What are arabica beans and which suit pour-over with milk?

Arabica beans are the mild, aromatic species most often used for pour-over brewing. When milk is added to pour-over coffee, the drink follows an old European habit: café au lait, which literally means coffee and milk. Long before espresso existed, Europeans brewed black coffee by pour-over or immersion and simply stirred in milk.

Pour-over coffee is far lower in concentration than espresso, and its delicate coffee aroma can be masked once milk goes in. Choosing beans with enough sweetness and body helps the cup stay balanced. Adjust grind, water temperature, and ratio, and keep the milk volume moderate so both the coffee and the milk remain present in the cup.

Mixing milk with espresso to make a latte or cappuccino is a very familiar way to enjoy milk coffee. But few people know that long before espresso was invented, Europeans were already accustomed to adding milk to black coffee, and this drink was called "Café au Lait." So how exactly do you make pour-over coffee with milk taste good? This article will start with the historical origins of Café au Lait, then introduce the types of coffee beans suitable for adding milk, the adjustments needed in brewing parameters, and reference suggestions for milk varieties and amounts, helping you easily make a cup of pour-over milk coffee at home that has balanced flavor with both milky aroma and coffee aroma.

With Spring Festival approaching, I believe fellow coffee lovers have already prepared the coffee beans they plan to drink during the holiday. However, luggage space is limited when returning home, so you may only be able to pack pour-over equipment, making it a problem to have a cup of milk coffee whenever you want. Therefore, Front Street Coffee is here today to talk about how to make pour-over coffee taste better after adding milk.

Is pour-over coffee mixed with milk just Café au Lait?

Pouring milk into espresso to make a latte or cappuccino is probably a familiar way to drink fancy coffee. However, before espresso came along, Europeans already had the habit of adding milk to black coffee, and that was "Café au Lait." This French term literally translates to "coffee and milk." At the time, the mainstream extraction methods in Europe were pour-over filtration (similar to flannel pour-over) and immersion (similar to a French press), so early Café au Lait was basically made by preparing black coffee using these two methods and then adding milk.

Several hundred years later, the definition of Café au Lait has become broader, generally referring to any drink made by mixing black coffee and milk. So adding milk to pour-over coffee actually has historical precedent.

Which coffee beans are suitable for this way of drinking?

Compared with espresso extracted under high temperature and high pressure, drip pour-over coffee is much lower in concentration, and even when drunk on its own it already seems "light." Moreover, pour-over itself is an extraction method that showcases the flavor characteristics of the beans. Once milk is added, the flavor can be covered up if you are not careful. Therefore, to make a proper cup of Café au Lait, bean selection is especially key.

At this point, some friends may have already guessed what kind of beans to choose. Front Street Coffee recommends giving priority to medium-dark roasted coffee beans. Generally, beans with a darker roast level can enhance the intensity of the coffee's taste. After adding a small amount of milk, the coffee becomes milder, while the milky aroma can also be perceived. If you are unsure about the roast level of the beans, you can choose those with flavor descriptions such as chocolate, nuts, cream, or cocoa. First choices such as Front Street Coffee Brazil Queen Estate, Front Street Coffee Indonesia Mandheling, Front Street Coffee Bird of Paradise, and Front Street Coffee Yunnan Arabica are all quite suitable.

Of course, medium-light roasted beans that showcase floral and fruity acidity are also worth trying. But note that after adding a small amount of fresh milk to pour-over coffee using traditional processing methods, the flavor becomes extremely hard to distinguish, and it ultimately turns into a cup of diluted milk. Therefore, baristas recommend giving priority to coffee beans with flavor descriptions such as fermented notes, tropical fruit, and winey aroma. After adding a small amount of milk and tasting, the overall flavor is relatively harmonious and easier to identify. For home brewing, you can buy Front Street Coffee Colombia Sidra, Front Street Coffee Maragogype, Front Street Coffee Mozart, and so on, all of which are good choices.

What adjustments need to be made to the brewing method?

To ensure that the coffee does not become hard to detect after milk is added due to dilution, when using pour-over as the "base" for milk coffee, the concentration must be increased, and the amount of milk added must be well controlled and kept to a small proportion.

Lower the coffee-to-water ratio

To extract a cup of pour-over with rich flavor and full layers, it is necessary to appropriately lower the brewing coffee-to-water ratio to obtain the main aromatic substances in the coffee. According to Front Street Coffee's testing, a ratio between 1:8 and 1:10 is quite suitable. Using 15 g of coffee grounds to extract 1-2 servings as a reference, a 1:10 coffee-to-water ratio means 150 g of hot water needs to be poured.

Grind finer

Because the coffee-to-water ratio has been lowered, the extraction needs to be extended by appropriately grinding finer. After the coffee grounds become finer, the water flow rate slows down, and the extraction time is prolonged. Front Street Coffee recommends that medium-dark roasted coffee beans use a grind with an 80% pass rate through a No. 20 sieve (in-store ek43s 10 setting), while medium-light beans use a grind of about 85% pass rate through a No. 20 sieve (in-store ek43s 9 setting).

(The left is ek43s 9 setting grind, and the right is 10 setting grind.)

A pouring technique with multiple pouring stages

Under the same coffee-to-water ratio, the more pouring stages there are, the more times the coffee bed is stirred and washed, which can release more aromatic substances. In order to extract the flavor substances more fully, Front Street Coffee recommends using a three-stage pouring technique.

Which kind of milk is better? How much is appropriate to add?

When choosing milk, Front Street Coffee prefers using whole fresh milk. It not only pairs harmoniously with the aroma of medium-dark roasted beans, but also gives the coffee a richer oily body, making it taste fuller and more substantial. (Front Street Coffee also still has a few bottles of oat milk left over from a few days ago. After many attempts, the aroma of oat milk is difficult to harmonize and blend with coffee, and we still could not get the hang of it. Friends who are interested or who are lactose intolerant can give it a try and then come back and tell Front Street Coffee.)

As for how much milk is appropriate to add, this actually needs to be adjusted according to your own taste. Front Street Coffee tried the above coffee beans. After brewing about 130 g of coffee liquid from 15 g of coffee grounds at 1:10, adding about 60-80 g of milk can keep the two in balance, meaning you can taste the fresh sweetness of the milk while also sensing the coffee aroma.

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