What does SOE meaning coffee tell you about lattes?

A latte is espresso plus milk, so it counts as a milk-based coffee drink rather than a straight shot. Espresso is the concentrated base, extracted at roughly a 1:2 grounds-to-liquid ratio, and the milk that follows changes both body and perceived bitterness. Hot and iced versions use the same logic but differ in milk texture and dilution.

Front Street's shop recipe uses a medium-dark blend with vanilla, creamy chocolate, and caramel cookie notes. When a latte tastes too bitter, too weak, or both, the cause usually sits in extraction, milk ratio, or both. Adjusting grind and dose before changing the recipe is the practical first step for a hot vanilla latte.

Is latte actually considered a fancy coffee? What exactly is the difference between espresso and fancy coffee? Starting from Front Street Coffee's production experience, this article systematically sorts out the recipe logic and preparation details of latte coffee, including espresso extraction parameters, milk ratios, and operational differences between hot and iced lattes, and analyzes the causes of common problems such as latte being too bitter, too weak, or both bitter and weak, one by one, providing corresponding adjustment plans. Whether you are a beginner who has just come into contact with espresso or an enthusiast who wants to improve the consistency of your drinks, you can find practical references here.

Do you still remember the taste of your first latte in life? Perhaps many people can no longer recall that moment, but Front Street still remembers it clearly - first attracted by the exquisite latte art, then taking a gentle sip and feeling the slight sweetness brought by the crema interwoven with bitterness; with the second sip, the original intense bitterness unexpectedly turned into a mellow smoothness, blending with the sweetness of hot milk, achieving a just-right sense of harmony in the mouth, and after swallowing, there was still a lingering finish similar to creamy chocolate.

There is an old saying in the West: a thousand readers have a thousand Hamlets in their hearts. The same is true for coffee. A delicious latte may have different definitions in everyone's mind: some value its generous portion and satisfying drink, some prefer that mellow aroma and balance, and others are simply drawn to the beautiful latte art.

But if a latte is hard to swallow, everyone's feelings are surprisingly consistent - either the coffee is too bitter to get down, or the taste is too bland, like drinking water, or both, bitter and weak at the same time. What exactly went wrong?

The recipe for latte coffee

The standard configuration produced by Front Street's shop is to use its own roasted Sunflower · Warm Sun blend. This bean uses a medium-dark roast, and when used to make latte, it is required to present flavor characteristics of vanilla, creamy chocolate, and caramel cookie.

On this basis, we first apply the general formula for espresso: a grounds-to-liquid ratio of 1:2, meaning every 1g of coffee grounds corresponds to about 2g of coffee liquid, with extraction time controlled between 25 and 35 seconds, and then apply it to actual operation. Taking Front Street as an example, when using a double basket, fill it with 20g of coffee grounds and extract 40g of espresso, keeping the time within the range of 27 to 33 seconds, and no abnormal conditions should occur throughout the extraction process (such as channeling, spraying, unstable flow rate, etc.).

If making a hot latte, Front Street's method is to pour 220ml of fresh milk into the milk pitcher at a ratio of 1:5.5, steam it to 55-65°C, while forming milk foam with a thickness of 0.3-0.5cm, and finally fully integrate it with the espresso, pour it into a ceramic cup, and draw a neat pattern.

When making an iced latte, we first put 3 ice cubes at the bottom of the cup, control the ratio of coffee to milk at 1:5, first add 200g of fresh milk, then pour over 40g of coffee liquid. Only in this way can the attractive layered effect be preserved.

According to Front Street's practical experience, as long as the pairing of coffee beans and milk is reasonable, the espresso extraction is stable and controllable, and the milk ratio is handled properly, making a delicious latte is actually not complicated. Conversely, if the latte made does not taste right, then the problem must lie in the above links. Below we will break them down one by one.

First, why is latte too bitter?

Everyone knows that, without adding extra sugar, latte is considered the least bitter among all fancy coffees, because it adds a large amount of milk, and the taste of the coffee itself is often not prominent. So when you do taste obvious bitterness, it means the problem is most likely in the espresso - either the coffee beans are roasted too dark, or the extraction parameters are not adjusted correctly.

Regarding the former, unless you bought those extremely dark roasted beans that are so black they are oily, in order to retain more of the coffee beans' own flavors, most common espresso recipes on the market use medium-dark to dark roasting, at most just reaching second crack before coming out. Espresso made from this type of product usually has rich crema, slight acidity, and moderate bittersweetness, and after blending with milk can form a mutually compatible mouthfeel without letting either side become too prominent.

Generally speaking, the "culprit" that makes latte bitter usually appears in the espresso extraction stage, most commonly including over-extraction caused by too slow flow rate (extraction time exceeding 35 seconds according to the above formula), channeling, spraying of the liquid stream, and so on.

A customer once reported to Front Street that the latte they usually made tasted quite good, but one day the taste suddenly became especially bitter and not aromatic. The coffee beans were still within their tasting period, and the extraction parameters and ratio were the same as usual, but they just could not find the reason. In the end, after careful questioning, it was discovered that the knocked-out puck had already been perforated, indicating that channeling occurred during extraction, possibly over-extraction and bitterness caused by clumping of the coffee grounds. The corresponding solution is to adjust the grind coarser, or use external force to break up the clumped coffee grounds.

What should you do if the latte tastes too watery or too weak?

From a barista's perspective, the richness of a latte depends on two factors: milk and espresso. For latte, milk, which accounts for the largest proportion, is naturally a key link. If you want the coffee to be rich and aromatic, we recommend prioritizing whole fresh milk, because compared with shelf-stable milk or skim milk, whole milk has a higher milk fat content, and after steaming, the foam layer is denser and more stable, providing a fuller mouthfeel for the coffee.

In fact, besides the issue of milk quality, insufficient espresso extraction can also make latte become as bland as water. This kind of situation usually appears in SOE. Front Street once used a lighter-roasted Florist 8.0 to make an SOE latte. Although the milk ratio had already been reduced, the finished drink still tasted very thin, like a cup of hot milk with a bit of citrus and caramel aroma, clearly because the roast level was too light, leading to insufficient extraction.

So when we use single-origin coffee beans with a fruit-forward profile to make large-cup lattes, it is best to choose the corresponding SOE version, so that it is less likely to "fail."

Why does latte become both bitter and weak?

This situation is usually the opposite of the previous SOE case. It is often because the coffee beans are roasted too dark, and the espresso as a whole presents a heavy and roasted aroma profile, with the later-stage substances mainly bitter, woody, and miscellaneous flavors. If a ratio with a higher extraction yield is used, the espresso is very likely to be over-extracted.

For example, some friends like to use 18g of grounds to extract 40g of coffee liquid. At this time, the grounds-to-liquid ratio is about 1:2.22. On the one hand, it makes the coffee bitter and astringent; on the other hand, the increased liquid weight also means more water content, and the coffee concentration decreases accordingly, so the latte made is naturally both bitter and weak.

If you feel that the latte you make also has this contradictory mouthfeel, you might as well try reducing the extraction amount of espresso a little, for example by taking 5g less liquid weight, so that the concentration rises. In this way, you both avoid over-extraction and make the latte's mouthfeel richer.

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