Can You Use Milk Instead of Water to Brew Coffee?

Using milk instead of water for pour-over does not work well. Milk has high saturation and weaker extraction power than water, and above about 70°C milk proteins change, so hot pour-over with milk is impractical. Cold brewing is different: soaking coffee grounds in milk at low temperature avoids spoilage and lets time compensate for milk's lower extraction efficiency.

For bean selection, medium-dark roasts work better because milk's rich flavor can overwhelm light-roasted floral and fruity notes. Choose beans described with dark chocolate, caramel, or maple syrup notes, then set a coffee-to-milk ratio and grind size and refrigerate for a longer soak. The same logic behind milk to coffee ratio latte applies: more milk means a milder, creamier result.

Water can no longer satisfy coffee enthusiasts' desire for exploration, so milk has become a new extraction medium. Brewing coffee directly with milk using the pour-over method is not feasible because milk has high saturation, weaker extraction ability than water, and proteins undergo changes when heated above 70°C; however, by switching to a cold brew soaking approach, low-temperature milk extraction becomes possible, though it requires longer time to compensate for efficiency. This article covers the feasibility of milk-brewed coffee, suitable coffee bean directions, coffee-to-milk ratio, grind size, refrigerated soaking duration, and sealed storage, and provides Front Street Coffee's actual practice and flavor experience to help you decide whether it's worth trying at home.

When water can no longer satisfy coffee lovers' curiosity, various exotic extraction media have been developed one after another, and milk is one of them. So friends often ask Front Street Coffee: What happens when you brew coffee with milk?

Can milk be used to brew coffee?

If referring to pour-over coffee, Front Street Coffee believes this path won't work. There are two reasons: first, milk itself has fairly high saturation, so its extraction power is considerably weaker than water; second, milk cannot be heated to too high a temperature—usually above 70°C, proteins will undergo qualitative changes. So using it instead of water for pour-over is more just for fun.

Then what if you soak coffee grounds in milk to make cold brew milk coffee?

This idea might just work. Unlike pour-over, cold brewing doesn't require high temperatures, so the milk won't spoil as a result. And soaking is different from drip filtration—milk's extraction efficiency is lower, but time can make up for it.

No time to waste—let's verify (play with) it right away. For bean selection, Front Street Coffee prefers medium-dark roasts. Because milk's flavor is rich and full-bodied, light-roasted beans we love with floral and fruity notes can easily be overwhelmed by milk's flavor. So you can choose beans with flavor descriptions like dark chocolate, caramel, and maple syrup to make milk-brewed coffee.

For example, Front Street Coffee. Front Street Classic Blend with chocolate and butter flavors; Front Street Coffee. Queen's Estate featuring creamy nutty aromas; Front Street Coffee. Golden Mandheling dominated by caramel, spice, dark cocoa, and toasted bread aromas.

If you don't like heavy bitterness and want more fruitiness, you can buy medium-roasted beans described with ripe tropical fruit, dried fruit, and fermented notes, such as Front Street Coffee. Sidra highlighting passion fruit flavor; Front Street Coffee. Blackberry with raisin and pineapple notes—both are quite suitable types.

How to make milk-brewed coffee at home

Front Street Coffee wants the extracted milk coffee to be rich and fragrant, so the milk chosen is Guangming Fresh Pasture fresh milk with a strong milky taste, and the extraction ratio is smaller than the original cold brew ratio—about 1 part coffee grounds to 8 parts milk.

Front Street Coffee's specific procedure is as follows: first grind 25 grams of coffee beans to fine sugar size, with a No. 20 sieve passing rate of 85% as the standard.

The freshly made milk coffee can actually be drunk directly, but you can also continue to seal and refrigerate it for 1 more hour to let the soluble components better penetrate into the milk, making the coffee taste even better.

Put the filter bag filled with coffee grounds into the bottle, then pour in 200ml of fresh milk. You can shake it or use a tool to make sure the coffee grounds are fully soaked. Finally, cover with the lid, check the seal, and store in the refrigerator at low temperature. This step is also very important because milk is a drink that spoils very easily—if it's not sealed tightly or not stored at low temperature, it will spoil quickly.

Soaking in the refrigerator at low temperature for 12 hours is enough. Front Street Coffee does not recommend soaking too long, because there's still the concern about milk spoiling. If you want to improve extraction, you can roll the filter bag around during soaking.

After soaking is complete, you can pull out the filter bag or directly pour out the milk coffee. By observing the color, it's similar to the color of an iced latte, and it smells of nice sherry and lactose aromas. Take a sip, and a chocolate milk flavor rushes into your mind. The overall concentration is moderate.

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