I had, until reading about this new café development, thought the legendary Américano was the most popular ‘renegade’ coffee drink in the bistros of Europe. Well… The Long Black appears similar, but it sports characteristics that render it distinct…
A classic Long Black Coffee, at Kaffeine’s, London…What, exactly, is it?
The Long Black is an espresso beverage loosely related in some respects to the classic Américano. But it’s prepared in a different manner, which is one of the factors that sets it apart.
A viral Instagram reel from the coffee shop Tamp, in Chiswicks, West London, asked that exact question. And, like an over-eager lawyer in a patent infringement case, offered its own immediate explanation.
Small differences, Big difference?
The Long Black is ‘long’ by virtue of the fact that it’s a traditional expresso served in a larger cup, with hot water added to ‘lengthen’ it. Which is to say, increasing its volume, and making it last longer.
According to El Hunt, writing in The Guardan, “Some baristas also swear by adding the espresso second, on top of the hot water. This ensures that, ‘the hot water is slightly cooler in the cup and closer in temperature to the espresso that’s coming out of the machine,’ explains Ollie Simon, of the New Zealand-founded speciality roaster Allpress. ‘If you’re pouring hot water straight on to espresso, you’re agitating the drink, and losing some of the more volatile aromas and flavours.’”
Black by name…
… Black by nature. As an espresso drink, it’s traditionally served black. Though some folks do – as with espresso – add milk and/or sweetener. But devotées insist that it’s best enjoyed ”bare’, so the drinker can fully appreciate the subtle character of the ‘stretched’ espresso…
The Long Black is a reactionary up-shot to the Flat White, another espresso variation introduced a few years ago by Australians and New Zealanders – an unusual number of whom, apparently, run London coffee bars.
Sudden popularity
A survey last year showed that the Long Black was quickly supplanting other espresso beverages in London’s upscale café coffee scene. Cementing the stranglehold Aussie and NZ ‘import’ culture have taken on the subculture.
“They’re far less influenced by what I would consider American café culture,” says Dave Olejnik, owner of the Leeds coffee shop, Laynes. The American way’, he laments, entails, “the Starbuck’s-ification of coffee, and putting a huge drink in your hand with a great big comfy sofa.”
That culture didn’t land down there [in Austral-Asia] in quite the same way.” Instead, Olejnik insists, it’s about, “fine-tuning the original Italian espresso bar menu, and the notion that there’s value in high quality, as opposed to high quantity,” he says. “It has had huge implications for global coffee-drinking culture.”
My take
Olejnik’s claim for Aussie café culture and against the ‘American(o)’ variety is a big mouthful for North Americans to swallow. And only time will tell if he’s right. But cosmopolitan London coffee drinkers flooding the city’s specialty shops seem to agree with him…
~ Maggie J.