Lungo

Caffè lungo

Lungo(lit. 'long'), known in full in Italian ascaffè lungo,is acoffeebeverage made by using anespressomachine to make an Italian-style coffee—short black (a single espresso shot) with more water (generally twice as much), resulting in a larger coffee, a lungo.

A normal serving of espresso takes from 18 to 30 seconds to pull, and fills 25–30 millilitres (1floz), while a lungo may take up to a minute to pull, and might fill 50–70 millilitres (2floz). Extraction time of the dose is determined by the variety of coffee beans (usually a blend ofarabicaandrobusta), their grind, and the pressure of the machine. It is usually brewed using an espresso machine, but with twice the amount of water to the same weight of coffee, to make a much-longer drink.

In French, it is calledcafé allongéand is popular in the Canadian province of Quebec.

Flavour

As the amount of water increases or decreases relative to a normal shot, the composition of the shot changes because the flavour components of coffee dissolve at varying rates. For this reason, a long or short shot will not contain the same ratio of components that a normal shot contains. Therefore, aristrettois not simply twice as "strong" as a regular shot, nor is a lungo simply half the strength. Moreover, since espresso is brewed under pressure, a lungo does not have the same taste or composition as coffee produced by other methods, even when made with the same ratio of water and ground coffee.

Brewing

Ristretto,normale,and lungo are relative terms without exact measurements.Nevertheless, a rough guide is a grounds-to-liquid brewing ratio of 1:1 for ristretto, 1:2 fornormale,and 1:4 for lungo.Assuming ristretto is a more concentrated espresso coffee, aristretto solois thus 15–20 ml (0.5floz) (the foamy crema slightly increases this volume),normaleis 30 ml (1floz), and lungo is 60 ml (2floz). By contrast, acaffè cremawill be approximately 180 ml (6 fl oz).

See also

Media related toLungoat Wikimedia Commons

• List of coffee drinks
• Caffè americano– hot water added to espresso (in that order)
• Long black– espresso added to hot water (in that order); famous in Australia
• Ristretto– half-length extraction; the opposite of a lungo