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For a delicious cup of latte, Front Street believes that the most important thing is the quality of coffee beans and milk, the ratio of coffee to milk and the extraction and fusion operation.
Point one: choose the right material
Why is latte so simple? Basically every coffee beans menu is a must-have, but the taste of latte in every store will not be exactly the same. One of the main reasons is that the milk and coffee beans used are different.
The flavor of coffee beans can intuitively control the taste of latte coffee. Most Italian blended coffee beans will make the iced latte show a rich nutty, chocolate, and strong coffee flavor. There are also a few coffee beans that bring out the sweet, rich flavor of the milk in the iced latte. The Sunflower Warm Sun blended coffee beans used in the Front Street store are to express the rich flavors of caramel chocolate and vanilla cream. It can be seen that the choice of espresso beans has a decisive impact on the taste of latte coffee.
However, the choice of milk is also very important. Just full-fat fresh milk alone, there are more than 10 types commonly available in the market. Some of these milks have a strong milky taste and a thick texture, while others are light and watery. The standard for choosing milk is not to pursue thick and obvious milk flavor, but to choose one that is suitable for pairing with coffee. A strong milk flavor will mask the taste of the coffee, and a watery milk will also make the latte watery.
The second point: a reasonable ratio of milk to coffee
If the ratio of coffee to milk is wrong, it will not taste good. Too much milk will result in no coffee flavor, too little milk will accentuate the bitter taste. Therefore, making latte also requires a good balance of coffee and milk.
Front Street believes that there is no fixed ratio for latte, everything depends on the flavor expression of espresso and the matching degree of milk. But there is a rough range, 1:5 to 1:8.
The Italian coffee beans currently used by Front Street are called Sunflower Warm Sun Blend coffee beans, which are a blend of Yirgacheffe red cherries and Honduran sherry. They have a moderate bitterness and a flavor that favors sherry aroma, chocolate, vanilla cream, and brown sugar. This coffee bean is not as strong and bitter as traditional Italian beans. It is paired with milk in the right proportion and can produce a dense milk chocolate flavor. Front Street uses this coffee bean to make latte with a coffee-to-milk ratio of 1:6, 40g of espresso liquid, and 240ml of steamed milk.
The third point, specific operations
Extracting qualified espresso and creating fine and dense milk foam are the foundation for making a delicious latte. For the parameters of espresso extraction, Front Street recommends extracting 40g of coffee liquid from 20g of coffee and controlling the time to 25-30 seconds. The thickness of whipped milk is 5 minutes full and the milk is whipped to 6 minutes full. The recommended milk temperature is between 55-60 degrees.
The next step is fusion. Only when the milk and espresso are fully integrated can the coffee taste consistent. If the fusion is uneven, the first sip may have a strong milk taste and the next sip may have a strong coffee taste.
Good fusion is firstly about the even fusion of coffee oil and milk foam on the surface, which is reflected in the color consistency of the liquid surface, which is what we often call the "golden circle". Secondly, the coffee liquid surface is delicate and smooth, with no big bubbles.
Fusion skills
①The first step is to pass the "hardware" test! That is to say, the quality of espresso and milk foam should be good, the espresso should be rich in oil and viscous, and the milk foam should be delicate and fluid. Many times the fusion is not good because the milk foam is thickened, resulting in poor fluidity and the milk foam floating on the surface. Before fusing, shaking the coffee cup and milk vat to increase the fluidity of the liquid inside will also increase the success rate of fusing.
②The height of the vat mouth during fusion. We all know that when making latte art, the vat mouth should be lowered and close to the coffee liquid level, so that white milk foam can appear. The reason is the same. If it is too low, a large amount of milk foam will float on the liquid surface, resulting in uneven fusion. If it is too high, the problems mentioned above will occur, and bubbles will appear on the liquid surface.
Generally, the distance between the cylinder mouth and the coffee liquid level is about 5 to 10 cm. Everyone's habits are different, so there are no completely fixed height and distance standards.
③ Fusion technique. The general fusion technique is to stir in one direction. Hold the coffee cup in your left hand and the raffia vat in your right hand. The two hands are staggered half a circle and perform relative circular movements. The stirring intensity of one high and one low can easily fully mix the coffee and milk. As for the size of the circle, Front Street recommends making the largest circle without hitting the wall. Be careful to slowly straighten the hand holding the coffee cup.
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
