What is the difference between espresso and lungo

Slightly milder flavor and more caffeine Longer shot made with more water Generally served straight. May be bitter Less crema Takes longer to pull. Lungo vs Espresso: The Main Differences. Kate is a lifelong coffee enthusiast and homebrewer who enjoys writing for coffee websites and sampling every kind of coffee known to man.

Popular Posts. Related posts. Oct 18 Kate Brewing. Kate Brewing. Try Our Coffee Recipes. Kate Recipes. Other Categories. Copyright Coffee Affection. All Rights Reserved. The traditional recipe for producing a lungo is 8 grams of coffee per 55ml of water.

This should produce around 50ml of drinkable coffee. As outlined above, espresso, ristretto and lungo are variants of the same fundamental technique of producing coffee through the espresso process. These three types of coffee are most easily differentiated between in terms of flavor and caffeine content. The key to getting good flavors from your espresso, is to use fresh roasted coffee, with high quality and well roasted not burnt coffee from, preferably, a local coffee roaster.

If you use a coffee from Brazil or a Brazil based blend, which is a commonly coffee used for alot of coffee shops in the USA at least, then your espresso will have a nutty, dark, earthy tones. If you go the opposite direction and say get a coffee from Kenya you will get strong floral notes. Another tell-tale sign of high quality espresso that is using fresh roasted coffee is the presence of the crema the frothy layer on the surface.

The crema helps to give the espresso a smooth and more body feel quality. Of course, these common characteristics are not always set in stone, with espresso shots having the capacity to offer flavors from earthy think Sumatra to Citric tones think Ethiopia , when prepared using coffee from different parts of the world. The basic espresso method produces powerful earth-like notes due to the extraction time and highly pressurized process.

Ristretto coffee is born out of a high pressure system, but the limited amount of water used leads to a short, and less stringent, extraction process. In a ristretto the crema is comparatively thinner than that of an espresso, leading to decreased chocolate flavors and minimal earth-like notes. The earthy, chocolate flavors are, instead, replaced by aromatic and floral notes.

You will experience pungent herbal notes, coupled with flowery, fruity notes. This is particularly the case if you smell a ristretto. While a lungo is still considered a variant of espresso, it is prepared differently and is vastly set apart by its taste. While both of these drinks involve altering the amount of water used to pull a shot of espresso, the ristretto decreases that amount while the lungo increases it. So, to put it more simply the coffee to water ratio for the different espresso shots are for ristretto, for espresso, and for lungo.

This mix up is due to the names rather than similarities between the drinks themselves. A latte is an espresso and milk based drink that involves pouring steamed milk and milk foam over a shot or two of espresso.

Meanwhile, a lungo is an espresso variant. So, while these are typically two separate drinks, you could potentially replace the typical shot with a lungo IN a latte if you wanted to explore a different flavor profile.

Also, if your go-to is an Americano, replacing the usual shot or shots with a lungo might suit your tastes. However, if you are still interested to try it in some capacity, try using it to replace the espresso in another drink, such as a cappuccino or a latte macchiato NOT an espresso macchiato. Jura Z6 Review. Despite the price, the Jura Z6 will bring just what you need to your kitchen when trying to make a quick espresso-based drink! Gaggia Classic Pro vs Rancilio Silvia. Looking for an at-home espresso machine that has the comfort of home-brewed coffee with the class of coffee shop espresso?

We've got you covered. Click here to get the scoop on how the Gaggia Classic Pro and the Rancilio Silvia are the perfect choices for all your brewing needs. Expect to get strong herbal notes along with floral and dark fruit especially in the smell of the drink.

On the tongue, expect the same but with a strong emphasis on the herbal and floral instead of the fruit. I hate to say it, but lungo tends to be my least favorite espresso preparation. I find that the only flavors remaining are roasty, smokey notes. Extraction here is so close to being overdone that you may even believe your espresso has been burnt due to the notes presented. For most, the common espresso preparation may be well enough. But, if you are seeking to understand the nuances of a certain bean, it would be beneficial to prepare the shots in each way and taste each.

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