Can Latte Be Brewed with Milk? What Is Milk-Extracted Coffee? What's the Difference Between Milk Extraction and Cold Brew?

What is Milk Extraction?

"Milk extraction" is a milk coffee preparation method frequently shared by FrontStreet Coffee. Simply put, it's based on the cold brew coffee preparation method, using milk instead of water to steep and extract coffee. The advantage of this method is that it allows us to easily make a sweet and rich milk coffee without a coffee machine.

Challenges with Traditional Milk Extraction

However, many friends have reported that this method is not only time-consuming but also results in milk coffee with significant fermentation notes, making the taste less appealing. They want to know if there's a way to shorten the preparation time and reduce the fermented taste in the coffee.

Of course there is! And it's very simple. The reason why the classic "milk extraction" method requires a long extraction time is that the extraction efficiency provided by milk temperature and grind size is too low, requiring prolonged steeping to allow flavor compounds to be relatively completely released, which also leads to fermented notes in the coffee. Conversely, if we want to make a rich and delicious milk coffee in a short time, we only need to increase the milk temperature and adjust the coffee grind to be finer. Although it sounds simple, because milk and water have different "properties," there are many details that need attention during preparation. Don't worry! Next, FrontStreet Coffee will share how to quickly brew a rich and delicious milk coffee with milk!

How to Quickly Brew Rich Milk Coffee with Milk

If you want to shorten the extraction time, the first parameter to enhance is the milk temperature. Because like water temperature, milk temperature determines the dissolution rate of coffee flavor compounds. The higher the milk temperature, the faster the flavor compounds dissolve. However, milk temperature is not better the higher it is. FrontStreet Coffee does not recommend heating milk above 70°C. Because once it exceeds 70°C, the texture and taste of milk will decline due to the destruction of internal substances by high temperature. Those who have actually tried it know that milk above 70°C is not as tasty as milk below 70°C. Even when cooled, the milk's texture won't recover! This is because it's caused by the destruction of internal substances, which is an irreversible "damage."

Therefore, when we decide to use milk to brew coffee, it's best to control the milk temperature between 60°C and 70°C. This allows coffee compounds to be extracted relatively quickly while avoiding excessive temperature damage to milk texture. Next is the coffee grind size, which naturally should be as fine as possible! When coffee grounds are finer, their total surface area is larger, allowing flavor compounds to be more easily dissolved by milk.

Here, we don't need to worry about coffee grounds clumping together and obstructing extraction after absorbing moisture due to too fine grinding (cold brew coffee requires attention to this, you can refer to FrontStreet Coffee's articles from the previous two days for details). Because the steeping time is very short (compared to cold brew steeping time), the coffee grounds don't have sufficient time to clump together. Also, coffee grounds are not completely stationary throughout the process, which is related to the characteristics of milk and immersion extraction! As everyone knows, the core mechanism of coffee extraction is concentration difference. When the solvent concentration is lower, its extraction efficiency is higher; when the solvent concentration is higher, its extraction efficiency is lower. Compared to water which contains almost nothing, milk contains various rich substances, which causes its extraction efficiency to be much lower than water.

Therefore, if we want to quickly extract flavor compounds from coffee using milk, besides increasing water temperature and adjusting grind to be finer, another thing we need to do is add stirring. By stirring, we accelerate the dissolution of flavor compounds, thereby achieving the goal of completing extraction in a short time. During the preparation process, there's one point that needs special attention: the use of filtering equipment. Since the preparation method is immersion, we ultimately need to use a filter to separate coffee grounds. However, because milk has a higher density, it passes through filter paper very slowly, which means those using filter paper will need to wait for a longer filtering time.

If we don't want to wait too long for filtering, and if conditions allow, FrontStreet Coffee recommends preparing a metal filter with larger gaps for filtration. This can avoid lengthy filtering times (it will clog, but will be faster than filter paper). However, it has a disadvantage: the filtration is not as clean as filter paper, and some fine grounds will pass through the filter into the coffee.

Although these fine grounds can enhance the coffee's flavor and richness, they also reduce the coffee's cleanliness and diminish the mouthfeel experience. So, how to choose between these trade-offs is up to you! Well, that's the general introduction. Next, FrontStreet Coffee will demonstrate how to quickly brew a rich and delicious milk coffee with milk!

Preparation Process

For this preparation, FrontStreet Coffee is using Queen's Estate coffee beans from Brazil. Its medium-dark roast possesses abundant roasted aromas, which can highlight the sweetness of milk without being masked by milk's flavor. Its flavor profile is very gentle: nuts, cream, chocolate, making it a bean well-suited for making rich milk coffee. Of course, other beans can also be used - your choice! Extraction parameters are as follows:

• Coffee dose: 25g
• Grind level: 7 on the EK43 scale (4 settings finer than regular hot brew grinding)
• Coffee-to-milk ratio: 1:13
• Milk temperature: 65°C-68°C
• Steeping time: 10 minutes

First, we grind the coffee beans and pour them into the prepared container.

Then we heat the milk, and when it reaches the specified temperature, we can pour the milk into the container.

Then use any tool to stir and start timing.

Since the steeping time is relatively long, we should prepare a lid to cover and prevent dust from entering, which also helps reduce aroma loss. Then at the 3rd and 5th minute marks, we stir the coffee again respectively.

When the time reaches ten minutes, we can begin to filter the coffee.

After filtering is complete, FrontStreet Coffee begins tasting! "Silky" and "rich" were the two feelings that immediately came to FrontStreet Coffee's mind after tasting.

It's truly no exaggeration, milk and coffee complement each other, making their respective qualities more prominent while reflecting one another. In terms of flavor profile, FrontStreet Coffee could clearly taste: nuts, chocolate. In terms of mouthfeel, just as FrontStreet Coffee mentioned earlier, it's silky and rich. The aftertaste is long and very pleasant. It should be noted that this preparation method doesn't actually allow for sufficient coffee extraction; it just extracts relatively more compounds, essentially still considered under-extracted. But because we use an increased coffee dose to stack the coffee's concentration, this avoids the situation where coffee flavor is masked by milk. Overall, it's very good, with a short preparation time and excellent flavor performance. Interested friends should definitely give it a try!

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473