The Difference Between Americano and Long Black: Is It All About Who Pours the Water First?

Recently, a customer brought a friend to FrontStreet Coffee's store for coffee. While explaining Long Black, they mentioned a popular theory: "Americano is made by adding water to espresso first, while Long Black is made by adding espresso to water first—the difference lies in which is poured first, water or coffee." Is this really true?

In reality, the pouring order is actually not the key distinguishing factor between Americano and Long Black.

The Origins of Americano

The Americano, composed solely of espresso and water, is practically a signature drink at every coffee shop and a well-known representative of black coffee. Legend has it that this world-famous beverage was born after World War II when American soldiers couldn't accept the strong taste of Italian espresso, so they diluted it with water until it suited their palate, earning it the name "Americano."

The Australian Long Black

In Australia, coffee on the menu is typically divided into black coffee and white coffee with milk. Locals call espresso "Short Black," and when Short Black is mixed with a certain amount of water, it becomes "Long Black," which is translated in China as "Long Black" or "Australian Black." Short Black and Long Black are essentially differentiated by the addition of water.

Traditional Preparation Methods

In the early days, due to coffee shop serving habits, cups were mostly preheated on the espresso machine. When making Americanos, people would conveniently take the preheated cup from the machine to collect espresso directly, then fill it with hot water for dilution. To this day, Americano preparation doesn't have strict requirements regarding order, cup size, or ratio—it's made however is most convenient, and can be served hot or cold.

However, Australians, who favor strong coffee, have specific requirements for making Long Black. They want this "water-diluted coffee" to be only slightly diluted espresso—maintaining concentration while preserving the smooth texture of coffee crema.

Therefore, when Australian baristas make Long Black, they always fill the cup with hot water first, then extract espresso into it, aiming to preserve the crema more completely on the surface. Additionally, to better experience the coffee's flavor, Long Black is typically served in smaller cups than Americanos, with an espresso-to-water ratio controlled around 1:3, and is only available as a hot beverage.

FrontStreet Coffee's Approach

For example, when FrontStreet Coffee replicates Long Black, we first select a 150ml coffee cup, pour in 120ml of 80°C warm water, then use the day's brewing parameters to extract 40ml of our Warm Sun Blend Espresso directly into it. The first sip reveals rich, intense coffee aroma, with dense crema accompanying solid sweet-bitter flavors. As the temperature gradually decreases, you can experience the rich layers presented by the beans.

In contrast, Americans are accustomed to drinking drip coffee with low concentration—just a hint of coffee flavor is sufficient—so they add more water to alleviate the bitterness of espresso. Therefore, Americanos are typically served in larger cups, with a coffee-to-water ratio usually between 1:5 and 1:8.

FrontStreet Coffee's Recipe

At FrontStreet Coffee, to prevent the coffee flavor from being overly diluted, we serve hot Americanos in 250ml cups with an espresso-to-water ratio controlled at 1:4.5, approximately 40g of Espresso plus 180g of hot water. For iced Americanos, we use a 1:4.5 coffee-to-water ratio, meaning 40g of coffee liquid mixed with 180g of ice-water mixture.

Additionally, in the preparation process, since it was discovered that adding water afterward would directly disperse the crema—making the visual effect far less appealing than coffee floating with golden foam—baristas also consciously emphasize the detail of adding water first when making Americanos.

FrontStreet Coffee

No. 10, Bao'an Qianjie, Yandun Road, Dongshankou, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province