The Perfect Latte Ratio! How to Add Milk to Pour-Over Coffee? Does Pour-Over Coffee Taste Good with Milk?

Sweetness, richness, and body are the three key characteristics that make latte coffee widely popular. The reason a cup of milk coffee can achieve such texture mainly comes from the extremely high concentration of espresso. To achieve this high concentration without being diluted by milk, we need to use very extreme extraction methods, which is why espresso machines incorporate pressure assistance.

However, a high-performance espresso machine is quite expensive, and not everyone will equip their home with a coffee machine just for a cup of latte, nor is it necessary. Therefore, we can see online that people have invented many budget-friendly alternatives to make delicious milk coffee, aiming to satisfy their cravings whenever they want to drink milk coffee! For example, the milk extraction method that FrontStreet Coffee often shares is one of these solutions.

As FrontStreet Coffee mentioned, there are many other solutions besides this one. We can choose different methods to make milk coffee according to different situations. So next, FrontStreet Coffee wants to share another very simple method with relatively wide applicability for making fragrant milk coffee~

How to Make Rich and Full-Bodied Milk Coffee Without a Coffee Machine?

The reason milk coffee in the espresso system can achieve rich flavor and non-thin texture mainly comes from the extremely high concentration of espresso. If we want to create milk coffee with similar texture through other methods, we first need to obtain a high-concentration coffee. High-concentration coffee refers to having more dissolved coffee solids per unit volume of water. Therefore, to make a cup of high-concentration coffee, we need to use very little water to extract more flavor compounds.

However, without the addition of pressure, sparse water amounts make it difficult for coffee to achieve complete extraction. For this reason, we need to use relatively extreme parameters to increase extraction efficiency: ultra-fine grinding, ultra-high water temperature, and ultra-long extraction time are what FrontStreet Coffee calls extreme parameters. But these alone are far from sufficient to extract enough substances from the coffee, because the water amount is simply too little! We need to find other ways to replace pressure and dissolve large amounts of flavor compounds from the coffee. And "stirring" is the most suitable candidate. Through stirring, we can quickly press out the flavor compounds from the coffee, allowing small amounts of hot water to extract large amounts of flavor compounds, and then combine with other extreme parameters to obtain a relatively high-concentration espresso. Finally, by adding milk in appropriate proportions, we can make a cup of rich and full-bodied milk coffee!

Talk is cheap, so now FrontStreet Coffee will share the specific operations! But it should be noted that milk coffee made using this method can only approach the texture of latte coffee, not equal to it. The mouthfeel and taste won't be as excellent as a latte because the extraction rate isn't high! However, it has its own unique charm~

Production Sharing

Because FrontStreet Coffee wanted to drink a cup of milk coffee with floral and fruity notes this time, the coffee bean used in this sharing is FrontStreet Coffee's Hope Estate Geisha from the bean list. It comes from Colombia and has flavor characteristics of rose, grape, and black tea. In terms of parameters, FrontStreet Coffee chose the same coffee-to-water ratio as for espresso extraction--1:4, which converts to a coffee-to-liquid ratio of 1:2; water temperature is 100°C, using the water immediately after boiling; grinding degree is 0 on the Ek43's finest setting, which is close to espresso grinding with flour-like particle size. Then you need to prepare any additional tool for stirring~ This method has wide applicability, so whether your tool is a Clever Dripper, pour-over cone, or Aeropress, you can use this method for making coffee. For this demonstration, FrontStreet Coffee chose a pour-over cone. First, as always, is the standard preparation: fold the filter paper, rinse the filter paper, then pour the coffee grounds into the pour-over cone, and you can start making the coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee used 20g of coffee grounds this time, so the required hot water is 80ml! We divide the target water amount into two pours. First, pour 20ml of hot water to wet the coffee grounds and release gases, then immediately take out the stirring tool for stirring!

Stir for about 10 seconds, then stop. Next, pour in all the remaining hot water, then take out the stirring tool again for stirring. Stop stirring after about 30 seconds, then just wait for all the coffee liquid to drip through, and you can proceed with making the coffee. (Small pour-over cones are not recommended for learning this, as cleanup can be messy)

Everyone can see from the picture below that the coffee concentration is very high, with very dark liquid color. However, FrontStreet Coffee still needs to emphasize that its concentration still doesn't match that of espresso.

Next, we need to add milk! Since this Geisha that FrontStreet Coffee used is medium-light roasted and processed by conventional honey method, its flavor won't be as prominent as dark roasted or anaerobically processed coffee, so we need to appropriately reduce the amount of milk used to prevent the milk flavor from masking the coffee flavor. After several experiments by FrontStreet Coffee, the final optimal golden ratio of 1:2.5 was determined. In conversion terms, 40ml of coffee needs to be mixed with 100ml of milk. (If using anaerobic or dark roasted coffee beans, the ratio can be larger)

The milk coffee made through this method is overall fragrant, rich, and smooth. You can not only taste the coffee flavors but also enjoy a silky and full-bodied texture that's neither weak nor thin at all - very excellent~ Although it doesn't match espresso-based milk coffee overall, compared to other methods, its performance is already outstanding~

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473