Recently, a "latte you can eat with a spoon" has quickly gone viral in the coffee world. It turns milk coffee into a semi-solid pudding texture that won't spill when the cup is tipped over, while still preserving latte art patterns. Today, Front Street Coffee is also putting it to the test to see whether this coffee panna cotta is actually worth making. The article will break down everything step by step, from the amount of gelling agent, the choice of coffee bean roast level, and the specific operating steps, to an analysis of common failure causes. As long as you get the ratio of gelatin sheets, milk foam temperature, and syrup seasoning right, you can also make a delicate, smooth, and long-lasting patterned coffee panna cotta latte art at home.

Recently, many espresso lovers have noticed that "latte you can scoop with a spoon," and Front Street Coffee is no exception. Ever since someone took the lead in trying it, it seemed as if overnight the whole internet joined the DIY ranks, whether or not they knew how to do latte art, and more and more people wanted to give it a try. So today we're also going to actually make it once and see whether it's really worth recommending.

The currently popular "latte you can scoop with a spoon" is essentially using the idea behind making pudding to turn milk coffee into a semi-solid state, so that it won't spill when the cup is tipped over. It should be noted that this is not the same as the coffee jelly Front Street Coffee shared before—under the action of the gelling agent, once the latte is made and immediately put in the refrigerator, it can form a delicate and smooth texture, while the latte art pattern also stays as it is, letting us admire it while eating.

After reviewing multiple related online tutorials, Front Street Coffee found that the ingredients needed to make latte pudding are actually quite simple—just ordinary latte with the addition of gelatin sheets (or gelatin powder).

However, since this coffee is "eaten" cold, if you choose a darker-roasted espresso bean for extraction, the espresso will most likely be too intense and harsh, ultimately making the pudding "bitter beyond words." Therefore, to balance the taste, you can add an appropriate amount of syrup for seasoning and give priority to medium-roast coffee beans.

Friends who prefer nutty and creamy flavors can buy Front Street Coffee Queen's Estate and Front Street Coffee Signature Blend; the latte pudding made with them will naturally carry almond and almond aromas. If you want more fruity sweetness and acidity, Front Street Coffee Sidra, Front Street Coffee Mozart, or Front Street Coffee Strawberry Candy · Geisha Blend are the top choices.

Here, espresso from Front Street Coffee Strawberry Candy espresso beans is used as the base. Just from the name, you can tell this is a coffee with high sweetness. It is composed of three single-origin coffees from different producing regions. In addition to its own rose aroma, Front Street Coffee Strawberry Candy offers grape, dried blueberry, sweet orange, and fruit candy flavors in both americano and latte, with a very unique taste.

Production Method

Step 1: Soak 8g gelatin sheets in room-temperature water until softened.

Step 2: Use 19.5g Front Street Coffee Strawberry Candy espresso coffee powder to extract 38g of coffee liquid in 30 seconds (parameters are subject to the day's calibration), then pour it into a cup and set aside.

Step 3: Pour 200g milk into a milk pitcher, add 25g original syrup, take out the gelatin sheets and put them into the milk, then steam everything together to 55–60°C. Control the milk foam thickness at 0.3–0.5cm; the finer the texture, the better.

Step 4: Evenly blend the milk and coffee liquid, pour latte art, then immediately place it in the refrigerator to chill. After 4–5 hours, once the latte has completely set, it is ready to enjoy.

The set latte pudding looks quite good in appearance. Although there is slight bubble dissipation, the top layer still maintains its original pattern, and it can be flipped without spilling.

The taste is no slouch either. It has a light fruity aroma and white chocolate flavor brought by the Strawberry Candy espresso, while the top layer has the slight bittersweetness of coffee oils. In the mouth it is icy, bouncy, and smooth. Because syrup was added, it doesn't taste too bitter and even carries a slight caramel note.

Production Details

Many people try to recreate this latte art pudding at home. Besides the successful shares, Front Street Coffee also found some "failed" cases. Below we select the three most common examples to analyze the reasons behind them.

1. The latte pudding does not set

First, the reason the latte can successfully set into pudding is mainly thanks to the food gelling agent. Front Street Coffee's first failure was because too few gelatin sheets were used, causing the latte to remain very thin after cooling. Here it is recommended to use 5g gelatin sheets when making a small cup of latte (150–200g), while for a large 250–300g latte, 8–10g may be used, which will give the coffee a better setting effect.

In addition, insufficient chilling time can also make it difficult for the latte to set internally. It is generally recommended to put it in the refrigerator immediately after making and chill for more than 4 hours. You can also place it in the freezer for 1 hour, then take it out and leave it at room temperature for 10 minutes, and eat it after the pudding has thawed a bit.

2. The taste is too bitter

As Front Street Coffee mentioned above, this situation is often caused by the espresso beans being roasted too dark. To keep the latte art pudding from being attacked by burnt bitterness, besides switching to beans with a lighter roast level, you can also improve the taste by adding condensed milk or flavored syrup.

For example, when Front Street Coffee directly recreates it using Warm Sun Espresso Blend with a piccolo cup (200ml), without adding sugar, the coffee's bitterness can be said to hit you right in the head. So before steaming the milk, add 30g condensed milk or 30g flavored syrup first, then blend. The pudding made this way is neither bitter nor too sweet.

3. The pudding sets, but the latte art is gone

If you want the pudding to have a pattern that lasts without dissipating, we need to ensure good milk foam stability, and this depends on the quality of the milk foam and espresso crema, as well as how well the two are integrated. For specific details, you can check Front Street Coffee's past article "These details can make your latte foam more stable and slow down bubble dissipation!"

Beyond these details, steaming the milk too hot can also cause the latte art to dissipate. As the latte goes from liquid to semi-solid, it is in a cooling process. When the milk temperature is too high, it means the cooling time will be extended, and the bubbles in the surface pattern will dissipate faster and more noticeably than usual.

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