"I'm not in a café, I'm on my way to one." For Italians who love coffee, latte is an all-too-familiar drink. On a beautiful morning, sipping a latte feels incredibly cozy and refreshing. So, what exactly is a latte? And how is it made? Let's learn and savor it together with Front Street Coffee!
What is a latte?
"Latte" is a transliteration of the Italian word "Latte," and it is a type of fancy coffee. It is also a classic combination of Italian espresso and milk. By adding a specified proportion of milk to rich, full-bodied espresso, you get a latte. The warm, smooth blend and flavoring of the milk transforms the originally bitter and heavy coffee into something silky, sweet, and fragrant. Even those who aren't used to drinking coffee find it hard to resist the deliciousness of a latte.
Originally, latte coffee originated in Vienna, the city of music. The Viennese developed the habit of drinking coffee as early as the 17th century. At that time, the Turkish army failed in its attack on Vienna and left behind hundreds of bags of coffee beans in their hasty retreat. These beans became the raw material for Vienna's first coffeehouse (the Blue Bottle). To cater to European tastes, the coffeehouse owner filtered the coffee grounds and mixed in a certain amount of milk, which not only made the bitter black coffee silky and sweet but also created a flavor that captivated the Viennese. In this way, the combination of milk and coffee began to sweep the world.
What coffee beans and milk should you choose for making a latte?
As mentioned earlier by Front Street, the ingredients for a latte are very simple—just espresso and milk. There is no fixed ratio; you can adjust it up or down according to your taste. However, the choice of ingredients is crucial because it directly determines the quality of the latte you make.
Based on extraction experience, Front Street Coffee recommends prioritizing espresso blend beans with higher stability. Blend products usually combine flavor profiles from different regions and use medium or darker roasts, making it easier to extract rich crema (beans with high crema are more suitable for milk coffee). This way, our espresso tastes thick and full-bodied, with a higher tolerance for error. Moreover, most espresso blend beans are primarily supplied for cafe use, and compared to single-origin beans with similar flavors, they are relatively cheaper, focusing on an economical and cost-effective route. For beginners without much coffee-making experience, using espresso blend beans is clearly more advantageous if you want to make a delicious latte.
For example, the beans used in Front Street stores are the Front Street Sunflower Warm Sun Blend, made from Front Street Ethiopia Natural Red Cherry and Front Street Honduras Sherry Cask. The roasting curve makes it mainly for espresso extraction; when made into an iced latte, it has aromas of wine, vanilla, cream, and chocolate. Some friends have told Front Street that their extracted espresso has a lot of rough foam, which is caused by the coffee beans being too fresh; this kind of espresso often tastes mediocre. From Front Street's experience, if the espresso beans you receive are too close to the roast date, it's best to let them rest in a cool place for 7–10 days and finish them within 45 days for the best flavor.
How do you make an authentic, delicious latte?
The coffee machine used in Front Street stores comes with a portafilter basket sized for a double espresso, with a dose of about 18–20 grams. When Front Street makes a latte, it uses 20 grams of coffee grounds and a 1:2 coffee-to-liquid extraction ratio, meaning 20 grams of coffee grounds yields 40 grams of espresso. The time is related to the flow rate of the coffee grounds; generally, a single extraction is controlled between 20–35 seconds, because within 20 seconds the coffee taste tends to be thin, while over 35 seconds it is prone to over-extraction and a burnt-bitter flavor. Most of Front Street's espressos fall within the 28–30 second range.
Before extraction, Front Street prepares these in advance: a ceramic coffee cup, a milk pitcher, and fresh milk. First, wipe the portafilter basket dry and align it with the grinder's dosing outlet, turn on the switch, grind the amount for a double espresso, and place it on an electronic scale to adjust until it reaches 20 grams. Then use a distribution tool to level the coffee grounds, and press down vertically with a tamper to compact the coffee puck, ensuring more stable extraction.
Then turn on the espresso machine's extraction switch and let water run for 1–2 seconds to wet the group head and also rinse away stuck coffee grounds. Place an electronic scale under the cup for catching the espresso and tare it to 0, then place it under the group head during extraction. Gently lock the portafilter onto the group head and start the extraction switch. Observe the changes in the extracted liquid; when the scale shows 40 grams of espresso, at 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's latte serving cup is 300 ml, so you can pour in 240 ml of milk, because after steaming the milk expands due to incorporated air. Before starting to steam the milk, briefly open the steam switch to purge some steam and release excess water from the steam wand, then submerge the steam tip into the milk surface and turn on the switch.
Steaming milk is divided into two stages. The first stage requires the steam hole to contact the milk surface; this stage is for creating foam, and it produces a sharp, paper-tearing sound. This stage determines the thickness of the milk foam. The second stage is texturing; after creating enough foam, raise the pitcher so the steam hole is submerged in the milk, letting the milk rotate and steam under the action of the steam. This stage determines the quality of the milk foam. For a latte, the milk foam thickness is moderate, about 1 cm. After steaming, the milk surface should be glossy, without bubbles, and have a certain fluidity.
Finally, combine the steamed milk with the extracted espresso for latte art. Before pouring art, first integrate them: hold the milk pitcher slightly higher above the cup with some impact force, gently combine the milk and coffee until the cup is seven-tenths full, then lower the pitcher so the spout is close to the coffee surface and the impact force is reduced. The milk foam will rise due to buoyancy, so white foam begins to appear on the surface. At this point, you can swing your arm to create a rippled pattern. Because the foam is moderate and has a certain fluidity, it will form a continuously swaying line. Finally, raise the pitcher and push forward to finish, creating a basic heart-shaped latte art pattern.
So, how do you make an iced latte?
Compared with a hot latte, an iced latte is relatively simple to make. The method is the same as for 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, pour in 100 grams of ice cubes and 180 grams of milk, and finally pour in the espresso. Of course, don't forget to stir well before drinking.
Most online tutorials for making iced lattes don't give an absolute ratio, but rather a general range: coffee:milk = 1:4 to 1:8. This is because everyone uses different coffee beans, different extraction parameters, and possibly different milk, so even with the same ratio, the taste of the iced latte will still differ. As a reference, when using dark-roast espresso beans mainly featuring dark chocolate and nut notes, we can add a larger proportion of milk to maintain a balanced taste; for example, Front Street's daily serving uses 1:6. When the beans are a lighter-roast floral and fruity acidic type, the espresso itself is less intense, and too much milk will only mask the coffee aroma, so you can appropriately reduce the milk proportion, for example falling within the 1:4 to 1:5 range.
For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style).
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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
