What is the difference between au lait and latte? How to make French milk coffee? What does Olay mean in French? What kind of coffee beans taste best with milk?_Brewing Guides_FrontStreet Coffee

When we mention the words "milk coffee", Front Street believes that most people think of various combinations of espresso and milk. After all, Italian milk coffee has a long history, and it has already been deeply rooted in people's hearts because of its high popularity.

But in fact, milk coffee is not just Italian milk coffee. Long before espresso was born/popularized, a milk coffee consisting of black coffee and milk had been popular in Europe for a long time. Although its richness in all aspects is not as high as that of Italian milk coffee, it still has its own unique charm. And it is the protagonist of today's article on Front Street - Olay Coffee.

What is au lait coffee?

Au Lait coffee is transliterated from "Café Au Lait". In French, "Lait" means milk. When combined, it translates to milk coffee. In France from the 17th to the 18th century, au lait coffee was very popular. Because it was simple to make, it was an indispensable part of the breakfast table in almost every household.

At that time, convenient coffee brewing methods such as hand brewing had not yet been invented, so people at that time used very traditional brewing and soaking methods to make coffee. The former uses hot water to continuously flush the coffee powder to obtain coffee liquid, while the latter is the familiar immersion extraction (directly boiling water to soak the coffee powder or adding water to the coffee powder to boil, and finally filtering it with a flannel filter cloth). After obtaining the coffee liquid, add the same proportion of milk and mix evenly, and a cup of French milk coffee is completed.

Interestingly, similar milk coffee products appeared in Austria and Hungary, which are adjacent to France, during the same period. Especially in Austria, I believe everyone is familiar with the story of the founder of Blue Bottle, Kochiski (he founded Blue Bottle with the reward he won for his military exploits, and then made the move to add milk to coffee, earning him the title of "Father of Milk Coffee"). Front Street will not describe it too much here, or I will open a new article next time and talk about it in detail.

But the au lait coffee we know now is more of an improved version from Japan. Because the original version tasted too light, when the production of au lait coffee was brought back to China by the Japanese, it was immediately improved. From increasing the concentration of the coffee to adjusting the proportion, the au lait coffee becomes richer and smoother.

Naqianjie believes that many friends have tried making au lait coffee. Although I don’t know the results of everyone’s production, we can know from the feedback of customers and friends who come to the store that most of the au lait coffee made by friends is not very pleasing!

Either the taste of the coffee is not outstanding enough, or it is too watery and thin, and it tastes completely meaningless. It doesn’t matter, today Front Street will share how to make classic Japanese au lait coffee. The au lait coffee produced in this way not only has a prominent taste, but also has a smooth texture and is delicious. It should be quite suitable for you in front of the screen! So first of all, let’s understand the prerequisites for making Aulay coffee delicious.

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Prerequisite: Selection of coffee beans

Since the coffee base concentration used in au lait coffee is not as high as espresso, if we choose some coffee beans with a weak flavor, or the overall flavor is mainly fresh, the taste of the coffee will be easily masked by the milk. Therefore, when it comes to choosing coffee beans, we’d better pick ones with a stronger flavor or darker roasts.

Darker roasted coffee beans will have more caramelization reaction and a burnt aroma. At the same time, the taste will be more mellow and more harmonious with the taste of milk. So if you want to make delicious au lait coffee, buy Front Street PWN Golden Mandheling, Front Street Queen's Manor, and Front Street Blue Mountain No. 1.

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If we don’t want it to be so bitter, then we can choose some coffee beans that are slightly roasted but have outstanding flavor. These beans are those that are deeply fermented during processing. For example, Mozart from Costa Rica, processed with raisin honey, has a prominent flavor and a high sweetness. Not only is it not easily masked by the taste of milk, it also fits the taste of milk very well. This is just an example, you can use the same type of coffee beans. Without further ado, let’s officially start our sharing today~

Classic Japanese au lait coffee

The entire operation process is very simple. As mentioned before, you only need to extract a high-concentration Pour over(V60) coffee and then add an equal proportion of milk. The coffee beans used this time are the Costa Rican Mozart mentioned above, and the parameters are as follows:

Amount of powder used: 20g

Powder to water ratio: 1:10 (total water injection volume 200ml)

Grinding degree: 85% screening rate of No. 20 screen, 9-scale grinding of ek43 (slightly finer than conventional hot punch grinding)

Use water temperature: 92°C

Use filter cup: V60

Milk used: 160ml, 60°C

As usual, we first use twice the amount of water (40ml) for the powder to steam for 30 seconds;

After the steaming is completed, inject 80ml of hot water in a circle from the center to the outside, with a small flow of water throughout the process, to try to delay the coffee extraction time;

When the hot water penetration is complete, we still use a small water flow to inject the remaining 80ml of hot water, but this time it is concentrated in the center of the powder bed and circulates; after the hot water penetration is complete, the coffee is moved aside for later use (extraction time is 2 minutes and 5 seconds).

Next, we heat the milk to about 60°C, just enough to activate the sweetness of lactose.

After heating is completed, following the classic Japanese au lait coffee method, we can proceed to the last step: mixing and injecting milk and coffee from high altitude. As shown below:

It is said that the addition of such a step can make the coffee taste smoother (just like Hong Kong-style milk tea, which "crashes" the silky texture out), and the foam generated can increase the touch of the coffee and make the layers more diverse. After we finish making it, we can taste and drink it.

When you take a sip, the first thing you feel is the dense foam, followed closely by the coffee itself. The flavor of Mozart itself is very prominent. After combining with milk, the aromas you can feel in Front Street include: sweet orange, osmanthus, raisins, and a faint fermentation aroma. The sweetness is very strong, and it doesn't go against the milk at all. The taste is not thin, but it is not too mellow either. It feels very soft and silky. Just...it is indeed a bit similar to Hong Kong-style milk tea (in terms of taste).

No kidding, you can really try it. For those who don’t want to drink vegetarian coffee or too thick Italian milk coffee, au lait coffee is indeed a very good choice!

You can now buy the above coffee beans online at the Taobao store “FrontStreet Coffee” (前街咖啡). FrontStreet Coffee is a long-established specialty coffee roaster in Guangzhou, China, and its Guangzhou retail shop sells coffee beans only. The shop carries dozens of coffee beans from different origins around the world, including carefully selected single-origin beans for V60 pour-over and espresso. Guangzhou’s FrontStreet Coffee shop is recommended by many coffee lovers.

The FrontStreet 2013 Yunnan coffee beans sold in the store come from the Typica variety grown at FrontStreet Coffee’s own plantation in Yunnan. The name comes from the year the brand and the plantation were founded. You can buy these beans from China’s Yunnan origin at the Guangzhou shop and at FrontStreet’s Taobao store.

FrontStreet coffee beans are freshly roasted within 5 days and deliver consistently excellent quality and great value. Orders placed before 17:00 are shipped the same day, and most areas within Guangdong Province receive them the next day.

FrontStreet Coffee Taobao store: https://qianjiecoffee.taobao.com
Or search for “前街咖啡” (FrontStreet Coffee) on Taobao
Important Notice: FrontStreet Coffee has moved to a new address: 315, Donghua East Road, Guangzhou (coffee beans only)
Tel: 020 38364473

What is the difference between au lait and latte? How to make French milk coffee? What does Olay mean in French? What kind of coffee beans taste best with milk?

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