of coffee shops, cups were mostly preheated on Italian machines. When people made American coffee, they picked up the upper cup and placed it under the handle to pick up the espresso liquid and then filled it with hot water to dilute it. Until now, the practice of American coffee in the order, cup quantity, proportion do not pay much attention to, how convenient how to come, and it is hot and cold.

But Australians who love espresso have their own requirements. They hope that the Long Black cup of "coffee with water" is only a slightly diluted Italian concentrate, that is, it can be diluted and has a smooth taste of coffee fat.

Therefore, when Australian baristas make Long Black, they must first fill the cup with hot water, and then extract Italian concentrate on the top, so that the oil Cream can be retained more completely on the surface. In addition, in order to feel the flavor of coffee more clearly, the cup size of Long Black is usually smaller than that of American style, the ratio of Italian concentrate to water is controlled at around 1:3, and the only option is hot drink.

For example, when engraving Long Black in Qianjie, first choose a 150ml coffee cup, pour it into the warm hot water of 120ml80 ℃, and then use the parameters produced by the store on the same day to extract the warm sun of 40ml to match Espresso. The first taste, can feel the strong aroma of coffee, Cream dense and solid sweet and bitter flavor side by side, with the gradual drop in temperature, you can also feel the rich levels of beans.

By contrast, Americans are used to drinking drip-filter coffee with a low concentration and a little coffee flavor, so they pour in more water to ease the bitterness of Italian concentrate. As a result, American coffee is generally made in larger cups, and the ratio of coffee to water is usually between 1:5 and 1:8.

Take Qianjie as an example, in order to ensure that the flavor of the coffee is not over-diluted, the hot American style will choose a coffee cup with a capacity of 250ml, and the ratio of concentration to water will be controlled at 1 Espresso+180g 4.5, which is probably composed of hot water of 40 g Espresso+180g, while iced American coffee will use a ratio of 40 g coffee liquid to 180 g ice water.

In addition, in the production steps, as we find that the action of adding water will directly wash out the Crema, the visual effect is far less beautiful than the coffee with golden foam, so when making American style, we will deliberately emphasize the detail of putting water first and then pouring coffee liquid.

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Front Street Cafe

No. 10 Baoqian street, Yandun road, Dongshankou, Yuexiu district, Guangzhou, Guangdong province