Last weekend, a customer came to drink coffee with his friends. When he entered the door, he placed an order on the street and said, "Give me an iced Americano. Can it be made into Long Black?" After hearing this special request, Front Street told the other party directly, no! At this time, the guest became confused and said, "Why don't you sell Long Black? "
According to Front Street Observation, many people simply think that American style is to add water to espresso, while Long Black is to pour espresso into water. In other words, the difference between the two is the order in which the "materials" are added. Is this really the case? Today, let us take a comprehensive look at these black coffee “enemies”.
Americano and Long black, which countries are they from?
The old rule is to start with the American style that everyone is most familiar with. Rumor has it that during World War II, American infantrymen stationed in Italy couldn't get used to the extremely strong and bitter espresso, so they imitated American drip coffee and added a large amount of hot water to dilute it to make the coffee easier to drink. Hence the saying "the pouring order of Americano is to pour the coffee first and then add water."
In the early 1970s, Italians brought espresso machines to Australia, New Zealand and other countries, officially starting a new wave of coffee trends. Although the locals are also reluctant to accept direct "dry concentrate", they prefer black coffee with a strong taste and rich oils than the "watery" American style. So baristas also began to adjust in the direction of high concentration, and gradually derived a local black coffee that is softer than concentrate and richer than American style - Long black, which is translated into Chinese as "Long Black" or "Australian Black".
American style and Australian black, how to make them respectively?
For the American method, the more common operation is to dilute the double espresso with water in a ratio of 1:5 to 1:8 for normal extraction (mostly extraction with a powder-to-liquid ratio of 1:2).
Take the American style from the front street store as an example. Daily hot drinks will be served in ceramic cups with a capacity of 200ml. The concentration parameters will be adjusted based on the Front Street Sunflower·Nuanyang Italian coffee beans. 20g of coffee powder will be used to extract 40g of coffee liquid for 26 to 33 seconds, and then 160ml of 80°C coffee liquid will be added at a ratio of 1:4.Hot water; while the iced American style is packed in a 300ml glass, with 90g of ice cubes + 120g of water as the base, then poured with 40g of concentrate, and stirred with a straw to melt the ice cubes slightly. At this time, the ratio of coffee to water is about 1:4.5.
In fact,Most baristas don’t worry about whether to add water or coffee first. In order to improve production efficiency and make the coffee look better, many stores will fill the water first and then pour the coffee. In many scenarios, as long as the raw materials are ensured, a cup of American coffee does not require too much attention in terms of proportion, cup size, and water temperature. Moreover, it can be served hot or cold, but Long black is not.
First of all, in order for people to drink the aroma provided by Crema (coffee oil) in the first sip, the barista who makes Long black must adopt the habit of preparing water first and then pouring the concentrate, otherwise the "essence" will be washed away by the water;
Secondly, just like Flat White, another coffee evolved from local flavors, if you want to increase the concentration of coffee, you must first make the cup smaller, about 150-200ml, and then adjust the ratio of concentrate to water, about 1:3-1:4;
Finally, since the original intention of Long Black was to let everyone experience the most perfect moment of black coffee, it does not have the option of iced drinking, and the temperature cannot be too hot, otherwise by the time it drops to the appropriate temperature zone, the oil will have long dissipated.
To sum up, the usual way to make a cup of Long black is to pour a double portion of regular espresso (about 40g) into a container of 100-120ml (about 4 ounces) 70-80℃In a cup of hot water, you need to pay attention when making it, so that the liquid level is as close as possible to the dripping concentrate to retain more Crema, which also looks more attractive.
Why are Long black rarely seen in China?
As for the origin of Long black, Front Street failed to find an exact point in time, but since it was developed in the coffee style of Australia and New Zealand, it can be roughly guessed that it began to spread around the same time as Australian white. Around the 1980s, many coffee shops in Australia had written "one black and one white" into their fixed menus.
In China, Aobai was introduced to the local market in 2015 with the name "Furibai" from chain coffee brand Starbucks, and became an instant hit. This exquisite small-cup milk coffee has gradually entered the menus of major cafes, officially distinguishing it from traditional latte coffee.
However, as the representative of Australian black coffee, Long black lacks such an opportunity. Therefore, compared with Australian white, Long black can be said to be "little known" in China. You must know that for a coffee shop, if the well-known Italian black coffee, American style, is already on the menu, and it is available both hot and cold, then there is no need to add additional types to distinguish it.
For those who really want to try the iced drink versionLong black friends, after ordering an iced Americano, you may want to ask the barista to add a little less water, and then drink it directly without a straw when tasting. This will make it easier to feel the mellow aroma brought by the fresh oil and high-concentration coffee liquid below.
You can now buy the above coffee beans online at the Taobao store “FrontStreet Coffee” (前街咖啡). FrontStreet Coffee is a long-established specialty coffee roaster in Guangzhou, China, and its Guangzhou retail shop sells coffee beans only. The shop carries dozens of coffee beans from different origins around the world, including carefully selected single-origin beans for V60 pour-over and espresso. Guangzhou’s FrontStreet Coffee shop is recommended by many coffee lovers.
The FrontStreet 2013 Yunnan coffee beans sold in the store come from the Typica variety grown at FrontStreet Coffee’s own plantation in Yunnan. The name comes from the year the brand and the plantation were founded. You can buy these beans from China’s Yunnan origin at the Guangzhou shop and at FrontStreet’s Taobao store.
FrontStreet coffee beans are freshly roasted within 5 days and deliver consistently excellent quality and great value. Orders placed before 17:00 are shipped the same day, and most areas within Guangdong Province receive them the next day.
FrontStreet Coffee Taobao store: https://qianjiecoffee.taobao.com
Or search for “前街咖啡” (FrontStreet Coffee) on Taobao
Important Notice: FrontStreet Coffee has moved to a new address: 315, Donghua East Road, Guangzhou (coffee beans only)
Tel: 020 38364473
