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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 that it's basically a must-have on every coffee bean menu, yet every shop's latte tastes different? One of the main reasons is that the milk and coffee beans used are all different.

The flavor of the coffee beans can very directly control the taste direction of the latte. Most espresso blends will make an iced latte show rich nutty, chocolate, and strong coffee flavors. A few coffee beans can also bring out the sweet, rich flavor of the milk in an iced latte. The Sunflower Warm Sun blend coffee beans used in Front Street's stores are meant to express rich caramel chocolate and vanilla cream flavors. It can be seen that the choice of espresso coffee beans has a decisive influence on the taste of a latte.

However, the choice of milk is also very important. Just for whole fresh milk alone, there are more than 10 common types on the market. Among these milks, some have a strong milk flavor, some have a thick mouthfeel, and some are light and watery. The standard for choosing milk is not to blindly pursue thickness or an obvious milk flavor, but to choose one that pairs well with coffee. A strong milk flavor will cover up part of the coffee's taste, while milk with an obvious watery quality 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 flavor; 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 a general range, from 1:5 to 1:8.

The espresso coffee 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 cream, and brown sugar. These coffee beans are not as strong and bitter as traditional espresso beans, and when paired with the right proportion of milk, you can taste a dense 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 and 240ml of steamed milk.

Point 3: Specific operation

Extracting a qualified espresso and steaming fine, dense 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, steam the milk from 5 parts full to 6 parts full, and the milk temperature is recommended to be between 55-60 degrees.

Next is integration. Only when the 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 may taste 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 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 caused by milk foam being 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 The height of the pitcher spout during integration. We all know that when pouring latte art, the spout should be lowered close to the coffee surface so that white milk foam appears. The same principle applies 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 mentioned 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 motion. The general integration motion is stirring in one direction. Hold the coffee cup with your left hand and the latte art pitcher with your 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 the circle should be, Front Street suggests making the largest circle possible without touching the wall. Be careful to slowly straighten the hand holding the coffee cup.

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