What makes a dirty latte different from an iced latte?

A dirty latte is essentially an iced latte with the ice left out and a smaller volume, so the espresso sits as a distinct dark layer over cold milk. It started at Bear Pond Espresso in Tokyo, opened by Katsuyuki Tanaka in 2009, where it appears on the menu as B.P Dirty and is still a signature drink.

To make one, pour 160 to 170 ml of iced milk into a 200 ml frozen glass, skim any surface bubbles with a spoon, then pull the espresso with the glass rim as close to the portafilter as possible so the liquid does not punch through the milk. How to drink dirty latte: take it without stirring to taste each layer, then mix.

The collision of espresso and iced milk has created the Dirty coffee that has swept boutique cafés in recent years. It is neither a simple iced latte nor a pure visual gimmick, but a unique drink that traveled from a small café in Tokyo, Japan, to the world. This article will trace the original origins of the Dirty, analyze why it became a viral hit, and share Front Street Coffee's preparation parameters and multi-layered tasting experience. Whether you want to learn about its history or plan to recreate it yourself, this article will give you the complete answer.

Espresso creativity is truly endless—using just the two basic elements of espresso and milk, countless popular drinks can be created. Dirty coffee is one of the most representative examples. If you have some understanding of espresso, you will realize that it is essentially an iced latte with the ice removed and a smaller volume.

The process of making a Dirty is not complicated. Taking Front Street Coffee's output parameters as an example: first take a 200 ml frozen glass, pour in 160 to 170 ml of iced milk, and if bubbles appear on the surface, gently skim them off with a spoon. Then place the glass directly under the brewing head to extract the espresso. Be careful to keep the rim of the glass as close to the portafilter as possible, so that the coffee liquid does not mix too much into the milk due to excessive impact force.

The earliest appearance of this layered coffee in China dates back to 2014, when a café in Beijing referenced the technique of a Hong Kong barista; at the time it was still niche. As independent boutique cafés continued to emerge in major cities, the practice of pouring espresso over milk gradually spread among baristas and acquired Chinese names such as "Amber," "Stain," "White Night," and "Dirty Coffee."

Tracing back to the source, the originator of the Dirty is Katsuyuki Tanaka of Japan. In 2009, he opened Bear Pond Espresso in Kitazawa, Tokyo, and the Dirty has been a signature product of the shop since it opened, written on the menu as B.P Dirty. The biggest highlight of Katsuyuki Tanaka's B.P Dirty is the use of an espresso called "Angel Stain." He deliberately chose a bottomless portafilter for extraction, observing the flow of the espresso with the naked eye, ultimately leaving traces on the wall of the cup like falling teardrops.

Under the combined effect of dark roasting, a large dose, ultra-high concentration, and a low extraction yield, a double shot of "Angel Stain" makes the coffee liquid in B.P Dirty sink extremely slowly, and even without pre-chilling the cup, the layered effect can be maintained for a long time. However, B.P Dirty did not become widely popular in Japan; instead, it was borrowed and learned from by some cafés in Hong Kong and Thailand.

So why can such a small cup of Dirty be so popular? Front Street Coffee has roughly summarized the following reasons.

First, the Dirty carried the genes of an internet-famous product from the moment it was born. It began to rise in popularity between 2018 and 2019, when "dirty" foods were becoming viral online hits, and the dirty bun was especially popular across the country. This type of food focuses on creating a "messy" visual effect. Early "dirty" coffee had no unified standard, and some versions used milk foam and cocoa powder to create a "dirty" feel. (The iteration speed of internet-famous products is just that fast—the later matcha forgiveness-green set has now also become an outdated internet celebrity.)

Afterward, major boutique cafés began spontaneously unifying the definition of "dirty" coffee: freshly extracted hot espresso slowly seeps into pure white iced milk, visually creating a "dirty" effect.

Second, the Dirty made up for the visual shortcomings of iced coffee. To put it bluntly, it looks good. Among hot coffees, there are products such as lattes that can be used for latte art, while iced coffee poured into a transparent cup often only shows a gradient from golden yellow to brown. The beauty of the Dirty is dynamic: the dark coffee liquid slowly seeps downward, gradually staining the white dirty, making it highly ornamental and therefore a popular subject for photography.

Third, the richly layered tasting experience. If the Dirty relied only on its looks, it could never have reached the level of going viral. Iced lattes served by cafés today can also show a layered effect, but when drinking them people still tend to stir the milk and coffee together.

What you drink in a Dirty, however, is its ever-changing layering. A small cup of Dirty only takes three to four sips to finish. The first sip brings rich, warm espresso (mixed with a small amount of iced milk), and you can feel a solid coffee aroma;

The second sip reaches the boundary between coffee and milk, where part of the coffee and milk have not yet fully blended, allowing you to taste a rich milk chocolate flavor; the third sip is cold milk with a faint lingering coffee aroma. Because there is no ice to dilute it, the overall mouthfeel is especially full, with a very rich progression from bitter to sweet and from hot to cold.

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.