Can You Add Milk to Pour-Over Coffee? What's the Flavor of Milk-Added Pour-Over Coffee? Is It Delicious?

For more quality coffee knowledge, please follow the WeChat public account: FrontStreet Coffee

"Boss!! A cup of pour-over coffee, with some milk!"

Imagine this scenario - what would you do if you encountered it?

Pour-over coffee with milk? Today's traditional milk coffee typically refers to espresso with milk added, because espresso-based drinks like lattes and cappuccinos have become deeply ingrained in people's minds. When we think of milk coffee, these are naturally the first that come to mind. However, whenever friends mention pour-over coffee with milk, such a novel proposal often confuses those around them: can diluted pour-over coffee still be enjoyable? Actually, this way of drinking coffee existed before espresso was invented.

Let's turn back time to the 17th century, when a coffee drink called "Café Au Lait" became popular throughout the streets of France, directly translated as "coffee with milk." In French daily life, coffee was an essential part of breakfast, but since drinking it straight could be quite intense, they added milk to balance the flavor, and it became popular.

This popular French milk coffee is translated as "Au Lait Coffee" in China, using the transliteration of "Au Lait" as its name. The coffee base of Au Lait Coffee is similar to pour-over coffee, using drip or immersion extraction methods. Both extraction methods use flannel filter cloth as the filtering tool. The drip method involves pouring coffee powder into flannel and repeatedly rinsing with hot water, while the immersion method first soaks the coffee powder and then uses flannel to filter out the grounds. After extracting the coffee liquid, it's poured into a cup with milk in a 1:1 ratio, and the Au Lait Coffee is complete.

Later, this "French milk coffee" drinking method was brought to Japan, where through a series of research and experiments by the Japanese, it evolved into a Japanese-style Au Lait Coffee. This involves using the slow extraction method of flannel pour-over to increase the coffee concentration, then using this high-concentration coffee as a base, mixing it with an equal proportion of milk to create a "Japanese version" of Au Lait Coffee.

In summary, we can see that adding milk to pour-over coffee actually has historical basis and isn't some strange behavior. But some friends might think: the point of drinking pour-over coffee is to enjoy the original flavor of the coffee, doesn't adding milk destroy this concept? Actually, it doesn't! FrontStreet Coffee would like to share this concept with everyone: the principle of pursuing coffee's original flavor lies in the coffee beans. What does this mean? The flavor concept depends on the coffee beans, not on pour-over coffee. Pour-over coffee is just one extraction method to showcase the flavor characteristics of coffee beans. French press, siphon pots can also extract "the original flavor of coffee," so this isn't exclusive to pour-over coffee. We need to distinguish between pour-over and coffee beans.

Furthermore, everyone has different preferences, and we can't - nor should we - require everyone to have the same taste. Therefore, what we should discuss isn't whether pour-over can have milk added, but rather how to make pour-over coffee with milk taste good. Ultimately, it comes down to the roast level. For medium-dark roasted coffees, they naturally have a rich "bitter" taste, and adding milk can reduce the bitterness and achieve balance, where coffee and milk don't mask each other. However, according to the current mainstream of pour-over coffee, which focuses on the acidic notes of light-medium roasts, they don't have the intense bitterness of medium-dark roasted coffees. When milk is added, the flavors can't balance, and they're easily overpowered by the milk, becoming diluted milk with a slight sour taste, naturally resulting in poor pairing.

So today, FrontStreet Coffee will try using this cup of "Au Lait Coffee" made with dark roast coffee to see what different experiences it brings us.

Experiment Preparation

Coffee beans: 15g Golden Mandheling
Grind size: FrontStreet Coffee uses EK43 at 10.5 setting, with 75% passing through a #20 sieve.
Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:9 (We need to brew stronger coffee, so we reduce the ratio)
Water temperature: 90°C
Filter: Flannel filter cloth
Brewing method: Japanese volcanic brew (less water, need to extend extraction time to increase extraction)

Milk: 80°C, 100ml

Experiment Begins

1. First, preheat the milk to 80°C and set aside.

2. Place the flannel filter cloth over a container and pour in the coffee grounds.

3. Pour 30ml of hot water for a 30-second bloom.

4. Pour small circles in the center, adding small amounts of water. When the water level drops, pour small circles again, repeating until the target water amount is reached.

5. Pour the extracted coffee into any container.

6. Pour an equal amount of milk into the cup. (1:1)

7. The Au Lait Coffee is complete!

Tasting Time

One sip reveals the toffee sweetness evolved from the milk's sweetness and Mandheling's chocolate aroma, emitting a gentle fragrance. The texture is richer than pour-over coffee due to the addition of milk, though the flavors aren't masked by the milk, just slightly subdued. For those accustomed to the concentration of pour-over and espresso coffee, it might taste weak, so it's more suitable for people who cannot drink strong coffee.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473