Is Water Buffalo Milk Suitable for Latte Art? Does Water Buffalo Milk Dirty Coffee Contain Caffeine and Is It Delicious?

What is Water Buffalo Milk?

Whenever water buffalo milk is mentioned, we Cantonese immediately think of the various desserts in sweet shops: double-skin milk, ginger milk curd, fried milk, almond stir-fried milk, snow fungus stewed milk, phoenix milk paste... Wait, wait! If we continue, tears will really flow from the corners of our mouths.

As a specialty of the Guangdong-Guangxi region, water buffalo milk has frequently been used in making new-style beverages in recent years. In our coffee circle, it has created many new flavors when combined with espresso, such as water buffalo milk latte and water buffalo milk Dirty. Taking advantage of geographical proximity, FrontStreet Coffee today tries using water buffalo milk with espresso to see how it tastes and whether it's better than regular fresh milk.

What Exactly is Water Buffalo Milk?

The milk we often drink mostly comes from black-and-white Holstein cows, while water buffalo milk, as the name suggests, refers to the milk produced by water buffaloes.

Compared to regular milk, water buffalo milk has higher protein, fat, sugar, and calcium content, which means it has a lower water content. Additionally, water buffalo milk contains more minerals and vitamins than regular fresh milk, so it tastes silkier, sweeter, with a more fragrant aftertaste, and without the typical milky smell. However, it also has higher calories accordingly.

Putting aside nutritional content, when FrontStreet Coffee conducted a blind taste test comparing the two, water buffalo milk showed a more obvious milky aroma, especially when heated to 45-50℃, where the sweet notes were indeed superior to regular fresh milk, but its richness was slightly weaker.

How Many Types of Water Buffalo Milk Are There?

Looking at water buffalo milk products on the market, we can divide them into two main categories: fresh water buffalo milk that requires refrigeration and ultra-high temperature sterilized milk that can be stored at room temperature. The substance composition in milk changes with sterilization temperature, so there are also certain differences in taste.

FrontStreet Coffee used Baifulu's refrigerated fresh water buffalo milk, a local Foshan brand, for this test, purchasing three different types: glass bottle, carton, and bag packaging, all with net contents around 200ml, which is just the right amount for one latte. Since pasteurization was used for sterilization (using lower temperatures, generally 60-82℃), it better preserves the original taste of the milk. However, due to the shorter sterilization time, its shelf life in refrigerated environments is shorter than room temperature milk, about 5-7 days.

Testing Water Buffalo Milk Coffee

To explore the potential of water buffalo milk coffee, FrontStreet Coffee will use these milks to make three mainstream beverages: Flat White, Iced Latte, and Dirty. The coffee beans remain FrontStreet Coffee's regular choice: Sunflower · Warm Sunshine Blend. As for extraction parameters, dosage, and ratios, they remain consistent with daily store production.

Water Buffalo Milk Flat White

First, pour a box of 180ml refrigerated water buffalo milk into a milk pitcher as备用, then extract a double Ristretto (28g) using 20g of coffee powder, taking 23 seconds, and pour it into a medium ceramic cup (today's espresso extraction parameters are: 20g coffee powder, 31 seconds, 38g coffee liquid).

Next, foam the prepared water buffalo milk to the warm range of 50-55℃, controlling the foam thickness to a moderate range of about 0.3cm. Finally, evenly combine the two and create latte art, and a water buffalo milk Flat White is ready.

FrontStreet Coffee could smell a refreshing rich milky aroma wafting from the milk pitcher during the heating process, but also felt that the foam made from water buffalo milk was not as delicate as that from regular fresh milk. Through the reflection, one could see slight roughness on the surface. When combined with espresso, the pattern pushed out was not as stable as when FrontStreet Coffee usually does latte art with Bright Dairy · Fresh Pasture milk.

In terms of taste, the Flat White made with fresh water buffalo milk has a light milky candy sweet fragrance, paired with coffee oils showing vanilla, white chocolate, and cookie flavors, but the aftertaste is not strong, and the richness is also relatively low.

Water Buffalo Milk Iced Latte

Compared to hot milk coffee, making an iced latte is much simpler - no need to foam milk or worry about latte art. First, we prepare a nice glass, then drop 3 ice cubes (90g) into it, take a bottle of glass-bottled water buffalo milk from the refrigerator and pour 180ml into the glass, and finally extract two shots of espresso (38g) drizzled on top. Water buffalo milk iced latte done!

When FrontStreet Coffee tasted it after stirring, the coffee aroma in this water buffalo milk iced latte was surprisingly thin. Against the ice cubes, the richness of the milk wasn't felt either. Compared to regular iced latte, it's like a glass of iced milk with a slight coffee flavor.

Water Buffalo Milk Dirty

Besides the stimulating hot and cold alternating texture, the reason everyone likes to drink Dirty is more to enjoy the collision between bitter coffee and sweet milk. Therefore, as a base, water buffalo milk with its inherent sweet flavor comes under the barista's consideration.

First prepare a 200ml ice cup, pour in 150ml fresh water buffalo milk, then directly drizzle double espresso onto the milk surface. During extraction, you can use a split portafilter to shorten the distance between coffee liquid and milk as much as possible, which can more completely preserve the oils and form a stable layered effect.

By comparing the three coffees, FrontStreet Coffee thinks the water buffalo milk Dirty has the best taste because without the influence of ice cubes, the coffee entry shows vanilla, cocoa, and fermented wine flavors, accompanied by the sweetness from the iced milk below, plus roasted nut aftertaste, making the entire layered experience richer.

Conclusion

Overall, the several milk coffees made in this round all tasted somewhat flat, neither highlighting the coffee aroma nor the sweetness of water buffalo milk, nor achieving a 1+1>2 effect. FrontStreet Coffee guesses that this might be because this coffee bean isn't roasted very dark, thus failing to highlight the characteristics after combining the two.

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