Front Street often shares answers to questions raised by buyers and friends about ear mounting. It may be because the Chinese New Year is approaching. There has been a surge in friends buying earphones recently, and there are also many related questions. Among the questions, the one with the highest repetition rate is a topic often shared on Front Street: Can I use hanging coffee to make latte?
It's not impossible, but it depends on the situation. If you want to use hanging ears to make latte coffee in the Italian system, it will definitely be difficult to do. Because without the pressurized extraction of an espresso machine, we cannot make coffee as high-concentration as espresso. Even if we could, the process would be very tedious and long;
But if you want to make a milk coffee with a strong coffee flavor and a good taste in all aspects, like a latte, you can still do it. Not only that, there are many ways we can achieve this goal!
How to do it specifically? Next, Front Street will share how to use hanging ears to make a rich cup of "latte coffee".
But before that, what we need to know is that such milk coffee is definitely not made with milk. Because as Front Street previously stated in "Can I Make Coffee with Milk?" 》As shared in this article, milk cannot be a good solvent because it is too concentrated.
So if we want to use the hanging ear to make a relatively delicious cup of milk coffee, then we can only find another way and use some less conventional methods for extraction.
Although there are many types of hanging ear, there are still certain things to pay attention to when making milk coffee. Front Street recommends giving priority to Pour over(V60) single products with medium and dark roasts. It is best to buy Front Street Queen's Manor hanging ear with a buttery peanut aroma, low-acid and mellow Front Street PWN Golden Mandheling hanging ear, Front Street Blue Mountain No. 1 hanging ear with a balanced taste, and Front Street Bird of Paradise hanging ear with a complex nutty aroma.
Unconventional method one: stirring
This is a relatively simple way to brew espresso! If we want to make a cup of milk coffee with excellent texture and taste, then stirring will be a good choice.
We only need to add strong stirring during the brewing process to accelerate the dissolution of flavor substances. We can extract a large amount of flavor substances with a very small amount of water under normal pressure extraction, thus obtaining a cup of strong coffee that can make delicious milk coffee. It doesn’t matter if you don’t understand it well. Front Street will share the specific operation process next.
It should be noted that if you plan to make milk coffee, it is best to choose medium-dark or dark roasted coffee. Firstly, this type of coffee is easier to extract, and we can dissolve a large amount of flavor substances relatively easily, which means that the milk coffee produced will be richer;
The second reason is that the taste of dark roasted coffee matches better with milk and is not as abrupt as light roasted coffee. For example, the Indonesian Mandheling and Brazilian Cerato earrings on the Front Street Bean List are both very good.
Of course, you can also like the taste of light roasted coffee. Taste varies from person to person, but the method is the same anyway. Without further ado, Front Street will share how to make it.
Because Front Street’s hanging ears come in a pack of 10g, and it is best to use 20g of powder when making espresso for milk coffee, so here Front Street will use 2 packs of hanging ears, and then integrate their coffee powder into one hanging ear bag. The hanging ear used in Front Street here is Front Street Indonesian Mandheling. The coffee extracted with it will have the flavor of chocolate, nuts, cream and caramel.
Then we are equipped with a slender stirring rod for stirring. The water temperature used is 100°C, the amount of water injected is 80ml (powder to water ratio 1:4), and the extraction time is from 2 minutes.
After the water is boiled, we can start our espresso making. First, inject 30ml of hot water for steaming. During steaming, we need to stir the coffee powder with a stir stick. Because the powder layer is thick, we need to stir the coffee powder so that it can be moistened by the hot water and exhaust evenly.
However, everyone needs to pay attention to the fact that 20g of coffee powder will be quite full in an ear-hanging bag, so when filling the water, we need to use a very small flow of water to slowly inject it. It will be a little difficult to add water and stir at the same time, but it’s not too difficult~
After steaming, the remaining 50ml of hot water is divided into multiple sections and injected. There is no requirement for the amount of water injected in each section, as long as the water is injected to a position flush with the mouth of the bag, it can be stopped, and then remember to stir continuously. After stirring until all the hot water in the ear-hanging bag has penetrated out, we repeat this operation until the target amount of water is filled.
This operation allows us to obtain an espresso with relatively high concentration and extraction rate. Front Street has done many tests and found that the extracted coffee liquid is basically around 47ml, and the concentration will be around 6.95%, and the extraction rate will be around 17%. After tasting it, I found that the taste of the coffee is relatively balanced, and all the flavors are displayed. It is considered a relatively good coffee (for espresso made with hanging ears).
Then we only need to add the appropriate amount of milk to this strong coffee according to our own preferences, and a cup of milk coffee with rich texture and taste is completed. Generally, Front Street recommends using a 1:3 ratio of coffee to milk. For example, the coffee liquid we extracted above is 47ml, so the milk added is about 148ml.
Because the concentration and taste of coffee still cannot reach the concentration of espresso, it is best not to use too much milk, so as to avoid excessive dilution of the taste and taste. Of course, you can also like that kind of milk coffee, just take a look~
Unconventional method two: boil
Of course, milk is not completely useless for extracting coffee, it just has a lower extraction efficiency and a slower extraction speed. Many friends have left messages on Front Street Backstage asking if they can put milk and coffee powder in a pot and boil it to make rich milk coffee. Front Street has tested and shared it before, and it is OK.
Because boiling allows the milk to maintain a high temperature for a long time, it can continue to dissolve the flavor substances in the coffee. There is not much particularity in cooking. We only need to throw the coffee powder and milk in the ear-hanging bag into the pot and cook it in a ratio of 1:5. After boiling, cook it for 2 minutes on low heat/residual heat. During this period, be careful to stir to avoid milk overflow.
But Front Street would still recommend the first method! Because although this method can brew rich milk coffee, it is not that pleasing. First of all, some substances in milk will be destroyed at high temperatures, so the taste and sweetness will be slightly reduced;
Secondly, the whole process is very cumbersome. In addition to boiling, you also have to filter. The concentration of milk is very high, and the ear-mounted filter bag and filter paper are very slow to filter. If you want to filter out milk coffee in a short time, you have to use a filter, and then you have to purchase an additional appliance, which is very troublesome to clean. Therefore, Front Street does not mainly recommend this method, and other methods are used when conditions permit.
Unconventional method three: bubble
Brewing is very simple. There are often sharings on the front street. We only need to put the whole package of milk and ear-hanging bag into a sealed container and let it steep for one night. The next day, take out the ear-hanging bag and you can directly get a rich milk coffee.
The reason this method works is that it extends the extraction time, allowing the milk to dissolve the flavor substances in the coffee over more than 8 hours. The only drawback is that it takes a long time to make and needs to be made one night in advance.
If everyone can accept this method, then you only need to soak the hanging ears and milk in a ratio of 1:5 to make it. It is very simple and does not limit coffee beans. But because Front Street often shares it, interested friends can refer to previous articles to learn more, so I won’t go into details here~
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
