What is Breve Coffee? What is the Ratio of Espresso to Milk in a Latte? What is the Difference Between Breve and Half-and-Half Latte?

Latte is a coffee that everyone is likely quite familiar with. It's made by adding a large amount of milk to espresso. Because the presence of milk balances out the bitterness, latte has a higher acceptance rate compared to other traditional coffees: rich and aromatic, sweet without bitterness, making it suitable for all ages and attracting many fans.

Great! Since everyone already knows about latte, FrontStreet Coffee has a question: do you know what a half-latte is?

Many people might guess when they see the name "half-latte": does it refer to a small-sized latte? Or perhaps a latte with reduced espresso? Actually, neither! A half-latte is an alias for a coffee that became popular in the United States, originally called "Breve."

What is Breve?

As FrontStreet Coffee mentioned above, Breve is a very popular Italian-style coffee in the United States. The name "Breve" is a direct translation from "Breve," which means "short" in Italian. Speaking of short, you might immediately think of another obscure coffee—Piccolo. Unfortunately, it has no connection to Piccolo. Because the cup size of Breve is the same as latte. (Left is latte, right is Breve)

The similarities between Breve and latte are not just in cup size— even their preparation methods and ingredients are almost identical! It still uses double espresso, combined with 200+ml of dairy products. However, Breve's dairy doesn't consist solely of milk. Milk only accounts for half of it, while the other half is cream!

Then, because Breve is very similar to latte in every aspect, with only the milk content reduced by half, it has been nicknamed "half-latte" or "latte breve" by people.

The Role of Cream in Coffee

The main component of cream is fat, and the presence of fat enhances the mouthfeel, making it richer. Therefore, when half of the milk in a latte is replaced with cream, its richness naturally becomes more prominent and smoother. Did you know that mixing cream into milk was actually popular a couple of years ago? Why? Because of Dirty Coffee. When Dirty Coffee was trending a couple of years ago, people would replace the milk base with UHT condensed milk to enhance the milk's texture.

However, UHT condensed milk is quite expensive since it takes several bottles of milk to make one bottle of UHT condensed milk. So to save costs, some people started looking for alternatives. Then clever people thought of adding cream to milk to increase the richness of the milk. If you've tried this method to make Dirty Coffee, congratulations, you might have already had Breve coffee without even realizing it (when the coffee and milk are not layered but mixed together)!

How to Make Breve

How should Breve be made? As FrontStreet Coffee said, the only difference between Breve and latte is the addition of cream to the ingredients. All other steps are identical to latte. Therefore, if you can make a latte, making Breve is very simple! Although it's simple, the process still needs to be followed, so FrontStreet Coffee will share how Breve coffee should be made. The ingredients needed are simple: espresso, cream, milk. Remember to chill the milk and cream before making, and espresso can be replaced with strong coffee made from a Moka pot, but try to make it stronger! Once everything is prepared, you can start making the coffee!

First, we need to mix milk and cream in equal proportions. FrontStreet Coffee's hot latte ratio is 1:4, with 1 part espresso to 4 parts milk. Espresso uses about 40ml, so we need about 200ml of milk! To make Breve coffee, we need to halve the milk and replace the reduced milk volume with cream. That is, 100ml milk and 100ml cream (adjustable according to personal preference). After mixing well, set aside. When the espresso starts extracting, we'll start frothing! That's right, frothing the cream together.

Then extract the espresso, still using the Warm Sun Blend beans. Today's espresso parameters are 20g, 30 seconds, extracting 40ml. It's a very standard golden ratio!

When the espresso is about halfway extracted, we can start frothing the milk and cream! Just follow the standard for latte milk frothing!

After frothing is complete, we just need to combine, create latte art, and it's done! Because of the cream, the milk foam starts to dissipate quickly after preparation, with bubbles gradually appearing on the surface. This means we need to drink it quickly to ensure the best experience!

Taste and Final Thoughts

Compared to latte, Breve's texture is indeed richer due to the presence of cream. Not only that, but the coffee flavor is also more prominent because cream doesn't contain sugar, and FrontStreet Coffee didn't add sugar either. Without too much sweetness to balance the bitterness, the coffee flavor naturally stands out, and it tastes somewhat rich due to the cream. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee chose to add sugar. Then, did something that might get me beaten up by baristas, which is!!! STIRRING!!!

As expected, after adding 3g of white sugar, the bitterness of the coffee was reduced, making it easier to drink. However! Because there was still too much cream, it still tasted quite rich. Therefore, when making it at home, everyone should pay attention to the amount of cream, controlling it to 20-30ml~

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473