The Correct Way to Make Iced Latte - What's the Ratio of Iced Latte Coffee to Milk and Ice?

Making espresso coffee is an essential skill for every barista, and nearly every coffee shop offers espresso-based beverages. What we commonly call espresso coffee refers to a series of coffee drinks made with espresso as the base. Today, let's create the easiest milk-based espresso coffee—the iced latte.

The Simplicity and Complexity of Iced Latte

While making iced latte coffee seems straightforward—just add ice, pour milk, then add coffee—achieving a delicious iced latte requires considerable understanding and attention to detail.

First Point: Selecting Suitable Ingredients

Why is iced latte so simple that virtually every coffee shop's menu includes it, yet each shop's iced latte tastes different? The primary reason is that the materials used—milk and coffee beans—vary from place to place. The flavor profile of coffee beans directly influences the taste direction of iced latte coffee. Most espresso blend coffee beans will make iced latte exhibit rich nutty, chocolate, and heavy coffee flavors, while a few coffee beans highlight the sweet, fragrant, and rich flavors of milk in iced latte.

The choice of milk is equally important. Just considering whole fresh milk alone, there are over 10 common varieties on the market. Some of these milks have heavy milk flavor and thick texture, while others are light and watery. The standard for selecting milk isn't blindly pursuing thick, distinctly milky flavors, but rather choosing milk that pairs well with coffee. Heavy milk flavors will mask the coffee notes, while noticeably watery milk will make the latte taste diluted.

Second Point: Appropriate Milk-to-Coffee Ratio

Can you make delicious iced latte coffee with good coffee beans and good milk? This premise requires a reasonable ratio. FrontStreet Coffee's iced latte uses Sunflower · Warm Sun blend coffee beans with Kowloon Dairy fresh milk, with an espresso-to-milk ratio of 1:6—that is, 40 grams of espresso extract, corresponding to 240 grams of iced milk and 75 grams of ice cubes, finally served in a transparent glass cup of approximately 300ml capacity.

This ratio serves as a reference for everyone, not the golden ratio for latte coffee. FrontStreet Coffee arrived at these parameters through multiple ratio adjustments using the aforementioned materials, primarily based on actual tasting feedback. Therefore, when making iced latte coffee, you can also adjust the ratio appropriately—more milk will mask the coffee flavor, less milk will make it bitter, and more ice will dilute it.

Third Point: Operational Details

Although the operational method for iced latte coffee—add ice, pour milk, then add coffee—is simple and clear, there are still some small details to pay attention to. The most important of these is espresso extraction. Whether a latte coffee tastes good depends on whether the espresso extraction meets standards. Common espresso extraction issues like channeling effects and incorrect extraction times will naturally affect the taste of iced latte.

The process of making iced latte should also be quick. Here, "quick" means that the time ice and milk spend in the glass should be as short as possible, and freshly extracted espresso should be poured into the glass immediately. This is why freshly made iced latte coffee presents a gradient layer formed by milk and coffee. If ice soaks in milk for too long, the ice cubes will melt, and a water layer will appear on top, making the entire coffee taste diluted when consumed. Espresso is even more sensitive—freshly extracted espresso has very rich crema, but after 30 seconds, the crema significantly decreases. Espresso without crema also has difficulty floating on the surface.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473