What's the Ideal Milk Temperature for Making a Latte? How to Froth Milk for Milk Coffee? What's the Perfect Coffee-to-Milk Ratio?

Did you know? Whether it's any coffee shop, employers typically require a practical assessment during barista interviews - making a hot latte!

This is because espresso extraction and milk frothing are both essential core skills for a barista, and making a hot latte恰好 happens to test both of these abilities. Therefore, the vast majority of coffee shops will use "making a hot latte" as the test question to judge the interviewee's proficiency through the hot latte they create. In this latte, "the fineness of the milk foam" and "milk temperature control" are the main scoring criteria, followed by latte art, integration, and taste. FrontStreet Coffee has previously shared about milk foam making, so this time FrontStreet Coffee will share a requirement that many people don't quite understand - milk temperature control!

Many people think that as long as the coffee base is good and the milk foam is well-made, then the milk just needs to be hot enough and won't have too much impact. However, this is恰恰相反! Besides espresso, milk temperature is another key factor that can determine whether a latte tastes good or not. Because milk at different temperatures will have different textures and sweetness levels, and as one of the main components of latte coffee, its changes will also affect the entire coffee experience. Therefore, milk temperature control is crucial for a hot milk coffee! So the question arises: what temperature of milk is most suitable for making hot lattes?

What temperature of milk is most suitable for making hot lattes?

Although when lattes were first created, there was no clear requirement for milk temperature, everyone in the community generally controls the milk temperature within the range of 55°C~68°C. Why? Let FrontStreet Coffee conduct an experimental comparison to tell you the answer~ First, let's see what the differences are when drinking milk at different temperatures~ FrontStreet Coffee heated three cups of milk, with temperatures of 40°C, 60°C, and 75°C respectively.

40°C milk tastes relatively smooth with moderate sweetness; 60°C milk also tastes smooth but has higher sweetness; while 75°C milk is not very smooth and has lower sweetness. However, these differences can only be noticed when compared side by side. If we drink them separately, it's difficult to detect the differences between them. So next, let's make them into lattes and try them out! The milk temperatures used for making lattes are also 40°C, 60°C, and 75°C, with the frothing standard being uniformly fine, dense, thin milk foam! As mentioned earlier, experienced baristas can control milk temperature freely, so today FrontStreet Coffee will briefly share how to accurately froth milk foam at 40°C, 60°C, and 75°C without relying on a thermometer!

The frothing method for all milk foam is identical, with the only difference being when they stop heating. When we froth until the milk pitcher becomes slightly warm and the palm touching the latte art pitcher feels a hint of warmth, it means the milk temperature has reached 40°C; When the temperature of the milk pitcher rises to a high temperature that the palm cannot bear - hot to touch! This indicates that the milk temperature has reached 60°C; If we continue frothing, after the milk temperature crosses the 70°C threshold, even if you don't make any frothing movements, the amount of milk foam will continuously increase! As the milk foam increases, the milk temperature will rise more rapidly. So about 3 seconds after the expansion begins, we can stop frothing, at which point the milk temperature will be around 75°C±2°C, very, very hot to touch! And the coffee liquid is also Sunflower Warm Blend~ Today's extraction parameters are 20.1g coffee grounds, 29 seconds, 38ml coffee liquid. Integration, latte art, all in one go! After completion, we can enter our tasting time~

Really, drinking milk alone isn't obvious enough, but when made into coffee, the difference is like night and day! For easier understanding, lattes made with milk at how many degrees will be referred to as how many degrees latte~ 40°C Latte: This latte drinks slightly warm, with moderate overall aroma and more noticeable sweetness. But it has a major drawback - the fineness of the milk foam is lacking, relatively coarse! Within just a few minutes, the milk foam has already collapsed and disintegrated. Because the integration time during the frothing process wasn't sufficient, the milk foam couldn't present the ideal fine texture.

60°C Latte:

This latte is quite good, with just the right temperature - warm but not scalding! Because this temperature range happens to activate the lactose in milk, significantly enhancing its sweetness, so the overall sweetness of this coffee is the highest among the three cups. At the same time, this temperature range allows for sufficient milk foam development, making it fine and dense. It drinks very smoothly with high integration.

75°C Latte:

If friends try this experiment comparison at home, please be careful when drinking this latte because its temperature is higher and the coffee liquid will scald your mouth! Besides this, the milk foam and the coffee underneath are in a layered state with very low integration when drinking. In terms of texture and taste, the coffee overall is quite thin with low sweetness. Even after the coffee temperature drops to around 60°C when left to stand, the taste is far inferior to a latte made directly at 60°C. The texture remains thin with poor sweetness. This is mainly because the lactose and protein in the milk have been decomposed and damaged by the higher temperature, creating irreversible negative effects. So even after the temperature drops, the texture and sweetness still cannot compare to the other two cups!

Therefore, we can understand why the milk temperature for making hot lattes should be controlled within the range of 55°C~68°C. This is because it not only activates the lactose in milk but also allows sufficient time for milk foam development, ultimately resulting in a more delicious coffee~

- END -

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473