Lungo Coffee
We all have very different ways of enjoying coffee. Luckily, there are many different ways of brewing and combining all the different elements that constitute coffee- the simplest variation can make a world of difference.
The two essential ingredients are coffee and water. And by changing the amount of water that is in a cup of coffee, we can make up to three, four, or more different beverages.
One of these is the Lungo, a variation of espresso. It uses roughly the same amount of ground coffee used for a single shot of espresso, but it is brewed by letting the water run through these grounds for up to twice as long as you usually would. This makes for a bigger drink in size, with a flavor profile quite separate from a regular espresso.
You may already know or have heard about the “Lungo”. This is a traditional order that can easily be made with an espresso machine. But what is a Gran Lungo?
What is a “Gran Lungo”?
Gran Lungo is Nespresso’s response to the demand for a Lungo option. This size is almost double that of the traditional Lungo, which is 3 ounces, while a Gran Lungo is just over 5 ounces.
Why you may ask, wouldn’t Nespresso just come up with a Lungo size? The answer lies in the history of Americano coffee.
America has been historically a drinker of pour-over coffee: more watery and definitely milder than espresso and even Lungo. For a long time, we favored a big cup of coffee over a small but more flavorful one.
The story goes that during WWII, troops stationed in Italy started hanging out with the Italians. Sharing coffee, the Italians quickly figured out that they just couldn’t handle a Lungo, much less a regular espresso. So, they had the idea of pouring hot water into a shot of espresso: the Americans loved it.
The idea caught on, and the Italians started to refer to this type of coffee as an “Americano”, which means American.
Other VertuoLine Sizes
VertuoLine is an all-new, revolutionary way of delivering capsule coffee. Instead of having just one standard size, these capsules have different sizes to deliver different types of coffees both in taste and volume.
The first five sizes available were the single espresso and the double espresso: 1.35 ounces and 2.7 ounces, respectively.
Then, we have the Gran Lungo, subject of this article, at 5.07 ounces.
Finally, there is the Coffee size, 7.77 ounces, and the Alto, which is a whopping 14 ounces.
Their most recent development is the Carafe capsule or pour-over style capsule, which lets you brew 18 ounces of coffee in one go into a carafe. That’s a lot of coffee for a single-serve coffee maker!
So, you see: even to this day, a Lungo will prove too much for most Americans’ palates. Instead, the Gran Lungo expertly navigates Lungo and Americano’s line, making a coffee that anyone can enjoy.
Try Gran Lungo with any VertuoLine Nespresso machine!
