Espresso
Lungo coffee recipe
A lungo here means one thing: the same 18 g of coffee as the 1:2 shot, run until the cup holds 72 g, a 1:4 beverage ratio.
- Coffee
- 18 g
- Yield
- 72 g
- Temp
- 93 °C
- Time
- 45 s
It is not a button on a machine or a size of cup. It suits people who like a longer, lighter drink from an espresso machine and want to make it by weight instead of by feel. A lungo takes 45 seconds rather than 30, and the extra water changes how the puck behaves. If you have not yet made a standard shot, start with the espresso page and return here.
The spec
| Part | Amount |
|---|---|
| Coffee dose | 18 g |
| Beverage | 72 g (1:4 by beverage mass) |
| Water temperature | 93 °C |
| Shot time | 45 s |
| Grind | Espresso-fine, often a touch coarser than your 1:2 setting |
You need
- The same equipment as a 1:2 shot: machine, grinder, tamper and a scale under the cup.
- A cup that holds 72 g with room to spare, and a timer.
Ratio 1:4 · Grind: Espresso · grind chart
Starting ranges come from your grinder maker’s own guide. Burrs, beans and calibration vary, so treat them as where to begin.
Steps
Before the timer starts, dose and tamp exactly as for a normal shot. Zero the scale with the cup in place.
- 0:00, Start the shot.
Start the pump and the timer.
- 0:05, Let it run past the 1:2 point.
About 55 g should be in the cup at 35 seconds. This is where a normal shot would have been stopped; here you carry on.
- 0:35, Stop near 72 g.
Stop near 72 g. The last 17 g takes about ten seconds.
My notes for this recipe
Why these numbers
Four times the dose. 18 multiplied by four is 72. Doubling the 1:2 beverage weight is a simple, visible change, with no need to learn a new vocabulary.
45 seconds. Authored. If the 1:2 shot pours 1.2 g per second, a 72 g beverage at the same speed would take 60 seconds. Forty-five seconds implies an average of 1.6 g per second, so the recipe assumes a faster flow than the standard shot. That is why the grind often moves coarser, and the reasoning is arithmetic, not a measurement.
Same temperature, same dose. Only one variable changes, the beverage weight, so that you can taste what extra water does.
What changes the cup: contact time and the puck
More water through the same puck means more contact, and the later part of the shot carries different material than the first part. As a rule of thumb, the later stream tends to be thinner and can taste harsher or more papery if you push too far. That is why the recipe stops at 72 g.
- Bitter, hollow, papery. The shot is over-running. Stop at a lower weight, such as 60 g, or grind coarser.
- Sour and weak at 72 g. Too little coffee dissolved. Go a small step finer.
- Takes much longer than 45 seconds. The puck is too restrictive. Coarsen the grind so the flow reaches about 1.6 g per second.
- Cup is very thin. Consider dosing higher with the same 72 g rather than running longer.
Always check by weight. A lungo timed by clock only will differ from cup to cup.
Evidence and limits
The 1:2 starting point behind this shot comes from an SCA survey of current espresso practice; the espresso page lists its averages. This lungo runs the same dose to a 1:4 beverage ratio, which is a CupTune-authored extension of that starting point rather than a standard for lungo. CupTune cites no standard for lungo, and has not measured how a 1:4 shot tastes compared with a 1:2 one. The flow rates above are arithmetic.
Questions
Is a lungo just an americano?
No. An americano adds hot water to a finished shot; a lungo sends the extra water through the coffee. The americano recipe builds one for comparison.
Why not simply run the shot for longer?
Time alone does not give a repeatable cup. The beverage weight does.
Does it need a different basket?
Not necessarily. The same 18 g basket works, but a grind change is likely.