Customer: "Boss, would you like a cup of coffee with better latte art!"
Front Street: Okay, do you want latte, Australian white or cappuccino for coffee?
Guest: “I want American style!”
Front Street:…
Coffee latte art, to be precise, should be "Latte Art", which translates to "latte art" (milk art), which is to use milk to create various exquisite and beautiful flower shapes on coffee. The specific method is very simple. You only need to beat air into the milk, and the protein in the milk will wrap the air, thus forming low-density bubbles that can float on the liquid surface.
We have to admit that the prerequisite for making beautiful latte art is to have a perfect espresso, so the coffee beans you choose are very important. Front Street believes that espresso with delicate, smooth and rich oil is the best standard, and can use two popular products, Front Street Classic Blend and Front Street Commercial Blend. One of them combines the wild tones of Brazil and Mandheling, and the other is a formula rich in various nutty aromas. On this basis, a small amount of Robusta is added to increase the richness of oil and golden color.
When mixed with espresso, the milk foam will float on the liquid surface like oil due to its low density. Then relying on the sharp contrast between the white color of milk and the brown color of oil, we only need to make a slight swing during the fusion process, and the milk foam will form beautiful lines on the oil. And this is the principle of making coffee latte art and pattern forming. So theoretically, milk is an important material for making coffee latte art.
But clearly, milk is not irreplaceable. If there is a certain liquid that can produce long-lasting and stable foam like milk, then it can replace milk in making coffee latte art. And such a liquid is right in front of us, yes, it is coffee itself!
If you are a friend who has followed Front Street for many years, you will know that Front Street has shared the topic of American latte art many times. Americano is black coffee made only from concentrate and water, and it can also be used to make latte art like a latte. The specific method is very simple. You only need to use coffee to foam, and then follow the normal latte art steps~
How to make American coffee latte art?
Previously, I shared with you the principle of milk latte art. It uses foaming technology to create low-density bubbles, and then uses the contrast between the color of milk foam and oil to form texture. In fact, espresso can also do the same thing, because espresso also has the basis of foaming.
As we all know, there will be a layer of golden oil floating on the surface of the espresso liquid, and this layer of oil is actually a bubble formed by the lipids and proteins of the coffee beans wrapping the carbon dioxide. So in theory, espresso can also create dense foam through steam.
And this is indeed the case. But the difference from milk foaming is that the liquid volume of coffee is not as much as that of milk. If we want the coffee to reach a state that can be whipped, we need to use some special means to increase its liquid volume and lower its temperature. How to do it specifically?
It's very simple, just add ice water and whip it ~ Since Americano coffee ultimately requires adding water to the concentrate to dilute the concentration, we can naturally add this water to the coffee in advance so that the coffee has enough liquid to be whipped. The reason why ice water is used is because it can effectively extend the whipping time and make the foam denser.
So next, Front Street will share with you how to make a cup of Americano with latte art, and also share with you the difference between drinking Americano with latte art and regular Americano coffee~
The coffee beans used in making Front Street this time are the Front Street classic blend in the Front Street bean list. The concentrate extracted with it is not only rich and mellow, but also contains very rich oils, which is very suitable for making coffee latte art. The extraction parameters are: 20g powder, powder-to-liquid ratio of 1:2, and 30 seconds of extraction time.
Because the espresso needs to be split into two parts, one part is used as the base and the other part is used to create the "milk foam". So we can choose to split it into two parts after extraction, or use a split handle to split the concentrate directly during the extraction process. For the latter chosen by Front Street, after filling the coffee powder, we directly attached the handle to the brewing head, then placed an espresso cup under each of the two splitter nozzles, and then started extraction.
After extracting the target liquid weight, Front Street poured one part into a latte art vat with 80g of ice cubes and 80ml of room temperature water, and then started to make the "milk foam"!
The steps of whipping are almost the same as whipping milk, except that the foam produced by coffee will not be as much as that of milk, so we need to introduce a little more air when foaming, and then heat it to about 65°C. The reason why it needs to be sent to 65°C is not because it can stimulate the sweetness of the coffee! Just because the temperature is neither too hot nor too cold, it is just right for the mouth.
When we have finished sending it, we only need to follow the normal latte art process to make the pattern we like, and a cup of Americano coffee with latte art is finished!
Then Front Street used the normal production method to make a cup of hot Americano. The parameters were: 40ml coffee liquid and 160ml 65°C hot water to compare the taste difference between the two!
Front Street found through tasting that there is not much difference in flavor between the two. Because the beans used are the classic Front Street blend in the Front Street bean menu, the flavor when you drink it is full of chocolate, butter cookies, and nuts. The difference between the two mainly lies in concentration and taste!
Because the American style of latte art has a layer of foam, it will give people a dense touch and mellow taste when drinking, while the regular American style is very smooth and does not have the tactile experience brought by the foam; secondly, the concentration. Since the foam of the American style of latte art will occupy a certain space in the cup, the amount of water is actually less than that of the regular American style. The concentration of the coffee is therefore higher and the taste is relatively more concentrated. Other than that, there isn't much difference.
The above is what Front Street shared this time. Friends who are interested can still give it a try. After all, this will bring you a completely different American experience. But remember that the amount of water can be slightly more to avoid the concentration being too high and difficult to drink~
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
