Lungo means “long” in Italian, and Lungo coffee is the long-drink version of Espresso. This flavor, which can be considered between Espresso and Americano, can be preferred by those who find Espresso too strong. If you're 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?
In its simplest description, the lungo coffee recipe involves preparing it like an espresso, but extending the hot water extraction time through the ground coffee to 35 seconds. This way, 5-10ml more coffee is obtained than a single espresso, which is called a long-drink espresso or lungo coffee.
- Place 7gr of coffee (maximum 7.5gr), ground slightly coarser than for espresso, into the portafilter basket.
- After resting the end of the portafilter on the table, apply 20kg of pressure with a tamper from top to bottom and rotate a quarter turn to compact the coffee.
- Attach the portafilter to the machine and allow the ideal amount of water at 90°C and 9 bar (atmosphere) pressure to pass through the ground coffee.
- Extract water for 35 seconds to get 25-30ml 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; do not extract water through the same coffee a second time.
- Increasing the water extraction time through the coffee beyond 35 seconds will result in a lower quality lungo with thin crema and significantly less taste and aroma.
- If you want to add more than 5ml when preparing lungo coffee, do not extract more water through the same amount of coffee. Instead, you can add some water that you have heated separately using the machine's steam wand or another heater to your espresso lungo coffee.
How to Make Lungo Coffee in Capsule Machines?
With Francis Francis or some Hotpoint brand machines, you can get 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, you do not need to change the water flow amount in your capsule machine. Although the water flows at the same rate as with espresso capsules, since the ground coffee inside the lungo capsule is coarser, you automatically get approximately twice the amount of coffee as a standard illy espresso.