Latte is a classic combination of espresso and milk, and one of the most popular milk coffees in cafés worldwide. To make a delicious latte at home, the key lies in choosing the right coffee beans, mastering espresso extraction parameters, and learning to steam milk foam. Drawing on Front Street Coffee's production experience, this article explains in detail the origin of latte, the selection of coffee beans and milk, the extraction and latte art steps for hot latte, as well as the ratio ideas for iced latte, helping you systematically understand how to make an authentic Italian-style latte.
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Latte is a representative drink combining espresso and milk, and Italians often treat it as part of breakfast. In Italian kitchens in the early morning, sunlight streaming onto the stove often warms both coffee and milk at the same time. For Italians who love latte, it's not so much that they prefer espresso, but rather that they are fonder of milk, and only Espresso can inject unforgettable flavor into plain milk. So how exactly is this coffee that has swept the globe made? Front Street will explain in detail today.
What exactly is a latte?
"Latte" is a transliteration of the Italian word "Latte". It belongs to the category of fancy coffee and is a classic pairing of espresso and milk. By adding milk in a specific ratio to rich, full-bodied espresso, you get latte coffee. The gentle fusion and harmonizing of the milk makes the originally bitter, heavy coffee smooth and sweet. Even people who normally don't drink coffee find it hard to refuse the good taste of a latte.
Latte coffee can be traced back to Vienna, the city of music. Viennese people had the habit of drinking coffee since the 17th century. At that time, the Turkish army failed in its attack on Vienna and left behind hundreds of bags of coffee beans during its retreat; this batch of beans became the raw material for Vienna's first coffee house (Blue Bottle). To cater to European tastes, the shop filtered out the coffee grounds and mixed in a certain amount of milk, which not only made the bitter black coffee smooth and sweet, but also captivated the Viennese with its flavor. From then on, the combination of milk and coffee began to spread around the world.
What coffee beans and milk should be chosen for making latte?
As Front Street said above, the ingredients for latte are very simple: only espresso and milk are needed, and there is no rigid ratio. It can be adjusted according to personal taste, but the choice of ingredients is crucial because it directly determines the quality of the finished latte.
From extraction experience, Front Street recommends giving priority to espresso blend beans with higher stability. Blends usually combine the flavors of different origins and adopt a medium or darker roast, making it easier to extract rich crema (beans with rich crema are more suitable for milk coffee), so that the espresso tastes thick and full-bodied, with a higher margin for error.
Moreover, most espresso blend beans are mainly supplied for café production. Compared with single-origin beans of similar flavor, their price is usually lower, following an economical and cost-effective route. For beginners with little coffee-making experience, using espresso blend beans is clearly more reliable if they want to make a delicious latte. Recommended are Front Street Classic Blend Coffee, Front Street Commercial Blend Coffee, and the espresso moka pot coffee bean recommended by many baristas—Front Street Dark Cocoa Blend Coffee.
Many customers' most recommended latte coffee bean is Front Street Classic Blend. This is an espresso bean composed of Brazil and Mandheling, and a small amount of Robusta is added to improve crema richness. Its roasting curve is mainly aimed at espresso extraction. Made into iced latte, it presents flavors of caramel, roasted chestnut, cream, and chocolate at the same time. Some friends have given feedback to Front Street that their extracted espresso has a lot of rough foam, which is usually caused by coffee beans being too fresh; this kind of espresso often tastes mediocre. According to Front Street's experience, if the espresso coffee beans you receive are too close to the roast date, it is best to leave them in a cool place for 7–10 days first and finish them within 45 days for the best flavor.
How do you make an authentic and delicious latte?
The coffee machine used in Front Street stores has a matching portafilter basket with a double espresso capacity, with a dose of about 18–20 grams. When producing latte, Front Street uses 20 grams of coffee powder and adopts a 1:2 coffee-to-liquid extraction ratio, that is, 20 grams of coffee powder extracts 40 grams of coffee liquid. Time is related to the flow rate of the coffee powder. Generally, a single extraction is controlled within 20–35 seconds, because within 20 seconds the coffee taste tends to be thin, while over 35 seconds it is easy to over-extract and produce a burnt bitter taste. Front Street's espresso mostly falls within the 28–30 second range.
