What is a café allongé, and how is it pronounced?

Question

My question is actually in reference to a JavaScript book by Reg Braithwaite titled "JavaScript Allongé". Obviously JavaScript has almost nothing to do with coffee, but the author maintained a coffee barista metaphor throughout the book and stated that allongé is some coffee variant. So for the uninitiated coffee drinkers out there among his readers, can you explain what an allongé is, what makes it unique, and how to actually pronounce it?

The author does offer a brief description quoted from Caffe Molinari linked here, but as a coffee newbie much of what is being described escapes me. Here is the quoted text from Braithwaite's preface:

“Café Allongé, also called Espresso Lungo, is a drink midway between an Espresso and Americano in strength. There are two different ways to make it. The first, and the one I prefer, is to add a small amount of hot water to a double or quadruple Espresso Ristretto. Like adding a splash of water to whiskey, the small dilution releases more of the complex flavours in the mouth.

“The second way is to pull an extra long double shot of Espresso. This achieves approximately the same ratio of oils to water as the dilution method, but also releases a different mix of flavours due to the longer extraction. Some complain that the long pull is more bitter and detracts from the best character of the coffee, others feel it releases even more complexity.

“The important thing is that neither method of preparation should use so much water as to result in a sickly, pale ghost of Espresso. Moderation in all things.”

Answer 1

Café allongé is the French for Italian cafe lungo, or in English, long espresso.

There may be previous related answers on this:

• I run my espresso machine until my whole cup is full. What's my coffee called?
• What are the standard espresso parameters (dose, mass/volume, time, etc.)?
• And, of course a wiki page.

I don't know how to write in the pronounciation alphabet, but it is pronounced something similar to "a-lawn-jee".

Normally, it is prepared in a bit longer time than normal espresso. So, the second explanation given in the book is the standard way.

The first one is more sophisticated and uncommon with many side flavors in it. People who are into coffee mostly prefer pure coffee. However, as the author likes it that way, probably he uses such a metaphor in his book.

(As computer scientists know, JavaScript is dynamically typed which may cause many undesirable side effects according to the type theory. I assume, the second recipe is more suitable to be used as a metaphor for a programming language that has type system. Haskell maybe?)

Answer 2

you've got your answer about what it is , but the pronunciation is more like :

ah (don't pronounce the h , it's used here for the 'a' sound) lon (like long , without the 'g')

there's an accent on the 'e' at the end, so it's an 'ay' sound, as in 'day' Also, the g is pronounced with something between a 'sh' and a 'j' sound.

Answer 3

Regarding pronunciation, I speak French (my primary language) and allongé would be said like this:

Ah-lon-jay

Answer 4

Allongé means, in this sense, extended. Simply, in French, it means to lengthen, as in to thin out..thin out with extra water; lengthen with extra water. « Un Allongé s’il vous plait. »