Nowadays, when we walk into a cafe, we can see a variety of drinks. There are many combinations of milk and coffee: latte, cappuccino, Australian white, dirty, piccolo... I believe everyone is familiar with the first four, so what is this "unpopular"-sounding piccolo?
Piccolo coffee is also called "little latte"
Australians are deeply influenced by Italian coffee culture. Baristas combine local taste trends to innovate a variety of unparalleled coffee drinks based on traditional Italian coffee, such as Starbucks' "hot" Flat White. Different from Flat White, Piccolo coffee is more compact and mini. The cup size is only 1/2 of half the size of a latte, so you can drink it in two or three sips.
Piccolo latte is translated as piccolo latte. Piccolo refers to the instrument piccolo in English, and means small in Italian. The emergence of the piccolo is because when coffee bean roasters and baristas are debugging, they will taste whether the coffee is qualified or not by drinking espresso alone and adding milk. Since the cup of regular latte is large, it will be poured out after two sips. The barista does not want to waste it, so he reduces the proportion of milk. Later, it gradually evolved into a mini version of latte, which is a good choice for people who don’t want to consume too much caffeine and feel obviously full.
What are the details of making Australian Piccolo coffee?
There is some debate among baristas about the recipe for making piccolo. Some believe that piccolo is composed of espresso and a small amount of whipped milk, while others insist that it should be made of espresso Ristretto and a small amount of whipped milk foam. There is no fixed production ratio in the industry today, so the production of piccolo coffee is based on the flavor and tonality of the coffee beans used and the barista's understanding of piccolo coffee.
The flavor of coffee comes from the coffee beans used. The espresso coffee produced in the Front Street store is concentrated using the "Sunflower Warm Sun Blend Coffee Beans" roasted by Front Street itself. It is a combination of 70% Honduran sherry coffee and 30% Yirgacheffe sun-dried red cherry coffee. The whiskey, vanilla, and cream flavors of sherry are combined with the tropical fruits and fermentation of red cherries, giving the coffee in the cup a rich and soft taste.
Front Street uses a small cup of about 90 to 100ml to make piccolo. The ratio of coffee to milk is 1:5. Preheating in advance ensures the best taste of the coffee. A single portion of Ristretto will be used as the base here. Espresso Ristretto means "restriction" in Italian, also called espresso. Usually only the front and middle portion of Espresso is taken, so the taste is stronger and the flavor is more concentrated. Front Street will use 20 grams of coffee powder and extract 28 grams of coffee liquid, which takes 20 to 25 seconds. A single Ristretto is 14 grams and is poured into the cup first.
The milk frothing part is very particular. You should know that the less milk it is, the harder it is to froth it. Choose a milk jug with a capacity of 350ml in Front Street and pour 100ml of milk into it. Piccolo latte does not need to be flush with the rim of the cup like Australian white, so it will retain a milk foam layer similar to that of latte, with a thickness of about 0.3~0.5cm. The milk froth temperature is controlled between 55℃-60℃ to ensure that it will not burn your mouth when entering. Mix it with the Ristretto as evenly as possible. At seventy percent full, the pattern will begin to form. The freshly made piccolo tastes best when you drink it directly.
How to drink piccolo coffee?
The piccolo coffee produced by Front Street presents the aroma of vanilla, cream, chocolate milk, whiskey-filled chocolate, and the sour and sweet berries. The coffee is full of flavor, the milk is fragrant, and the aftertaste is very long-lasting.
As mentioned on the front street, the cup size of piccolo coffee is very small, mainly to highlight the flavor characteristics of the coffee beans, and is suitable for slowly savoring the flavor of the coffee. When Front Street tastes it, he will first smell the faint aroma of the espresso liquid under the support of milk. After taking the first sip, let the coffee liquid fill your mouth and feel the texture of the milk foam and the thickness of the coffee. After finishing the drink, feel the aftertaste that remains in your mouth. Finally, take a sip of water and the sweetness will gradually become clearer.
Professional coffee knowledge exchange. For more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account cafe_style)
For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee on private WeChat, WeChat ID: qjcoffeex
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
