Coffee Specialties: Americano vs Lungo

Do you make a mild, fruity coffee, or one that is very bitter?

As a serious espresso drinker with a semi-automatic (piston) machine, I occasionally have guests who simply want black coffee. No espresso, and nothing with milk either.

I always find that a shame. I would have liked to make them a perfect espresso, cappuccino, or flat white that I could serve with modest pride, including attempts at latte art. 

When the visitor wanted a pure black coffee, I always found it difficult to figure out what to do. Should I let my coffee run longer, or do I also need to adjust the grind? Because then the machine also runs faster. Ultimately, I settled on the Americano or the Long Black.

Espresso with hot water

Simply put, an Americano is an espresso with hot water added to it. This dilutes the coffee and makes all the flavors in your espresso a little milder. So if your espresso is bitter, your Americano will be less bitter. Do you have medium-roasted beans and make a fruity espresso? Then your Americano will be less fruity. So it is a less intense coffee. But generally, it is still a bit stronger in flavor than filter coffee. But filter coffee is also a completely different brewing method.

The ratio between water and espresso is approximately 1:1. So you will have about 70-100 ml of coffee, if your espresso is between 35 and 50 ml.

Different order

A Long Black is the same as an Americano, except you first put the water in your cup, and then let your espresso flow into it from your machine. This gives the best result. The crema remains intact. And it is also said to be slightly milder than an Americano. Try it for yourself!

And what about the lungo?

The problem with the classic lungo is over-extraction. Here is how it works:

To get the best flavor out of your coffee beans, you let your espresso machine run for a certain amount of time. Usually between 20 and 30 seconds. Exactly how long depends on the type of bean, the roast of your bean, and, of course, your own taste.

--> It is surprising how big the difference in flavor can be for an espresso if you let it run for a shorter or longer time.

To make a classic Lungo, you let an espresso run longer, for up to a minute. You will then, naturally, have more water in your coffee and thus a fuller cup. But after the regular time (20-30 seconds), during which you extract all the delicious flavors from your espresso beans, more and more bitters are released, and you really do not want them. This is what you call over-extraction.
When brewing coffee, you can see that the color of what comes out of your coffee spout becomes increasingly gray after 30 seconds. Why would you put gray, bitter water in your coffee when you could just use clean water?

The fruity acidity that you have extracted from your coffee in the first 20-30 seconds is completely overwhelmed by the unpleasant bitters. So a Lungo tastes more bitter than an Americano or Long Black.

Also from the fully automatic machine

A fully automatic machine, such as a Jura, which grinds the beans per cup and brews coffee from them, works in a slightly different way than a piston machine. But even with this machine, the result of an Americano is tastier than when you make a regular coffee.

Because if you make a regular coffee with a fully automatic machine, you will also get more over-extraction and thus more bitters. It is therefore better to top up your espresso with clean hot water. 

Now you can easily dispense hot water from most coffee machines. And fortunately, there are more and more machines with a hot-water spout between the double coffee spout. This allows you to make an Americano at the touch of a button. You set the quantities via the machine's display. The Jura E8, for example, has this function.

What coffee do you use for the Americano?

Any espresso coffee is suitable. After all, it remains a matter of taste.
But our advice is still to try a nice Single Estate for the Americano and Long Black. The fruity citrus notes of our Colombia, or the full, sweet flavor of the Guatemala, come out beautifully. Here is some advice for a few varieties:

• Single Estate - Colombia
• Single Estate - Peru
• Single Estate - Guatemala
• Arabica Espresso
• Espresso Roma

Conclusion

We are not fans of the Lungo and therefore prefer the Americano or Long Black. So if you want to serve your guest a regular black coffee, and you want to do that with your espresso machine? Do not let your espresso machine run longer than normal and top up your coffee cup with hot water.