"Boss! Why doesn't the latte I make at home taste as good as the one in your store? Do you hide some unknown secret formula?" This is the conversation that many customers may have after drinking the latte sold in the Qian Street store~
To be honest, there aren’t many important points about latte coffee. You only need to pay attention to a few details to make it twice as delicious! So, today Front Street will share how to make delicious latte at home just like in the store!
1. Selection of coffee beans
Coffee beans are the main controller of the taste of latte. The roasting and flavor of a bean determine what kind of latte you will get.
Generally speaking, Front Street recommends using beans that are medium roasted or above to make latte, because latte coffee will use more milk, and the flavor of beans below medium roasted is usually weak, and it is difficult to compete with a large amount of milk, and it is easy to be overwhelmed by the milk flavor. Therefore, medium-dark or dark-roasted beans are more suitable for coffees with more milk, such as latte.
The reason why the taste of Front Street latte is praised by many customers is largely due to the use of medium-dark roasted Nuanyang blend. The latte made with it has the flavor of butter cookie, vanilla, chocolate, and slight wine aroma. If you like roasted nut-flavored latte, I recommend Front Street Queen's Manor; if you like milk coffee with rich spices, I recommend Front Street Golden Mandheling; if you want a cost-effective option, it is recommended to buy Front Street Dark Cocoa Blend (100% Arabica)...
2. Choice of milk
After you decide on a bean, the second important ingredient is milk! There are many types of milk on the market, but there may be only one that can perfectly match your beans!
For example, the milk flavor of "Milk A" will be richer and more prominent. It is combined with a dark roasted bean to make a latte that is very fragrant. The milk and coffee flavors complement each other and do not cover up each other. But if Milk A is used on medium-dark roasted beans, it will mask the taste of coffee, leading to an unbalanced taste and tasting like a cup of coffee-flavored milk.
Give me another chestnut! "Milk B" is a milk with a thinner milk flavor and higher sweetness. Paired with a medium-dark roasted bean, it will produce a latte with a clean taste and extremely sweet taste. But if it is used on dark roasted beans, then not only will its milk taste not be able to balance with the coffee, but it will be suppressed, and then it will become a bitter "water" latte (because the taste is thin, it will taste very watery). Therefore, the choice of milk is really important!
You can go to this article to learn about "common latte milk on the market", see which ones are available nearby, and then buy them home to try. The experimental comparison in the article can be skipped. After all, this is only a comparison made using Nuanyang blending from Front Street and cannot be applied to different beans.
Operational details
Many friends think that because the machine they use at home is relatively cheap (referring to the coffee machine), the espresso produced is not good enough, resulting in a latte that is not very tasty. But in fact, this point is something that everyone does not need to pay too much attention to.
As we said before, the taste of coffee is mainly controlled by the beans. There are indeed certain differences between coffee machines at different price points, but they are mainly focused on specific functions (such as pre-soaking, large steam, adjustable water temperature, pressure, etc.), or the design of continuous, fast, and stable coffee production!
As long as we adjust the operation properly (extraction is normal: there is no lack of pressure, channel effects, etc.), a home machine worth a few thousand yuan can produce a concentrated base similar to a machine worth 10,000 yuan in a store. You can refer to the extraction formula commonly used in popular coffee shops: a powder-to-liquid ratio of 1:2, and then control the time within the range of 25 to 35 seconds to complete the target liquid.
Milk foaming
Although I am making a latte for myself, for some friends, the taste requirements are still relatively high! The dense and delicate milk foam can better blend with the coffee, resulting in a latte with the ultimate taste! Therefore, we can move to the article "Tutorial on how to froth delicate milk" to learn how to froth delicate milk!
The reason why Front Street doesn’t talk about it here is because the latte made at home is mainly about taste. Except for friends who pursue perfection, many friends don’t need milk foam to enhance the taste (or drink iced latte). So just use any heating source to heat the milk to 65±2°C, pour in the concentrate, stir evenly and you’re ready to drink! Simple and convenient, wouldn’t it be fun~
So, what is the ratio of concentrate to milk?
The fixed ratio of Front Street products is 1:5, that is, 40ml of concentrate and 200ml of milk. But when it comes to making your own latte, you don’t need to follow any recommendations online! Because everyone’s taste is different. Although latte is about a balance of milk and coffee, if this balance doesn’t suit you, why pursue the standard? You can adjust it yourself to find the ratio you like.
Just like when colleagues at the Front Street store make latte for themselves, colleagues who like the coffee concentration to be lower will use the ratio of 1:6; colleagues who like the coffee concentration to be higher will use the ratio of 1:4 to make the latte. These are roughly the same principle: more milk will reduce the taste of coffee, and less milk will make the taste of coffee more obvious (bitter).
So, as long as you understand the above-mentioned things, you can consider and make a delicious latte that suits your taste at home.~
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
