Hy Everyone,
This is my first post on this forum. I was living in London for 4 years where I discovered proper coffee from speciality cafes. After that, I could not drink coffee from places like Costa, Nero etc. My favourite one was a Long Black, it is thick, smooth and full of flavour. Sometimes I enjoyed having an espresso but you can’t really stretch it, can you? So a Long Black was the way to go. Recently I moved back to Moscow for a while with an absolutely clear thought in mind that I would get a decent cup of coffee here because speciality coffee was growing and lots of cafes were popping out in major cities.
So I walk into the first place which is on my radar and order a Long Black, the barista gives me a look like what the heck is this guy talking about. I explain what that is. And he goes: Americano? We do not serve americanos.
He recommends trying an Australian lungo which I’ve never heard of before.
Basically, they extract the shot until the cup is full. Sounded weird but I decided to give it a go and did not like it at all.
Next day I came to a different place. The same story again. But this time I was told that Americano was a destroyed espresso shot and wrong from the chemistry point of view. With this logic, I can say that every drink based on an espresso shot is a destroyed espresso shot and wrong as well. But you can still see cappuccino and latte are on the menu. I find it ridiculous.
Also, I was told that in Australia no one drinks Americanos and Long Blacks instead they drink Australian lungos. I doubt it to be honest. I have not been to Australia, I know in the UK people drink Am and LBs. Could anyone comment on this one, please?
It is funny that in the UK you can have a decent Long Black from almost any speciality coffee place but in Russia, it is not even on the menu and they refuse to serve it.