Why Isn't My Homemade Latte as Delicious as the One at the Café? How to Make an Authentic Italian Latte?

"Boss! Why don't my homemade lattes taste as good as the ones in your shop? Do you have some secret recipe you're not telling us about?" This is a conversation that many customers might have after trying the lattes sold at FrontStreet Coffee's storefront~

To be honest, latte coffee doesn't have too many key points - you just need to pay attention to a tiny bit of detail🤏🏻, and it can double the deliciousness! So today, FrontStreet Coffee will share how to make delicious lattes at home that taste just like the ones from the shop!

Material Details

1. Coffee Bean Selection

Coffee beans are the primary controller of latte flavor. The roast and flavor profile of a bean determines what kind of latte you'll get. Generally, FrontStreet Coffee recommends using beans roasted medium or darker for making lattes, because latte coffee uses quite a lot of milk, and beans roasted below medium won't have flavors as prominent and distinct as medium-dark or dark roast beans, making it difficult to compete with large amounts of milk and easily being overpowered by the milk flavor. Therefore, for coffees with more milk like lattes, medium-dark and dark roast beans are more suitable.

Like FrontStreet Coffee's latte flavor, which is praised by many customers, a big reason is the use of the medium-dark roasted Warm Sun Blend. Lattes made with it have flavors of butter cookies, vanilla, chocolate, and a slight whiskey aroma.

2. Milk Selection

Once you've chosen your beans, the second important ingredient is milk! There are many types of milk on the market, but there might be only one that perfectly pairs with your chosen beans!

For example, "Milk A" has a relatively rich and prominent milk flavor. When paired with a dark roast bean, it creates a very aromatic and rich latte, where milk and coffee flavors complement each other without masking one another. But if Milk A is used with a medium-dark roast bean, it will overpower the coffee flavor, dominating completely and causing flavor imbalance, making it taste like coffee-flavored milk.

Let me give another example! "Milk B" is a milk with a lighter milk flavor but higher sweetness. When paired with a medium-dark roast bean, it creates a latte with a clean taste and extremely high sweetness. But if it's used with dark roast beans, its milk flavor not only fails to balance with the coffee but is instead suppressed, turning it into a bitter "watery" latte (because the thin flavor makes it taste very watery). So milk selection is really important! You can check out this article "Common Milk for Lattes on the Market" to see what's available nearby, then buy some to try at home~ You can skip the experimental comparisons in the article, since these were only made using FrontStreet Coffee's Warm Sun Blend and won't apply to different beans.

Operational Details

Many friends think it's because their home machines are cheaper (referring to coffee machines) that their espresso isn't good, leading to lattes that don't taste great. But actually, this is something you don't need to worry too much about.

As we mentioned earlier, coffee flavor is mainly controlled by the beans. There are indeed certain differences between coffee machines at different price points, but these mainly concentrate on specific features (like pre-infusion, powerful steam, adjustable water temperature, pressure, etc.), or designs for continuous, fast, and stable production! As long as we operate and adjust properly (extraction without abnormalities: no insufficient pressure, channeling, etc.), even home machines costing a few thousand yuan can produce espresso bases similar to those from shop machines costing tens of thousands. You can refer to the extraction formula commonly used in mainstream coffee shops: 1:2 coffee-to-liquid ratio, with extraction time controlled between 25-35 seconds to achieve the target liquid volume.

Milk Frothing

Although you're making lattes for yourself, for some friends, the texture requirements are still quite high! Fine, delicate milk foam can better integrate with coffee, resulting in an exceptionally textured latte! So, you can check out the article "Fine Milk Frothing Tutorial" to learn how to create fine milk foam!

The reason FrontStreet Coffee doesn't elaborate on this here is that homemade lattes mainly focus on flavor. Besides friends pursuing perfection, many don't necessarily need milk foam to enhance the texture (or they drink iced lattes). So as long as you use any heat source to heat the milk to 65±2°C, pour it into the espresso, stir well, and you can start drinking! Simple and convenient, isn't that delightful~

So, what's the ratio of espresso to milk? FrontStreet Coffee's standard ratio is 1:5, meaning 40ml espresso to 200ml milk. But for lattes you make for yourself, you don't need to follow any online recommendations! Because everyone's taste is different, and although lattes emphasize balance between milk and coffee, if that balance doesn't suit you, why pursue the standard? You can freely adjust to find the ratio that you prefer.

Just like when FrontStreet Coffee's colleagues make lattes for themselves, those who prefer lower coffee concentration use a 1:6 ratio; those who prefer higher coffee concentration use a 1:4 ratio to make their lattes. The general principle is: more milk reduces the coffee flavor, less milk makes the coffee flavor more prominent (bitter). So, as long as you understand the above points, you can experiment and create delicious lattes at home that suit your own taste~

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FrontStreet Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee)

No. 10, Bao'an Qianjie, Yandun Road, Dongshankou, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473