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Telegraph
20-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
The long black is the coffee you should order this year (no, it's not an Americano)
Just when you thought it was all about the flat white or the cortado (you know that's an espresso with the same quantity of hot milk, not just a small latte, right?), along comes the long black. The drink that Australians and New Zealanders have been sipping for decades is finally filtering into British coffee shops. In truth, the long black has been quietly enjoyed in a handful of Antipodean-run cafés in the UK for years. But a few months back, Chiswick coffee shop Tamp shared an Instagram reel explaining the difference between a long black and an Americano. The video went viral, and suddenly social media was buzzing with discussions about this 'new' and possibly superior way to drink black coffee. For those unfamiliar with it, a long black is made by pouring a double shot of espresso over hot water. An Americano, on the other hand, is made by combining them in the reverse order: coffee first, hot water second. So, can changing the sequence really make a meaningful difference? Edwin Harrison thinks so. He's been pouring long blacks at Artisan, a small chain of speciality coffee shops in London, since launching the business 14 years ago with his Australian wife, Magda. 'It's all about the crema,' he explains. That's the silky, golden layer of foam that crowns a properly made espresso. This foam delivers texture so, unlike an Americano, a long black doesn't feel watery in your mouth. 'You get that slightly more silky, smooth mouthfeel when you take that first sip, rather than just a standardised, thin taste,' Harrison says. How to make a long black A good long black is made with care. Often, the barista will pull the espresso into a glass and, once the hot water is ready in the serving cup, slowly pour in the coffee. 'You're nestling the espresso on top of the hot water and that maintains the crema and allows it to settle gently,' he says. In a long black, the integrity of the espresso is preserved, while in an Americano, it's blasted with hot water and diluted. The other key difference between a long black and an Americano is the amount of hot water added. Opinions about the perfect ratio vary, but a long black generally involves a double shot of espresso added to between 150ml and 200ml of hot water. An Americano, meanwhile, is a much longer drink, with a higher proportion of water. What really explains the sudden interest in long blacks? It could be that coffee drinkers like to try new drinks – and it's black coffee's turn in the spotlight. Black coffee is also less expensive than milky drinks, which, with ongoing cost-of-living pressures, may appeal to those who spend a lot of money on takeaway brews. Laura Smith, director of Flat White in Soho, London – the original Antipodean café that introduced the flat white to Britain – suspects it's also part of a broader shift in how we think about coffee. The long black, she suggests, is a step up from the Americano in terms of flavour profile. 'It could be that black coffee drinkers are wanting better flavour and quality,' she says. ' Coffee prices are really going up and the market is very chaotic, so maybe people are thinking a bit more about the coffee they drink.' Spot the difference: Five coffees to know about She says flat whites and café lattes remain the firm favourites at Flat White, and she enjoys a milky coffee now and then, too. But those who favour black coffee tend to be chasing something else: the complex flavours of a quality cup that's expertly brewed. And there's more to savour in a long black than in an Americano. 'Pretty much all of my team drink filter or espresso black,' Smith says. 'Once you've really caught the coffee bug, black coffee is where you find the flavour. There's definitely room for discovery in stepping away from milk.' The long black also offers something different from a quick caffeine hit. Unlike an espresso, which is over in a gulp, you can sit down with a long black and take your time with it. But here's the thing: if you really want to stay ahead of the caffeine curve, those in the know are swerving the long black for punchier drinks. The 'quart black', popular at Flat White, is a more concentrated take: a double shot of espresso with an equal measure of hot water. It sits somewhere between a long black and a lungo (an espresso pulled with extra water), offering the clarity of a long black coffee with a little less volume and a bit more oomph. Meanwhile, at Kaffeine, another speciality café in London, ristretto is on the menu. A fixture on coffee-shop menus in Italy, it's a potent concentrated espresso shot, made using the same amount of coffee as a standard espresso but with about half the amount of water. Are you keeping up? Where to enjoy a long black
The Guardian
06-02-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
The long black: will this soon be the UK's favourite coffee order?
