Customer: "Boss, give me a Dirty!"Front Street: "Coming right up!"Front Street: "......, we don't have that, Dirty isn't made hot......"In the daily life of a coffee shop, this kind of conversation is extremely common. Because Dirty is made with the same ingredients as milk coffees like lattes and cappuccinos, many friends assume that Dirty also comes in both cold and hot versions. After all, to better meet customers' needs, as long as conditions allow, coffee will get a version opposite to its "original attribute."Just like how lattes, cappuccinos, Americanos, pour-overs, and other coffees only came hot at first, as more people drink coffee and the demand for iced drinks increases, iced lattes, iced Americanos, iced pour-overs, and other products with the opposite temperature of the original have emerged. Even the often-mocked flat white has appeared in an iced version in some places. Only Dirty still has just one version to this day."Why isn't there a hot Dirty? Is it because it can't be made?" Some friends, upon learning there's no hot Dirty, all ask Front Street the same question.Setting aside the difficulty of making it, hot Dirty can still be made, and Front Street has shared it quite a few times. Because the ingredients for making Dirty are nothing more than milk and espresso, as long as we slightly change the temperatures of the two, a cup of hot Dirty is done. But the reason no coffee shop offers hot Dirty is mainly that it's troublesome to make, and also it...... isn't good to drink.(Not tasty)......What does a regular Dirty look like? First, it's made from iced milk and warm espresso. Because of density differences, the two stay separate from each other, so when we take a big sip, we can taste two different extreme experiences in sequence. First the heat and bitterness of the espresso, then the cold and sweetness of the milk.Although the temperature and flavor of the two ingredients "conflict" in our mouth, it isn't jarring. They then merge in the mouth, transforming into a whole new experience—you could say the layers are incredibly rich. While hot Dirty can also create the same contrast effect, its performance can only be described as very jarring.How do you make Dirty hot?Icemilk,hotespresso—these are the only two components of traditional Dirty. If we want to make a "hot Dirty" with the opposite temperatures, we need to make the milkhotand the espressoiced. Achieving this isn't very difficult—the milk is heated with any heat source, and the espresso is chilled usingstainless steel ice ballsto bring down the temperature.Friends who want to try it can also follow these steps: first, we heat the milk to 65°C, then pour it into a prepared Dirty glass that hasn't been refrigerated. The amount of milk Front Street adds here is 160ml, the same as for making a traditional Dirty.The espresso is the same—as usual, 20g of grounds extracted in 30 seconds to make 40ml of coffee liquid. But what's different from usual is that Front Street adds two stainless steel ice balls to the glass, so when the espresso comes into contact with the ice balls, it cools down, and what finally lands on the milk is the lower-temperature espresso.But note that since the lower layer of milk goes from cold to hot, the layering won't last very long. The reason traditional Dirty can maintain its layered state for a long time is that the iced milk has high density and can support the espresso. Once the milk becomes hot, its density decreases, and the espresso will quickly merge with the milk. So after making it, we need to taste it as soon as possible to experience the layered effect.If the coffee beans you use aren't roasted very dark, then when tasting it, Front Street believes you'll clearly feel the jarring sensation Front Street mentioned.When coffee beans aren't roasted very dark, the extracted coffee has acidity. It's just that under the cover of bitter substances and the suppression by the coffee's high temperature, it's hard for us to catch the acidity in the coffee.
But because the espresso in "hot Dirty" is cold, not at such a high temperature, our taste buds can easily pick up the acidity in the coffee. Therefore, when the coffee enters the mouth, what we first feel is a relatively concentrated and obvious sourness. Although due to even extraction the sourness isn't very sharp, it doesn't pair well with the milk's flavor—it's rather jarring and doesn't form a stunning contrast.Besides the mismatch in flavor, the texture of the whole cup of "hot Dirty" isn't as impressive as traditional iced Dirty. This is because of the milk! In a cup of Dirty, milk makes up 80% of the whole, so you could say it dominates the mouthfeel of the entire coffee.Compared to hot milk, iced milk is actually more comfortable to drink, and this has to do with its temperature. Because it's the opposite of the temperature in the mouth, through their interaction, iced milk tastes smoother and more refreshing than hot milk, giving the coffee a more impressive texture. So compared to Dirty made with iced milk, one made with hot milk is far inferior. And by the time Front Street finishes a sip, the espresso and milk have mostly merged.So in summary, we can understand that the reason coffee shops don't offer hot Dirty is mainly these three points: ①It's rather troublesome to make; ②The coffee's flavor and texture aren't impressive; ③The layering effect lasts a very short time—it might turn into a hot latte before it even reaches the customer. The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
