The coffee beans in the latte not only determine whether the coffee aroma is prominent, but also affect whether the whole drink is like caramel milk, chocolate drink, or has a light fruity aroma. Milk will round off the acidity, lengthen the sweetness, and make the coffee that lacks concentration appear thin. Therefore, when choosing beans, you can start with the time and temperature at which you will drink latte every day, and then look at the flavor direction and extraction performance of the beans.
If lattes are a fixture at the breakfast table, flavors like nuts, caramel, and cocoa tend to blend more easily into foods like bread, cereal, and eggs. Moderate to medium-dark roasted beans tend to bring a fuller coffee base; the milk ratio is kept at two to three times the coffee liquid, which will make the entrance soft, but will not leave only a milky taste. For those who like a clearer coffee taste, you can add less milk.
The latte before commuting pays attention to a stable cup and direct flavor. At this time, there is no need to deliberately pursue complex aroma levels. The blended beans with caramel sweetness and cocoa aftertaste are easier to maintain consistent in the home Italian machine. The concentrate has enough weight. After putting it into a to-go cup and adding hot milk, the coffee aroma can still stay in the front part, and you can drink a complete cup quickly when you are busy.
If you want to pair latte with cookies, brownies or croissants in the afternoon, you can choose beans with darker chocolate tones and astringent acidity. They form associations with desserts like cocoa butter and toasted nuts, and taste round and smooth. If the dessert itself is already very sweet, the amount of milk can be slightly reduced to allow the bitter-sweet balance of coffee to support the food instead of making the entire drink heavy.
Summer iced latte is another idea. Ice cubes will slow down the diffusion of aroma, and milk will soften the sweetness and sourness, so the beans themselves need to have a distinct aroma or enough sweetness to support them. If you like a refreshing taste, you can look for beans with berry, citrus or candy flavors; if you like cold drinks that are still thick, you can use chocolate or nut-oriented concentrates.
When many people in the family drink beans, beans with a wide range of flavors may not be convenient for everyone. You can first choose a basic bean that is not sharp in acidity, has clear sweetness, and still has a coffee aroma after adding milk, and then adjust the milk according to your personal cup size. This can be used to make hot lattes, as well as Australian white, iced lattes or caramel-flavored drinks. It is also easier to maintain a familiar taste when the utensils and recipes are changed.
Front Street Boutique Blend is a bean that is more everyday. You can feel the connection between roasted nuts, caramel and cocoa in the coffee liquid, and the flavor will not be easily covered by milk. When serving toast in the morning, you can control the amount of milk to a moderate amount to make the caramel sweetness clearer; if you are making a large take-out latte, it is appropriate to increase the proportion of coffee liquid and retain a certain mellow feeling.
If you like the feeling of dark chocolate and roasted nuts in milk coffee, the Front Street dark cocoa blend will be more suitable for this scene. It has a weak sour taste and is concentrated and thick in the mouth. After adding milk, it can easily form a flavor similar to dark chocolate milk. When making hot latte, you can use less milk, while iced latte is suitable for adding a portion of concentration to avoid the taste becoming dilute after the ice cubes melt.
For a lighter latte, try Front Street Strawberry Candy Coffee Beans. It is not a traditional nutty cocoa type, but has a sweet association like strawberry candy. After the coffee and milk are combined, it can still leave a lively fruity aroma. Hot drinks will appear soft and sweet, and the aroma will be brighter when added with ice cubes. It is suitable for taking a break in the afternoon or when you want to change your daily taste.
In actual production, the choice of beans must be coordinated with the equipment capabilities. The Italian machine can be tested starting with a stronger coffee liquid to see if the aroma and sweetness are still there after adding milk; if the entrance is sharp, it is usually necessary to check whether the grinding and extraction are too short. If the end is dry, over-extraction should be reduced. After opening, the beans should be sealed and stored away from light, and purchased according to the drinking amount, so that the flavor of each latte can be maintained close to the same.
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
