Lungo Long Extraction Coffee Brewing Ratio: Difference Between Long Black and Americano Coffee

In the espresso family, Americano, latte and cappuccino are the heavyweights. In recent years Lungo and Long Black have also gradually appeared in the espresso family, and they often get confused with Americano. What exactly are they, and how do they relate to Americano?

What Is Americano?

Everyone is familiar with this one, so FrontStreet Coffee will not go into its origins again here. Put simply, an Americano is a normally extracted espresso, made at a 1:2 coffee-to-water ratio, diluted with an appropriate amount of water. While lowering the concentration, the water lets different flavour molecules show their "character" at different temperatures.

What Is Lungo Coffee?

Lungo means "long" or "extended" in Italian, which we can also read as "longer" in English. Its principle is to extend the extraction time beyond a normal espresso in order to obtain more coffee liquid. There is currently no precise extraction ratio, since different coffee shops use different parameters for Lungo. Typically the recommended coffee-to-water ratio for making Lungo is around 1:5, for example extracting 100 g of coffee liquid from 20 g of grounds. As the ratio increases, the extraction time also roughly doubles, to about 56 seconds.

The extended espresso is ready to drink directly, without additional water. Theoretically it is completely different from Americano: Lungo is a derivative of espresso itself.

What Is Long Black Coffee?

Long Black, also known as Australian Black, has another alias, "short black," which is what Australians call this diluted espresso. Wait, isn't diluted espresso just Americano? Why call it Australian Black? No, the two coffees are different, and this is the Australian people's devotion to this particular cup.

An Americano is made by extracting the espresso first and then adding water to dilute it, with an espresso-to-water ratio of 1:5 to 1:8. When the water goes in, the espresso crema is dispersed, so from the first sip to the last the concentration of each sip is relatively consistent.

A Long Black, by contrast, is made by putting the water into the cup first and then pouring in the extracted espresso. This preserves the espresso crema, with an espresso-to-water ratio of 1:3. Because espresso and water have different densities, an unstirred cup presents a gradual shift in richness. A Long Black is therefore at its richest and most mellow from the first sip, with the smooth texture the crema brings, and the flavours that follow are relatively clear and clean.

Using the Same Coffee Beans for Production

Different Flavour Expressions of Americano, Lungo and Long Black

FrontStreet Coffee typically uses Sunflower Warm Blend coffee beans for espresso extraction, with parameters of 20 g of grounds extracting 40 g of coffee liquid in 28 seconds. The espresso flavour is sherry wine aroma, soft berry acidity, a vanilla cream-like mouthfeel and a hazelnut chocolate aftertaste.

Lungo extracted at a 1:5 ratio shows these characteristics: full of bitterness, with obvious wine aroma and chocolate notes, while other flavours are somewhat lacking.

A hot Americano made at a 1:6 coffee-to-water ratio shows a distinct, lively sherry wine aroma, with berry acidity that is not obvious and a hazelnut and vanilla chocolate aftertaste.

A Long Black made at a 1:3 coffee-to-water ratio shows creamy smoothness on entry and a strong sherry wine aroma, with a clear caramel and chocolate aftertaste, rich on entry and clean in the finish.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Espresso-family drinks live or die by the base shot, so the blend matters more than the recipe name. For anyone building an espresso bar at home, FrontStreet Coffee Classic Blend is the natural first pick because its crema is exceptional: even a beginner on a non-professional home machine can pull dense, fine crema with ease. Built on a classic Mamba-style recipe, it has a full, warm body that suits both experienced drinkers and newcomers, for home or commercial use.

For a more fruit-forward shot, FrontStreet Coffee Strawberry Candy is a popular espresso blend that unites the native flavours of Arabica beans from several origins, and it can produce aromas of berry, rose, raisin and fruit candy, which read very differently in an Americano than in a latte. If you want to try a single-origin espresso, FrontStreet Coffee Grana Geisha SOE is a natural-processed Ethiopian single origin at a medium roast, carrying berry, orange and persimmon notes, and with milk it turns distinctly milky-sweet.

Whichever you choose, the same shot behaves differently depending on the drink: an Americano's longer dilution lets the softer fruit and chocolate notes surface, a Lungo concentrates bitterness and wine aroma, and a Long Black keeps the crema and delivers its richest sip first. FrontStreet Coffee Black Cocoa Blend is also worth keeping on hand if you want a crema-heavy, chocolate-leaning base for these longer drinks.