How to Make Spanish Latte and Its Characteristics, Origin of Spanish Latte and Its Relationship with Vietnamese Drip Coffee

What is Condensed Milk?

"Boba milk" is a type of milk that uses a purification process to individually extract important substances like protein, fat, and lactose from milk! Its texture is richer and sweeter than regular milk. However, today's protagonist is not it, but a dairy product with a similar concept to boba milk—condensed milk, also known as the "concentrated version" of milk.

The production of condensed milk roughly involves removing water from fresh milk, reducing its volume to 25%-40% of the original, ultimately forming an extremely thick "milk concentrate." Moreover, since the lactose in milk is also concentrated, even a small spoonful can give you a very rich sweet sensation (but most condensed milk is very sweet because additional sugar is added). At this point, that's right! What we're sharing today is a coffee made primarily with condensed milk—Spanish Latte!

Popularity of Spanish Latte

%Arabica first sparked the Spanish latte trend in China. This milk coffee with condensed milk gained immense popularity upon its launch, quickly becoming the store's signature product.

Mysterious Origins

However, the origin of Spanish latte remains mysterious to this day, as you can hardly find "Spanish Latte" on café menus in Spain. Instead, you'll consistently find Café Bombón (candy coffee), a high-concentration coffee made only from condensed milk and espresso. In contrast, thousands of kilometers away in Saudi Arabia, you can find Spanish latte options on most café menus!

The reason Spanish latte became so popular in Arab countries is precisely because it better suits young people living in year-round high temperatures. Compared to bitter black coffee, they prefer sweeter milk coffee, and compared to regular sweetened lattes, the addition of condensed milk feels more natural and comfortable! Even as an iced coffee, its texture is impressive, with the richness from condensed milk deeply winning people's hearts. These factors are enough to explain why Spanish latte is favored by Arab people.

Some also say that Spanish latte evolved from Vietnamese drip coffee. This statement is not without merit. Firstly, besides the words "Spanish," Spanish latte has no other distinctive Spanish characteristics. Secondly, like other European countries, while Spain is a major coffee consumer, it doesn't grow coffee. One-third of Spain's total coffee imports come from Vietnam annually! This inevitably makes people wonder about their relationship.

The True Evolution: From Café Bombón to Spanish Latte

In reality, Spanish latte evolved from Café Bombón (candy coffee). So more accurately, it should be Spain's Café Bombón that evolved from Vietnamese drip coffee. Vietnam is a major coffee bean producer, but its main output is Robusta beans. This means that although the local coffee has rich oils, it tastes very bitter and requires sugar to balance it. Condensed milk became an excellent choice. Thus, the uniquely Vietnamese drip coffee was born!

Its preparation method involves pouring condensed milk into a cup, then placing a drip brewer with coffee grounds on top of the cup, pouring hot water, covering with a lid, and waiting for the coffee to finish dripping before stirring and drinking! Café Bombón differs slightly: Spain uses higher quality Arabica beans, extracted through pressurized extraction with an espresso machine (i.e., espresso), then combines coffee and condensed milk in a 1:1 ratio to create a well-layered Café Bombón!

When stirred before drinking, the texture is extremely rich and smooth! You can't taste the bitterness of coffee at all. Essentially, it's not very different from Vietnamese drip coffee, both using condensed milk to balance the bitterness of coffee, just with different coffee varieties and extraction methods. However, not everyone can accept the sweet richness of Café Bombón, so Spanish latte was developed, using milk as a buffer to make the condensed milk less overwhelmingly sweet. Meanwhile, due to the condensed milk, the entire latte gains an enhanced layering, creating a perfect complement to each other. Finally, let FrontStreet Coffee share a rather unique Spanish latte recipe!

An Alternative Spanish Latte Recipe

First, we need to make a regular Spanish latte! Prepare a 400ml glass and add 80g of ice cubes.

Then pour in 150ml of milk and extract an espresso shot. (FrontStreet Coffee uses 19g of coffee grounds to extract 38ml of espresso)

Add 25ml of condensed milk to the extracted espresso and stir well.

Pouring this well-mixed espresso into the glass gives you a regular Spanish latte, but! Today we're doing something slightly different—we need to add a tiny bit of a common seasoning—"salt," mix it into the espresso, then pour it all into the glass to finish!

Adding a small amount of salt elevates the entire latte and makes the flavor richer! Since everyone's taste preferences differ, FrontStreet Coffee suggests adding 0.1g of salt gradually until it suits your personal taste~ (Applying condensed milk to the inner wall of the glass before preparation will create a better visual effect!)

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FrontStreet Coffee

10 Bao'an Front Street, Yandun Road, Dongshankou, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province

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