What does long extract coffee mean? What is the difference between long-extract coffee and American coffee? What is the difference between Lungo and American coffee? What is Lungo Coffee?

Recently, many boutique coffee shops have begun to sell a "niche" coffee-"Changcai". For friends who are not deeply involved in business, Changcai can be said to be very unfamiliar, so recently, friends often ask Qianjie what Changcai is. To be reasonable, Qianjie believes that the reason why people feel unfamiliar with it is mainly because of the name "Changcai". If you use its other nickname "Lungo" or "Longo" to call it, Qianjie believes that everyone should no longer be unfamiliar with it.

What is Changcai/Lungo/Longo? In the article "How to Draw the Big Three Enrichments", Qian Jie shared that there is not only one version of espresso extracted by espresso machines. In addition to our common concentrated versions, there is also a short extract of Ristretto and a long extract of Lungo. The difference between them mainly lies in the change in the amount of extract liquid and the coffee concentration and extraction rate affected by the amount of liquid. From left to right are Ristretto, Normale (regular espresso), Lungo

1:2 is the most commonly used ratio of powder to water when we usually extract and concentrate. If 20g of powder is used, 40ml of coffee liquor needs to be extracted. The concentration extracted with this ratio will have a higher concentration and extraction rate, and the coffee will taste strong and balanced; if a certain amount of liquid is reduced on a regular basis, the concentration obtained will be "Ristretto." Because the concentration is higher, but the extraction rate is relatively low, Ristretto tastes strong but not bitter, and has a high sweetness; and if a certain amount of liquid output is increased on a regular basis, the concentration obtained is "Lungo." Compared with the first two, the concentration of Lungo will be much lower, so it will not taste as "stimulating" as the first two, and will be softer. At the same time, the flavor of coffee will be displayed due to the low concentration, making it easier for us to catch it.

Lungo will actually appear much earlier than everyone thinks. Lungo already existed before the current version of espresso appeared and became popular. At the beginning of the 20th century, the world's first real espresso machine was invented. Not long after, the word "Espresso" was included in the Italian dictionary, which translates to: "espresso made using a pressurized machine or filter." But the coffee maker at that time was not so powerful. Although it already had a pressurizing function, the pressure was only 1.5 to 3 bar, just like a mocha pot. Those who have come into contact with a mocha pot can know that such pressure obviously cannot make the higher-concentration espresso that is common today. So if you want coffee to have enough strong flavor, you can only increase the extraction rate of coffee by increasing the liquid weight. And this is what we know today as Lungo/Changcai.

It was not until the mid-20th century that the advent of the pull-bar coffee machine increased the pressure to 9bar. The pressure of 9bar not only makes the extraction speed of espresso coffee faster and higher concentration, but also carries a layer of rich golden oil on the surface. So since this time, the system of espresso coffee has gradually been established. All types of espresso use Espresso as the basic link, and then definitions and standards for various types of espresso emerge. Lungo and Ristretto were defined from this time.

Even in the era of espresso orthodoxy, Lungo did not disappear. In Italian, Lungo means "long" and "extended", so we can understand it as an extended version of Espresso, or long extract. If you ask why you want to keep the long extract instead of directly using concentration and water for dilution, the answer is of course that European masters have their own consistent style (everyone knows it). Qianjie mentioned earlier that Lungo will have more liquid than Espresso. The ratio of powder to water it uses is generally 1:4, 1:5, or even more. Its advantages are as introduced by Qianjie. Because the concentration is not so high, the taste will not be too concentrated, it will be softer to drink, and the flavor will be easier to capture.

But what we need to know is that Lungo does not simply increase the amount of liquid extracted based on espresso. This approach is obvious. The extraction efficiency of coffee will be too high due to the significant increase in liquid volume and time. Those bad substances in the coffee will be extracted and then filled with prominent bitterness. So, if we want to make a good cup of Lungo, we need to readjust the parameters of the coffee, especially the degree of grind. Generally speaking, the degree of grinding used to extract Lungo will be relatively coarse. The purpose is to increase the gap between the powder and increase the water discharge speed, which can reduce the extraction time and avoid the risk of over-extraction for coffee.

However, things are not that simple. After grinding, the coffee is more likely to produce a channel effect because the gap between the flour increases. So after we finish extracting a Lungo, we can often see splattering coffee liquid everywhere and "half-cooked" powder cakes (half of which are not moist). The taste of the coffee is not so good because of the uneven extraction. So for a long time, Lungo was not very popular. It was not until the popularity of pressure swing extraction that Lungo returned to people's vision. By adjusting the pressure during the extraction process, channel effects occur very, very much, so the extraction becomes more stable, and the taste of Lungo is no longer volatile.

The most important thing is that using Lungo with this method will allow the grinding of coffee powder to have a high degree of tolerance. It is not like conventional concentration or Ristretto, which requires extremely high requirements on the degree of grinding. Each bean must have an exclusive degree of grinding, but only needs to be within a general range. Because of this, even if you use different coffee beans to make Lungo, you don't need to equip them with a dedicated bean grinder. One bean grinder can do it all. This can not only shorten the coffee making time, but also give customers more choices. Lungo's flavor performance is not inferior to other black coffees, so more and more coffee shops are beginning to make long-extract coffee.

It is worth mentioning that the production of such long extract/Lungo is difficult. Shops need to have enough understanding of beans and extraction. If the understanding is not deep enough, the produced long extract coffee will easily appear. No flavor, light, or uneven extraction. So it is still part of the test of the strength of the barista ~

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