What is the Latte Coffee to Milk Ratio? A Complete Guide to Making Latte Coffee Correctly

For a delicious latte, FrontStreet Coffee believes the most crucial elements are the quality of coffee beans and milk, the coffee-to-milk ratio, and the extraction and fusion techniques.

First Point: Selecting the Right Materials

Why is it that lattes, though seemingly simple and appearing on nearly every coffee shop's menu, taste different from one establishment to another? The primary reason lies in the different materials used, particularly the milk and coffee beans.

The flavor profile of coffee beans directly influences the taste direction of a latte. Most espresso blends will give iced lattes rich nutty, chocolate, and coffee-forward flavors. A few coffee beans highlight the sweet and rich flavors of milk in iced lattes. Meanwhile, the Sunflower Warm Sunshine Blend used at FrontStreet Coffee aims to express rich caramel chocolate and vanilla cream flavors. This shows how crucial the selection of espresso beans is to the taste of latte coffee.

However, the choice of milk is equally important. Just considering whole fresh milk alone, there are over ten common varieties on the market. Some of these milks have heavy flavor and thick texture, while others are light and water-like. The standard for selecting milk isn't blindly pursuing thickness or strong milk flavor, but rather choosing milk that pairs well with coffee. Heavy-flavored milk will mask the coffee flavors, while noticeably watery milk will make the latte taste watered down.

Second Point: Appropriate Coffee-to-Milk Ratio

If the coffee-to-milk ratio is incorrect, it won't achieve a delicious taste. Too much milk will result in no coffee flavor, while too little milk will emphasize bitterness. Therefore, making latte coffee requires mastering the right coffee-to-milk ratio.

FrontStreet Coffee believes that there's no fixed ratio for lattes—everything depends on the flavor expression of the espresso and how well it pairs with the milk. However, there's a general range: between 1:5 to 1:8.

FrontStreet Coffee currently uses the Sunflower Warm Sunshine Blend espresso beans, which is a combination of Yirgacheffe Red Cherry and Honduras Sherry beans. It has moderate bitterness with flavors leaning toward sherry wine aroma, chocolate, vanilla cream, and brown sugar. This coffee bean isn't as intensely bitter as traditional espresso beans. When paired with the right milk ratio, it reveals a smooth milk chocolate flavor. FrontStreet Coffee uses a 1:6 coffee-to-milk ratio with this coffee bean for making lattes: 40g of espresso liquid plus 240ml of steamed milk.

Third Point: Specific Operations

Properly extracted espresso and creating fine, dense milk foam are the foundation for making delicious latte coffee. For espresso extraction parameters, FrontStreet Coffee recommends extracting 40g of coffee liquid from 20g of coffee, with the time controlled between 25-30 seconds. For milk frothing, the thickness should increase from 5/10 full to 6/10 full, with the milk temperature recommended between 55-60 degrees Celsius.

Next comes fusion. Only when milk and espresso are fully integrated can the coffee's flavor be consistent. If the fusion isn't uniform, you might experience strong milk flavor in one sip and intense coffee flavor in the next.

Good fusion first requires the surface coffee oils and milk foam to blend evenly. This manifests as consistent color on the liquid surface—what we commonly call the "golden circle." Secondly, the coffee surface should be fine and smooth without large air bubbles.

Fusion Techniques

① First, ensure the "hardware" is up to standard! This means the quality of espresso and milk foam must be good—the espresso should have rich, thick crema, and the milk foam should be fine with good fluidity. Often, poor fusion results from milk foam being too thick, leading to poor fluidity and floating on the surface. Before fusion, gently swirling the coffee cup and milk pitcher can enhance the liquid's fluidity and increase the success rate of fusion.

② The height of the pitcher spout during fusion: We all know that when pouring latte art, we need to lower the spout close to the coffee surface to create white foam patterns. The same principle applies here—if the spout is too low, large amounts of foam will float on the surface, causing uneven fusion. If it's too high, you'll encounter the problem mentioned above, with bubbles appearing on the surface.

Generally, the distance between the pitcher spout and coffee surface should be around 5 to 10 centimeters. Everyone's habits differ, so there's no completely fixed standard for height and distance.

③ Fusion technique: Generally, the fusion method involves stirring in one direction. Hold the coffee cup with your left hand and the latte art pitcher with your right, with both hands offset by half a circle in a relative circular motion. The stirring force from different heights easily and thoroughly mixes the coffee and milk. As for how large the circle should be, FrontStreet Coffee suggests making the largest possible circle without touching the walls. Pay attention to gradually straighten the hand holding the coffee cup.

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 (FrontStreet Coffee), WeChat ID: qjcoffeex

Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473