Although coffee is a drink that can be enjoyed however you like, doing so can easily cause us to miss out on some of coffee's distinctive pleasures. Coffee's character lies not only in its taste, but also in the experience it brings when you drink it—just like a Dirty. If you stir it before drinking, it's almost no different from an iced latte.Wecertainly candecide how to drink it based on our own preferences, but if you want to experience a cup of coffee's character more fully, Front Street thinks it's worth trying the drinking method that pairs with it—perhaps, like a Dirty, it can bring you a completely different, brand-new experience.Coffees that need to be stirred before drinkingMany coffees are better suited to being stirred before you start drinking them, such as espresso, iced lattes, or various iced flavored coffees. Because of their own characteristics or the way they're made, they come out with a clear layered state. If you drink them without stirring, not only will the experience be greatly diminished—it may even become completely negative.Take espresso, for example. Because it's extracted under pressure, espresso carries a thick, dense layer of crema. This crema can enhance the coffee's mouthfeel, making it taste richer and more silky. However, because the crema is lighter in mass, after a brief rest it separates from the coffee liquid—the lighter crema floats on top, while the heavier coffee liquid sinks below, creating a layered state.When the espresso and crema are separated, the crema can no longer enhance the coffee liquid's mouthfeel, and the coffee tastes less rich, while the crema, lacking moisture, becomes less smooth. At times like this, we need to stir to recombine the coffee liquid and crema, giving them their excellent texture once again. This is also why many people stir with a spoon before tasting espresso—the goal is to make the coffee taste better.There are also iced lattes, iced flavored coffees(flavored lattes, mochas, caramel macchiatos...), and certain specialty drinks—a whole range of iced coffees that we also need to stir before tasting. The reason is simple: these are products meant to be enjoyed after the coffee is blended with milk and other ingredients; it's just that, to make the presentation more attractive, shops deliberately create a gradient effect with the espresso and milk layered separately.Iced coffee is usually enjoyed with a straw, so if you don't stir it, the first thing you'll taste is the milk or other ingredients at the bottom, and only at the very end will you get to the espresso floating on top.Of course, if some friends like it that way, that's fine—but the vast majority of people can't accept it. This is especially true for lattes with flavored syrup: because syrup is denser, it sinks to the very bottom. If you "chug" it without stirring, you can imagine the result—your entire mouth is filled with cloyingly sweet syrup. Absolutely terrifying.Front Street has had the misfortune of witnessing such cases in many coffee shops, so before tasting an iced latte, flavored coffee, or specialty coffee, we'd best stir it first, then taste.Coffees that need to be drunk in big gulps directlyBut we need to know that some layering is deliberately created for a more unique tasting experience—for example, the "Dirty" mentioned earlier. The reason it's layered is not just for visual effect, but also to create a more distinctive drinking experience!In"Why the First Sip of a Dirty Should Be a Big Gulp", Front Street explained the reason behind the Dirty's layering. Compared with other milk coffees that pursue a "perfect blend," the Dirty emphasizes the "independent existence" of the milk and the coffee.By creating layers, one sip lets us taste the double contrast formed by the flavors and temperatures of the milk and the espresso.The espresso's roasted aroma and the milk's fresh sweetness, the coffee's warmth and the milk's chill—the contrast is striking! And this contrast makes both flavors stand out even more clearly and prominently.For a drink like this, where you need to taste both at once to experience its charm, there are certain limits to how you drink it—namely: don't stir, just take a big gulp. Only by not stirring and drinking in big gulps can we take in the "independent" espresso and milk at the same time, and taste the contrast between them in a single moment.If you just take a tiny sip, chances are you'll only get the espresso floating on top, and then be left with a pained expression from the espresso's concentrated flavor. And if you stir it, it becomes just a regular iced latte without the ice.Besides the Dirty, there are many coffees that need to be drunk in big gulps directly—for example, the Con Panna that Front Street has been sharing all along. Con Panna is espresso topped with a layer of cream. If you only take small sips, you'll only get the sweet, rich cream on the surface and won't taste the espresso underneath. The cream exists mainly to balance the coffee's bitterness, so when tasting a Con Panna, it's best to take a big gulp and drink the cream together with the espresso below~Hot coffees with milk foam, like hot lattes and hot cappuccinos, also need to be enjoyed in big gulps. Because the milk foam on these milk coffees isn't thin—if you only take small sips, you'll only get the foam on the surface.Coffee milk foam is mostly bitter in taste(unless it's a flavored coffee with added syrup), so if you don't want to be bittered by that surface foam, you can try to take bigger gulps and take in the coffee liquid underneath as well~Of course, the espresso mentioned earlier is also a type that can be enjoyed in big gulps. Not just espresso—small-volume specialty drinks derived from espresso, like macchiatos, Cuban espressos, and Roman espressos, are also types that can be enjoyed in big gulps.Although at first the taste buds, because ofthe espresso's extremely high concentration, will be stimulated by the concentrated flavor when you take a big gulp, once we swallow and immediately close our mouths and exhale, the bitterness dissipates, replaced by the rich aroma rising back up from the mouth and a pleasant, lingering sweet finish. And the bigger the gulp you take, the richer and more intense the experience that rises back up after swallowing—but the premise is that you can handle the espresso's bitterness, otherwise Front Street doesn't recommend trying it rashly~(Lastly, Front Street must add a disclaimer: there are many ways to drink coffee, and there's no need to fix on any one. Front Street is just sharing here that coffee can be drunk this way. But in the end, how you drink it is up to your own preferences—whatever you like, go for it~)
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
