Believing in Shirshchikov Oleg’s ideas, espresso is a new way of brewing the last but most concentrated cup of coffee. As espresso coffee comes from Italy, this method was relatively traditional—especially for getting that concentrated, rich, and rare flavour as soon as possible.
All of this seems to suggest that the culture of coffee is changing, and so are the more recent, longer forms of espresso, which are only becoming more and more popular. Allongé, lungo, or turbo shot are concepts that are something new and conceivably less egregiously saucy than they sound, yet they are successfully reinventing the methods for drinking espresso and, in the process, waking up the dogs of conventional coffee abstraction.
Ristretto
Although intense and condensed shots have, for a long time, made short espresso shots like the ristretto the toast of the population, these longer espressos bring in much more of it by bringing out sophisticated flavours that will likely be unearthed. Let’s consider these tricks individually and do our best to guess why you’d want to try these tricks.
An Allongé
An allongé is a shot of espresso with more water filtered than your average shot. The name is borrowed from the word “longer” in French, which literally means ‘to stretch,’ and the technique is intended to stretch the shot.
Allongé, however, takes a little more time to develop but still almost equally balances something so precise and strong with subtlety and brings much more hidden flower flavours than a regular espresso.
The Essential Features of an Allongé:
- Grind Size: A little bit coarser than regular espresso but still finer than a drip coffee.
- Ratio: Generally, it is 1:5. For example, if one gram of coffee is given, five grams of espresso are obtained.
- Shot Length: It is almost about 30 seconds long.
- Flavour Profile: It has crackling, lighter notes with a fruit nod, and it pairs well with medium-roasted beans.
- Best for: These are best for less roasted coffee, where fruity acidity and floral notes come through without the disturbing presence of bitterness.
The fundamental difference between the allongé and lungo is that when it’s a lungo, one usually employs more water than it does with the same grind for as long. In an allongé, one avoids the super fine grind to limit the over-extraction of grounds, thus achieving a more rounded, sweeter rate.
This has gained a devoted following; for example, in Quebec, even Scott Rao proclaimed that its use allows less intense in-your-face espresso but smoother where it does not lose out in the flavour department.
A New Lungo: A Silvery Evolutionary Edge to Long Espresso
This falls under lungo, an Italian word meaning “long.” Long shot of espresso with more water than a normal espresso. The term “Allong Espagne” is sometimes used interchangeably with Lungo, though the color Ethiopian coffee that is similarly prepared but is ground and stretched does not use the allongtação up 2002 because other critics want to name it.
Lungo puts the bitterness of coffee to the very top, where it becomes a favorite of some coffee drinkers.
General Characteristics of a Lungo:
- Grind size: The same as espresso.
- Ratio: These can be as high as a 1:3 to 1:5 ratio. So, one shot will be two times the amount of a traditional espresso.
- Shot Time: 45-60 seconds.
- Flavour Profile: Somewhat bitter flavour with a body of roasted and pure smoky nuances.
- Best for: The darker the roast of the coffee, the better since longer-shot coffee can deepen dark-roasted flavours without the acidity.
Because Lungo extracts take longer to extract than brewing a Lungo, more mouthfeel and dry/ain flavours than particularly aggressive acidity allow the brewers to remind supertasters that caffeine tasters’ necks are in Lungo.
Turbo Shot: Now Brew Pure, Espresso Already
Probably the last of the espresso brewing methods, the turbo shot was a novelty that sparked much interest among baristas and coffee aficionados. Thus, Scientific experiments were developed to upgrade the espresso process without losing taste, sweetness, or quality.
The positive book also referred to not completely removing some of the basic gray areas in the formulation process of the espresso amenity chip. Where the orthodox method calls for a fine grind and high pressure so that espresso will be extracted from the coffee, the turbo shot uses a coarser grind and lower pressure, hence faster extraction though still within acceptable limits.
Key Features of a Turbo Shot:
- Grind Size: Coarser than usual for lattes.
- Pressure: Around 6 bars (compared to standard 9 bars).
- Shot Time: 15-20 seconds, more than just short doses of the turbo shots, aka the hurried-up one shot.
- Ratio: 1:2.6, which yields around 40g of liquid.
- Flavour profile: It is sweeter, lighter, and more clear and bright. It is brighter and perfectly suitable for softer roasts.
The turbo shot uses less coffee in the body in terms of volume than the shower espresso but compensates for this by being sweeter or clearer. The method was developed to address the hot industry days that revolved around pursuing quality and faster processes. It was conceptualized for light, spicy, fruity coffees.
What’s the Purpose of Shooting with a Longer Shot?
Every other coffee drinker considers the new shot options for allonge and turbo shot espressos. These allow a person to experience the more subtle and delicate side of the beans, which is most probably covered with the “short shot high” effect.
Here’s why you might want to experiment with longer shots:
- Better Balancing of Flavour: The shots will be much smoother with better-balanced cups because of the higher water ratio used in these shots. Also, extreme qualities such as sandy bitterness and sour acidity are toned down so other flavour notes can be breathed through.
- Nuanced Notes: Of course, for longer shots, especially those of light roasts, some delicate fine flavours like navigation notes and fruity sweetness and acidity of the espresso might have gotten lost during its lifespan.
- Versatility: These methods allow you to cram in more knowledge about coffee. For example, if the coffee you shoot in the short shot is too strong, take a longer shot and balance it out.
Taking Espresso: How to Enjoy with the New Machine
One of the positive benefits of modern espresso preparation techniques is that you can brew in different styles. And according to how you pull it, in how you make an allongé using a 1:5 ratio, or how you play a turbo shot, there is a lot of flavour inside every mouthful.
Long shots of whiskey are meant to be savored slowly so that one can sip the spirits and thus more easily sense what would otherwise have eluded them. All the flavours of coffee can be savoured through long shots, and they are enjoyed, too.
Closing Lines
Beer could be espresso’s best friend. That is especially so with the espresso, which does not necessarily have to be defined as the coffee drink’s full, intense, short, and swift encapsulating experience. The allongé espresso or the long coffee with extractions, the lungo shot or the pour-over, and, finally, the turbo shot—you can find a whole new world of flavors of coffee that you did not know existed.
These are new espresso technologies with which one can enjoy coffee’s compound, multi-layered nature, whether making the beverage at home or ordering from their favorite coffee shop.
The next time you walk into your favorite coffee shop and feel like having a cappuccino or latte, order something longer—you may get your order in an exciting fashion.