Before extraction, Front Street prepares ceramic coffee cups, a milk pitcher, and fresh milk in advance. First wipe the portafilter basket dry and align it with the grinder's coffee dispensing outlet, turn on the switch, and grind the amount for a double espresso, then place it on the electronic scale and adjust by adding or removing until it reaches 20 grams. Next, use a distribution tool to level the coffee powder, and press the tamper vertically downward with force to tamp the coffee puck firmly, ensuring more stable extraction.
Then turn on the coffee machine's extraction switch and let water run for 1–2 seconds, in order to moisten the brew head and also wash away stuck coffee grounds on it. Place an electronic scale below the cup that will catch the espresso and tare the weight to zero, then place it together under the brew head during extraction. Gently lock the portafilter onto the brew head and turn down the extraction switch. Observe the changes in the extracted liquid. When the electronic scale shows that 40 grams of coffee liquid has been extracted and the time is about 30 seconds, turn off the extraction switch and pour the Espresso into the pre-prepared ceramic coffee cup.
Steaming milk mainly relies on the coffee machine's steam wand. Pour an appropriate amount of milk into the milk pitcher. For example, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee)'s latte serving cup is 300 ml, so 240 ml of milk can be poured in, because after steaming the milk will expand due to incorporated air. Before starting to steam, slightly open the steam switch and purge briefly to expel excess water from the steam wand, then submerge the steam wand tip into the milk surface and turn on the switch.
Steaming milk is divided into two stages. In the first stage, the steam holes need to contact the milk surface. This stage is for creating milk foam and will produce a sharp, paper-tearing sound. This stage determines the thickness of the milk foam. The second stage is texturing. When there is enough foam, raise the milk pitcher and submerge the steam holes into the milk, letting the milk rotate and steam under the action of the steam. This stage determines the quality of the milk foam. The milk foam for latte coffee is moderately thick, about 1 cm or so. After steaming, the milk surface is glossy, without bubbles, and has a certain fluidity.
Finally, combine the steamed milk with the extracted espresso and pour latte art. Before pouring latte art, first do the incorporation. Keep the milk pitcher spout slightly higher from the cup, with some impact force, and gently incorporate the milk with the coffee until seven-tenths full. Then lower the milk pitcher so the spout is close to the coffee surface, reducing the impact force. The milk foam will rise due to buoyancy, and white foam begins to appear on the surface. At this point, you can make a rippling motion by moving your arm. Because the milk foam is moderate and has a certain fluidity, it will present a continuously swaying line. Finally, raise the pitcher and push forward to finish, and you can make a basic heart-shaped latte art pattern.
So how do you make an iced latte?
Compared with hot latte, iced latte is relatively simple to make. The method is the same as iced Americano, except that the water in the Americano is replaced with milk. So the steps for making an iced latte are: pre-chill the cup with ice cubes, add 100 grams of ice cubes and 180 grams of milk, and finally pour in espresso. Don't forget to stir evenly when drinking.
Most iced latte tutorials online do not give an absolute ratio, but instead fall within a rough range: coffee:milk = 1:4 to 1:8. This is because everyone uses different coffee beans, different extraction parameters, and possibly different milk. Even if the same ratio is used, the taste of iced latte will still differ. For reference, when using a dark-roast espresso bean dominated by dark chocolate and nut notes, a larger proportion of milk can be added to maintain a balanced taste. For example, Front Street's daily production uses 1:6. When the coffee bean is a lighter-roast floral, fruity, acidic type, the espresso itself is not so intense, and too much milk will only mask the coffee aroma. In that case, the proportion of milk can be appropriately reduced, for example falling within the 1:4 to 1:5 range.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
