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For a delicious latte, Front Street believes the most important things are the quality of the coffee beans and milk, the ratio of coffee to milk, and the technique of extraction and integration.

Point 1: Choose suitable ingredients

Why is a latte so simple, basically a must-have on every coffee bean menu, yet every shop's latte doesn't taste exactly the same? One of the main reasons is that the milk and coffee beans used are all different.

The flavor of coffee beans can very intuitively control the flavor direction of a latte. An iced latte made with Front Street specialty Italian blend coffee beans shows rich nutty, chocolate, and caramel cookie flavors, with a mellow body and lasting aroma. There are also a few coffee beans that can bring out the sweetness and richness of the milk in an iced latte. Front Street Sunflower Warm Sun blend coffee beans, on the other hand, are meant to express rich vanilla, chocolate, butter, and cocoa flavors.

For those who like mellow coffee, Front Street Classic Italian blend coffee is recommended. This is a recipe combining three origins—Brazil, Indonesia, and Vietnam—using a dark roast, which maximizes the coffee's mellow aroma and also allows everyone to easily extract rich and creamy crema. It is very suitable whether for making an Americano diluted with water or a latte paired with milk, and can be purchased from the Front Street Taobao store or Front Street Tmall flagship store. It can be seen that the choice of espresso beans has a decisive influence on the taste of a latte.

For friends who like sweet-and-sour fruity notes, Front Street Strawberry Candy espresso blend coffee beans are recommended. This is a recipe based on two major origins—Front Street Costa Rica Tarrazu, known for its honey processing, and Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee—and on this basis, paired with Colombian coffee beans, so that the espresso produced is not only not harsh, but under extraction by the coffee machine carries good crema and a creamy texture, while also having the aroma of roses, strawberry gummies, and raisins as well as a sweet-and-sour taste.

However, the choice of milk is also very important. For whole fresh milk alone, there are more than 10 common varieties on the market. Among these milks, some have a strong milky taste, some have a thick mouthfeel, and some are light, like water. The standard for choosing milk is not simply pursuing thickness and a pronounced milky taste, but choosing one suitable for pairing with coffee. A strong milky taste will mask part of the coffee's flavor, while milk with an obvious watery feel will also make the latte watery.

Point 2: A reasonable milk-to-coffee ratio

If the ratio of coffee to milk is wrong, you won't achieve a delicious result. Too much milk, and there will be no coffee taste; too little milk, and the bitterness will stand out. Therefore, making a latte also requires mastering the ratio of coffee to milk.

Front Street believes that there is no fixed ratio for a latte; everything depends on the flavor expression of the espresso and how well it pairs with the milk. However, there is an approximate range, 1:5 to 1:8.

The espresso beans currently used by Front Street are called Sunflower Warm Sun blend coffee beans, made by blending Yirgacheffe Red Cherry and Honduras Sherry. The bitterness is moderate, and the flavor leans toward sherry wine aroma, chocolate, vanilla butter, and brown sugar. These coffee beans are not as strong and bitter as traditional Italian beans. With a proper ratio with milk, you can taste a creamy milk chocolate flavor. Front Street's coffee-to-milk ratio for making a latte with these coffee beans is 1:6, with 40g of espresso liquid plus 240ml of steamed milk.

Point 3: Specific operation

Extracting a qualified espresso and steaming fine, creamy milk foam are the foundation of making a delicious latte. For the espresso extraction parameters, Front Street recommends extracting 40g of coffee liquid from 20g of coffee, with the time controlled at 25-30 seconds. For milk steaming, the thickness is 5 parts full of milk steamed to 6 parts full, and the milk temperature is recommended to be between 55-60 degrees.

Next is integration. Only when milk and espresso are fully integrated can the coffee taste consistent. If the integration is uneven, one sip may taste strongly of milk, and the next strongly of coffee.

Good integration first means the crema on the surface and the milk foam are evenly integrated. This is shown by the consistency of color on the liquid surface, which is what we often call the "golden ring." Second, the coffee surface should be fine and smooth, with no large bubbles.

Integration techniques

① First, the "hardware" must be up to standard! That is, the quality of the espresso and milk foam must be good. The espresso should have rich, viscous crema, and the milk foam should be fine and highly fluid. Many times, poor integration is because the milk foam was steamed too thick, resulting in poor fluidity, so the milk foam floats on the surface. Before integrating, swirling the coffee cup and milk pitcher once to increase the fluidity of the liquids inside will also increase the success rate of integration.

② During integration, the height of the pitcher spout. We all know that when pouring latte art, the pitcher spout should be lowered close to the coffee surface so that white milk foam appears. The same principle applies easily here: if it is too low, a large amount of milk foam will float on the surface, causing uneven integration. If it is too high, the problem described above will occur, and bubbles will appear on the surface.

Generally, the distance between the pitcher spout and the coffee surface is about 5 to 10 centimeters. Everyone's habits are different, so there is no completely fixed standard for height and distance.

③ Integration technique. The general integration technique is stirring in one direction. Hold the coffee cup with the left hand and the latte art pitcher with the right hand, and move the two hands in opposite circular motions offset by half a circle. With one high and one low stirring force, it is easy to fully mix the coffee and milk. As for how large a circle to make, Front Street suggests making the largest circle possible without touching the wall. The hand holding the coffee cup should be careful to slowly straighten it.

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