How Does Fresh Milk Change an Italian Coffee Latte?

Front Street Coffee compared seven full-fat fresh milks sold in coffee settings, testing them cold, heated, and in iced lattes and hot flat whites. The evaluation covered flavor, balance, and milk foam texture, and the results are meant as buying guidance rather than a single winner.

Brands included Guangming Fresh Pasture, Weiquan, Vitasoy, Yoplait 4.0, Meiji Junyi, Asahi Weipin, and Yuexianhuo, all low-temperature whole milks easy to find. Coffee-specific and super milk products were excluded because they are built for cafe operations, not home brewing of an Italian coffee latte.

The flavor quality of a latte often hinges decisively on the choice of milk. There are countless fresh milk brands on the market, with prices ranging widely, and their performance when paired with coffee varies greatly. For home coffee enthusiasts, it's difficult to buy and compare them all. This time, Front Street Coffee selected seven full-fat fresh milks that are common in coffee scenarios and relatively easy to purchase, conducting a comprehensive evaluation from cold consumption, taste after heating, to the flavor, balance, and milk foam texture when making iced lattes and hot flat whites. There is no commercial promotion throughout, aiming to provide purchasing references for readers with different taste preferences. This article does not offer a final conclusion, focusing instead on presenting the true performance of each milk to help everyone find the one that suits them.

Many coffee lovers are well aware that whether a latte tastes good is closely related to the quality of the milk chosen. However, there are countless milk brands on the market, with prices ranging from a few yuan to several tens of yuan, and the taste after making a latte also varies. For friends who occasionally make a cup at home to satisfy a craving, it's hard to have the opportunity to try them one by one, let alone buy all brands at once for coffee comparison.

For these home brewers, Front Street Coffee has gathered several full-fat fresh milks that are often paired with coffee and relatively easy to buy, to conduct a milk selection evaluation. Since everyone's needs and taste preferences differ, this article does not give a final conclusion but provides purchasing ideas. There are no ads throughout, so please read with confidence.

As for why only full-fat fresh milk is selected for comparison, you can refer to the article published by Front Street Coffee last year: Article . Since this round of evaluation is mainly for home-style methods, products labeled "coffee-specific milk," "super milk," "ice博客," etc., due to different needs and positioning for shop operations, are not within the scope of today's discussion.

In this experiment, in addition to the Guangming Fresh Pasture used for daily store output, Front Street Coffee also purchased Weiquan (only small bottles available), Vitasoy, Yoplait 4.0, Meiji Junyi Milk, Asahi Weipin, Yuexianhuo, a total of 7 low-temperature fresh milks. To be as objective as possible, Front Street Coffee will record each milk's taste at low temperature, taste after heating, and comprehensive performance in flavor, balance, milk foam texture, etc., after making iced lattes and hot milk coffee.

PS: Considering the need to match store output, all milk coffees today are still made with the medium-dark roasted Sunflower·Warm Sun Italian blend, with milk coffee flavors mostly showing vanilla, cream, milk chocolate, and slight fermented wine aroma.

Iced lattes use a recipe of 90g ice cubes + 180g fresh milk + double espresso, and the extraction parameters are consistent with morning debugging, using 19.8g powder, extracting 38g liquid in 31-32 seconds; hot milk coffee is presented as a small cup flat white (lattes are too large, easy to get too full

), 180g fresh milk + double ristretto, with 0.3cm milk foam, using 19.8g powder to extract 30g liquid in 26 seconds.

