Barista Fundamentals: Crafting Perfect Lattes, Expert Techniques for Delicious Coffee

Is your latte not tasting good even after brewing a perfect espresso? What could be the reason? When a latte tastes bitter, we can't blame espresso extraction alone. Let me share some commonly overlooked factors that affect your latte's taste.

Many people directly blame "improper espresso extraction" when their latte tastes bitter. While in many cases, improper espresso extraction is indeed the culprit, the milk ratio, frothing temperature, and blending uniformity also affect the flavor of your latte. Additionally, everyone has different sensitivity to bitterness, so we can't blame the espresso entirely!

Understanding Bitterness in Lattes

When your latte tastes bitter, we need to determine whether it's positive or negative bitterness.

Everyone has different sensitivity to bitterness, but one thing is certain - people are very sensitive to bitter flavors. Although bitterness is detected at the back of the tongue, since most bitter-tasting things are unpleasant, we naturally develop an aversion to any bitter taste as soon as we detect it. However, bitterness can be either positive or negative. Positive bitterness creates a sweet aftertaste, while negative bitterness leaves a lingering unpleasant sensation on the tongue and throat.

Latte coffee is composed of espresso and fresh milk. The rich, caramelized aroma of espresso combined with steamed milk - when milk is properly heated, its lactose releases sweetness that significantly reduces the coffee's bitterness. Although latte is one of the least bitter coffee beverages, it doesn't mean it's completely free of bitterness. For those accustomed to drinking black coffee, slight bitterness is no issue, and they might even detect sweetness. However, for people particularly sensitive to bitterness, experiencing a bittersweet taste in latte is normal. But if a latte shows obvious bitterness or burnt bitterness, that's abnormal! At this point, we need to check whether our brewing process needs adjustment.

Common Causes of Bitter Lattes

1. Unsuitable Espresso Extraction Parameters

The daily recommendation for espresso extraction ratio is 1:2 (coffee grounds to liquid), with extraction time of 25-30 seconds. Under these conditions, you might extract a qualified espresso, but this doesn't guarantee it will taste good when added to milk. Therefore, the espresso base for latte needs slight ratio adjustments based on actual circumstances.

2. Unsuitable Milk Frothing Temperature

The ideal milk frothing temperature is between 55-65°C, never exceeding 70°C. Within these temperature ranges, lactose and other sugars are at their most "active." When milk temperature is below 40°C or above 70°C, the sweetness of sugars is less pronounced, which accentuates the coffee's bitterness.

3. Uneven Coffee and Milk Blending

I'm sure you've tried lattes that are alternately bitter and mild - full of "layered texture." In many cases, people don't emphasize blending enough, thinking that just circling a few times to create latte art is sufficient! The purpose of blending is to evenly mix milk and coffee, not just randomly circle and pour. Circular blending requires technique! The general blending method is to stir clockwise, holding the coffee cup with your left hand and the pitcher with your right, starting to circle from the 3 o'clock to 6 o'clock direction. When circling, you can choose to rotate either the pitcher or the cup, but remember not to rotate both simultaneously! When pouring milk for blending, maintain a height of about 5-8cm.

4. Unsuitable Milk and Coffee Ratio

The amount of milk added determines the strength of your latte's flavor. When the espresso is properly extracted, the frothing temperature is suitable, and blending is uniform, but your latte still tastes obviously bitter, then you've added too little milk. FrontStreet Coffee's latte coffee-to-milk ratio is 1:6, meaning 35g of coffee liquid is poured into 210g of milk (because the volume of milk foam and coffee crema is greater than their weight, the final latte product volume is approximately 300ml).

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473