How to Make Piccolo Coffee: Origin, Meaning, and Taste Differences Compared to Flat White

Introduction to Piccolo Latte: A Lesser-Known Espresso Delight

With the growing popularity of espresso coffee, the variety of specialty coffee drinks continues to expand. Among FrontStreet Coffee's espresso menu offerings, lattes and cappuccinos are particularly beloved by customers. However, today FrontStreet Coffee wants to introduce you to a rather uncommon espresso drink—the Piccolo Latte.

You may have rarely heard of this Piccolo Latte. In Italian, "piccolo" means small, while "latte" means milk (specifically in the context of lattes). Additionally, since "piccolo" also means "flute" in English, this espresso drink acquired the name Piccolo Latte. Traditionally, Piccolo Latte is made with 15-20ml of espresso combined with steamed milk. Nowadays, people typically serve it in a special 100ml glass. The Piccolo Latte primarily emphasizes the coffee's flavor profile and offers an exceptionally smooth mouthfeel.

How to Make a Simple Piccolo Latte

So how do you make a simple Piccolo Latte? FrontStreet Coffee will also briefly introduce the process. The Piccolo Latte is essentially a miniature version of a regular latte—smaller cup, smaller capacity, with less coffee and milk than typical espresso drinks. You need to extract 15-20 grams of ristretto espresso and pair it with four times the amount of milk.

Since FrontStreet Coffee doesn't offer Piccolo Lattes, we don't have dedicated 100ml glasses. For today's demonstration, we'll use a 150ml cup, extracting 30 grams of ristretto espresso paired with 120 grams of milk, maintaining a coffee-to-milk ratio of 1:4.

Coffee Selection and Brewing Parameters

FrontStreet Coffee uses its own house blend—the Sunflower · Warm Sun blend, created by combining Honduras Sherry coffee and Yirgacheffe Natural Red Cherry in a 7:3 ratio. This espresso blend produces rich cocoa aromas with subtle bright fruit acidity, along with berry notes and whiskey-like undertones, leaving a comfortable aftertaste. FrontStreet Coffee uses 18 grams of coffee grounds for espresso extraction, with a brewing time of 27 seconds to yield 30 grams of espresso liquid.

The parameters of Italian espresso machines are crucial for making espresso coffee. Everyone should adjust parameters according to their own home equipment. So how does the resulting Piccolo Latte taste? Because the Piccolo Latte has a coffee-to-milk ratio of 1:4, the espresso flavor is very pronounced, better highlighting the chocolate liqueur notes of the Warm Sun blend. It tastes richer than a regular latte but isn't as intense as straight espresso. The foam is as smooth as a latte—neither as thin as in a flat white nor as dense as in a cappuccino. The entire coffee drink has a milkshake-like texture, with distinct chocolate liqueur notes, rich flavor, moderate sweetness, and a balanced aftertaste.

Piccolo Latte vs. Flat White: Key Differences

Previously, some friends have asked about the differences between Flat White and Piccolo Latte. FrontStreet Coffee will briefly explain Flat White coffee. First, the Flat White is a coffee drink that emphasizes coffee flavor. Lattes are coffee beverages with added milk, while cappuccinos are milk coffees with thick foam. Flat Whites feature stronger coffee flavor with less milk and thinner foam. The preparation methods for Flat Whites also vary. In terms of espresso base selection, New Zealanders prefer using Double Ristretto for Flat Whites, while Australian baristas tend to use Single Espresso.

FrontStreet Coffee believes that Flat Whites feel more like coffee with milk; lattes are more like milk with coffee flavor; cappuccinos are like milk coffee with dense foam. Flat Whites better showcase the quality of coffee beans and are more suitable for expressing the regional flavor characteristics of the coffee itself, much like the currently popular SOE (Single Origin Espresso), which caters to the third wave coffee movement's emphasis on coffee origins and traceability.

The Importance of Coffee Bean Selection

FrontStreet Coffee believes that the most important aspect of making a Piccolo Latte is selecting good espresso as the base, because quality espresso is crucial for making any espresso-based coffee drink. Most espresso blends are created using several different coffee bean varieties, so FrontStreet Coffee believes choosing the right blend is extremely important.

The Art of Coffee Bean Blending

Blended beans can complement each other using different coffee beans. If coffee beans are well-blended, the resulting blend will combine the strengths of each coffee, producing a well-balanced flavor profile and exceptionally aromatic rich crema. However, poor blending can amplify the beans' characteristics, especially with light-roasted beans, which can have intense aromas and stimulating sweet-sour flavors. FrontStreet Coffee has found that many coffee shops like to use Yirgacheffe in their blends—the extracted floral notes are very prominent, and the flavor tends to be more acidic, making it perfect for enthusiasts who enjoy acidic flavor profiles.

Perhaps some customers don't understand why coffee beans are blended—doesn't this create chaos? Actually, not at all. In FrontStreet Coffee's view, every bean has its own strengths and weaknesses. Maybe one bean extracted through an espresso machine doesn't produce enough crema—then you can add a bean rich in crema to complement it. If one bean's extracted espresso is too acidic, too bitter, or too sweet, you can find complementary beans to blend together, achieving your desired coffee flavor—isn't that perfect? The perfect blend makes it easier to create a perfect Piccolo Latte. So, if you enjoy blends, feel free to visit FrontStreet Coffee to exchange coffee experiences.

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style).

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee's private WeChat account: kaixinguoguo0925

Important Notice :

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