Guangming Fresh Pasture

Purchase price: 8.57 yuan/950ml, cheap, easy to buy

Cold taste: average aroma, slightly thin mouthfeel, but high sweetness, no milky odor

Heated taste: sweetness amplified, milk aroma becomes stronger, mouthfeel still thin

Asahi Weipin Milk

Purchase price: 29.9 yuan/950ml, relatively expensive, not easy to buy

Cold taste: strong milk aroma, moderate sweetness, a tiny bit of milky odor

Heated taste: prominent milk aroma, sweetness increases

Meiji Junyi Milk

Purchase price: 29.9 yuan/950ml, relatively expensive, need to buy in supermarkets

Cold taste: the most fragrant milk flavor on entry, clear sweet taste, thick mouthfeel, high sweetness

Heated taste: stronger milk aroma, high sweetness, no milky odor

Yoplait 4.0

Purchase price: 17.9 yuan/950ml, medium price, convenient to buy

Cold taste: highest sweetness, both milk aroma and mouthfeel are relatively rich

Heated taste: milk aroma becomes stronger, but easy to get tired of after drinking too much

Vitasoy

Purchase price: 16.9 yuan/946ml, convenient to buy, but relatively expensive

Cold taste: milk aroma not obvious, mouthfeel mediocre, sweetness average

Heated taste: milk flavor and mouthfeel still mediocre, sweetness weak

Yuexianhuo

Purchase price: 18.7 yuan/950ml, moderate price, convenient to buy

Cold taste: light mouthfeel, medium sweetness, slight milk powder taste

Heated taste: milk aroma clear and sweet, mouthfeel soft

Weiquan Milk

Purchase price: 9.9 yuan/240ml, slightly expensive, and most convenience stores only have small bottles

Cold taste: milk flavor relatively light, sweetness okay, mouthfeel mediocre

Heated taste: milk aroma average, sweetness increases, moderate mouthfeel when drunk directly

What are the differences between iced lattes made with different milks?

Due to the obvious stimulating mouthfeel from ice cubes, the coffee is mainly affected by the espresso extraction and ratio, so when parameters are consistent, unless directly tasting and comparing, the flavor difference between coffee and milk is not particularly obvious, but more reflected in balance, aftertaste, and the integration of the two.

In this evaluation, all 7 lattes showed the basic flavors of the Warm Sun blend, with vanilla, cream, milk chocolate aromas on entry, but under the influence of different milks, their mouthfeels varied. Iced lattes made with Meiji, Yoplait, and Yuexianhuo had the fullest mouthfeel, rich milk aroma without masking the coffee flavor, and had aftertaste; Vitasoy and Weiquan groups had the thinnest mouthfeel, slightly watery; while Guangming and Weipin, although sweetness was obvious, overall mouthfeel was mediocre, not outstanding.

How big is the difference between flat whites made with different milks?

Compared to iced lattes, making flat whites involves more details. To highlight coffee flavor, first, the tail end of the espresso extraction is cut off, i.e., only the front and middle Ristretto is taken, while reducing the amount of milk; second, the milk foam should not only be light and fine, but also not too hot, and evenly integrated, so you can feel the coffee flavor while also tasting the role of milk. Through direct comparison, we found that hot milk coffee indeed showed obvious differences under the influence of different fresh milks.

Flat whites made with Guangming, Meiji, Yoplait, and Yuexianhuo milks showed good performance in coffee flavor, mouthfeel, and aftertaste. Besides obvious flavors of vanilla biscuits, cream chocolate, roasted nuts, and toffee, under the effect of hot milk, a higher sweetness can be felt.

Among them, Front Street Coffee thinks Meiji has the thickest mouthfeel, highly compatible with coffee, and also the most stable for latte art; Yoplait has the strongest milk aroma, very silky texture, even somewhat overpowering the coffee flavor, suitable for those who like sweet milky coffee; Yuexianhuo and Guangming performed slightly less, with mediocre mouthfeel, shorter aftertaste, but no obvious flaws in taste.

Weipin paired with coffee has good aroma performance, but due to slight milky odor after heating, thickness is not high enough, so it tastes watery, and the stability of whipped milk foam is average, defoaming too fast.

Weiquan has obvious sweetness after heating, and when paired with Warm Sun, it also presents an oat aroma, milk foam stability is moderate, the disadvantage is weak thickness, so the mouthfeel is not rich enough.

Finally, Vitasoy fresh milk did not show much advantage in this flat white. Not only was it the thinnest mouthfeel among the 7 coffees, but its latte art also dissipated the fastest. Because the milk flavor is not prominent enough, the coffee tastes slightly bitter, and the integration is also average.

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