If you're a regular at specialist coffee shops in the UK – the kind where baristas carefully weigh out your grounds on tiny hypersensitive scales and practically frogmarch you from the premises if you order syrup – you may have noticed that americanos have fallen out of favour. In these fancier coffee spots, everyone's dependable, unfussy go-to is being eclipsed by a newer import from Australia and New Zealand: the long black. Conducting an unofficial survey of coffee spots, I noticed nearly every barista had a slightly different explanation of the drink. 'It's basically exactly the same as an americano,' one whispered conspiratorially. 'It's a shorter black coffee, the same size as a flat white,' explained another. The final barista I spoke to just shook her head in quiet disappointment when I asked if long black was just a more pretentious way of asking for an americano. What is the difference between a long black and an americano? Last year, 2.1 million people watched a viral Instagram reel from the coffee shop Tamp, in Chiswick, west London, which asked that exact question. Despite its name, a long black is shorter than an americano, but 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.' Leeds speciality coffee shop Laynes also adds the espresso second. 'It's a faster way to do it, and espresso is meant to be quick,' says owner Dave Olejnik. 'When you wallop a load of hot water on to an espresso, you also start to break down some of the structure, texture, and the crema, which sits across the top. Honestly, you just get a better-looking drink if you brew coffee into water.' Sales of the long black have been steadily rising in the UK. In 2023, according to one small survey, it was London's fifth most popular coffee order, and accounted for 9% of all sales in the capital. Kaffeine, in Soho, has been selling long blacks since it opened in 2009. Owner Peter Dore-Smith was born in Melbourne, but is a long-term Londoner. Along with nearby Flat White (founded by Australians and New Zealanders, and widely credited with first popularising flat whites in the UK), his shop is a key fixture in London's antipodean coffee scene. He also reckons that he was among the very first people to sell long blacks in London. 'I should open a shop called Long Black, shouldn't I?' he laughs. 'That's what everyone comes here for.' Dore-Smith ushers me behind the bar to watch Katarina, one of his senior baristas, in action. She uses an upturned espresso mug to bring everything nearer to the spout, and brews into a 5oz cup with hot water: the same size you would typically use for a flat white. Aside from size, most of these things don't have much effect on taste, she explains, but it all helps to make your cuppa look nicer at the end. This is important when you don't have the canvas of flashy latte art to play with. 'You'll see there's quite a remarkable difference in the flavour profile,' Dore-Smith says. He's right; with a long black, the flavour of the beans is clearer and much more vibrant, with notes of blackberry, caramel and nuttiness all coming through. In comparison, the americano feels weak and watery. I'm sold. 'Everybody is basically like: whoa, that's so much better,' Dore-Smith says. 'I've noticed, working behind the bar, that the long black is increasing in popularity, and it's much more prevalent.' Sales of the drink at Kaffeine crept up by 4% from November to mid-January, while black coffee in general is also proving more popular. 'I'd liken it to people moving from big lattes down to flat whites,' says Olejnik. 'Moving from big americanos down to long blacks feels like a mirror movement, if you like.' Like the flat white, the long black originated in Australia or New Zealand, depending on who you ask. The two countries are renowned for their high-quality brews; if a spot is owned by an Australian or a New Zealander, it's usually a pretty solid indicator that the coffee will be on point. Dore-Smith attributes the influence of Australian coffee to the wave of Italians who immigrated to Australia in the 1950s and 60s and brought their knowledge of espresso-brewing with them. He also thinks the country's geography and 'very strong anti-drink-driving culture' play their part. 'If you want to go out and meet a mate in London, you go to the pub, have a few pints and get the train home,' he says. But in many parts of Australia with poorer public transport, 'you have to drive home,' he says. 'So you go out and get a really good cup of coffee instead.' New Zealanders think along the same lines. 'Public transport is not a big thing, so you catch up over coffee rather than a pint,' says Simon, who is originally from Auckland. He also offers up the theory that the coffee scene in the two countries has developed in relative isolation. 'I don't want to say it evolved in a bubble, but being so far away, it has kind of done its own thing.' 'They're far less influenced by what I would consider American cafe culture,' says Olejnik, 'the Starbucks-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 quite the same way.' Instead, 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.' As Aussie and New Zealand coffee creeps on to more menus in the UK, will the long black start to become as popular as the flat white? The drink is yet to break into any of the UK's major high street coffee chains. In 2010, Costa became the first high street chain to introduce the flat white to its menu; it is now one of the brand's most popular orders. Still, it has no plans to introduce long blacks, a spokesperson confirmed. So the antipodeans have not yet staged a complete coup – but if you're a seasoned americano drinker, you might consider switching your order up. Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? 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