Lungo means “long” in Italian, and Lungo coffee is the long-drink version of Espresso. Falling somewhere between Espresso and Americano, this flavor may be preferred by those who find Espresso too strong. If you are wondering how to make illy Espresso Lungo, check out the Lungo Recipe.
Ingredients:
- 7 grams of ground coffee.
- Hot water.
How to Make Lungo Coffee in an Espresso Machine?
Simply put, the Lungo coffee recipe involves preparing it like an espresso, but allowing hot water to flow through the ground coffee for 35 seconds. This yields 5–10 ml more coffee than a single espresso, which is known as a long-drink espresso, or Lungo coffee.
- Place 7 g (maximum 7.5 g) of coffee ground slightly coarser than the setting for espresso into the coffee holder.
- After resting the end of the coffee holder on the table, press the coffee down from top to bottom using a tamper with 20 kg of pressure, giving it a quarter turn.
- Insert the coffee holder into the machine and allow the ideal amount of water at 90°C to flow through the ground coffee at 9 bar (atmosphere) pressure.
- Allow water to flow for 35 seconds to obtain 25–30 ml of Lungo coffee.
Important Tips to Consider When Preparing Lungo Coffee:
- To prepare a perfect Lungo coffee, you can adjust the coffee grind setting to be slightly coarser.
- Do not restart your machine after the water flow has stopped, and do not allow water to flow through the same coffee a second time.
- Allowing water to flow through the coffee for more than 35 seconds will result in a lower-quality Lungo with a thin crema and far less flavor and aroma.
- If you want to add more than 5 ml when preparing Lungo coffee, do not draw more water through the same amount of coffee. Instead, you can add a small amount of separately heated water using the machine's steam wand or a different heater over the espresso Lungo coffee.
How to Make Lungo Coffee in Capsule Machines?
Francis Francis brand or some Hotpoint brand machines allow you to obtain a perfect illy espresso Lungo coffee every time by pressing the standard espresso button with an iperespresso Lungo capsule.
* When using an Iperespresso Lungo capsule, there is no need to change the water flow setting on your capsule machine. Although the water flows at the same rate as with espresso capsules, the ground coffee inside the Lungo capsule is ground coarser, so you automatically obtain approximately twice as much coffee as a standard illy espresso.