How to Make a Rich Latte with Drip-Style Coffee Bags? Can Boiling Milk Extract Coffee?

Brewing Drip Coffee with Milk: Is It Possible?

A reader recently shared that they bought several drip coffee bags during a promotion and wanted to try different brewing methods. They discovered a rather unconventional approach – brewing with milk – but since they had never tried it before, they were worried about potential failure and asked FrontStreet Coffee if this method was feasible. FrontStreet Coffee is always happy to help coffee enthusiasts with such questions, so without further ado, let's get brewing!

Using Milk for Drip Coffee: Is It Feasible?

Actually, this isn't the first time milk has appeared as the main extraction medium in FrontStreet Coffee's experiments. We published an article last year titled "Can You Brew Pour-Over Coffee with Milk?" which mentioned that due to the excessive components in milk, its extraction ability cannot compete with regular hot water. Additionally, when heated to scalding temperatures, milk loses significant amounts of protein and lactose, resulting in poorer texture. Therefore, directly applying conventional parameters and techniques to brew drip coffee with milk obviously won't work.

To address the insufficient extraction capability of milk, FrontStreet Coffee plans to first use hot water for blooming – allowing coffee particles to absorb water to help release flavor compounds better in the later stages – then heat the milk to 75°C and inject it in two stages.

To avoid the resulting milk coffee tasting overly acidic or having a weak texture, FrontStreet Coffee still recommends prioritizing medium and dark roast categories, such as FrontStreet Coffee's Bird of Paradise, Queen's Manor, Golden Mandheling, and FrontStreet Coffee's Huilan coffees. These varieties have distinct caramelized aromas that coordinate better with hot milk.

However, if you're more sensitive to bitterness, we recommend fermented fruit-acid type drip coffees like FrontStreet Coffee's Sidra, Ombligon, Strawberry Candy, and Sunflower Warm Blend. These coffees combine candied fruit notes, fruitiness, fermented wine characteristics, and certain caramelized flavors, making them suitable for drinking with milk.

How to Brew Drip Coffee with Milk?

First, prepare a tall glass and a fresh bag of FrontStreet Coffee's Strawberry Candy drip coffee. After opening, hang it on the rim of the glass (for your reference, FrontStreet Coffee will include timing and weighing during this brewing process).

For the first stage, pour 90-93°C hot water into the drip bag until it's half full (boil water, turn off heat, leave the lid open, and let it sit at room temperature for 1 minute), using approximately 25g of water. Try to maintain a small water flow, and if using a gooseneck kettle, you can add some circular movements.

Wait for the coffee liquid to finish dripping, then begin the second stage. Pour 75°C hot milk (hot enough that you can't touch it with your bare hands) into the coffee grounds until the filter bag is 9/10 full. When the coffee liquid is about to run dry, continue pouring until 9/10 full again. The total amount of water and milk should be 150g.

Visually, the entire cup of coffee takes on a rich milk tea color. In terms of flavor alone, FrontStreet Coffee believes both richness and aroma pass muster. Direct tasting reveals notes of strawberry jam, raisins, and cream. Whether consumed directly or with ice, it offers a pleasant texture.

However, because fine coffee particles expand rapidly upon contact with milk, they can block the filter bag's pores. During the second extraction stage, you can observe a significantly reduced flow rate, with a total drip time of 11 minutes.

Additionally, including preparation time for various ingredients, it took FrontStreet Coffee's Ombligon drip coffee bag a full 20 minutes to produce a barely satisfactory milk coffee. Moreover, cleaning the milk-heating tools afterward makes this method somewhat contrary to the original purpose of drip coffee – convenience. Therefore, for those who want to quickly make milk coffee with drip bags, FrontStreet Coffee doesn't recommend this direct pouring method.

Drip Coffee + Milk: What Other Methods Work?

Since drip coffee has been developed in China for many years, people have explored many innovative ways to combine it with milk in their daily lives. FrontStreet Coffee happens to have two such methods. The first involves using hot water to extract a strong black coffee first, then adding appropriate amounts of fresh milk according to ratio. For specific operations, you can refer to our article "How to Make Latte Coffee with Drip Bags?" – FrontStreet Coffee won't repeat too much here.

The second method is not only more suitable for those who love iced milk coffee but also extremely simple. As long as you have drip coffee bags, a bottle of milk (fresh milk tastes better), and a refrigerator, you can easily achieve "latte freedom" after a good night's sleep.

The operation is very simple: take out the drip bag without opening it, directly remove the paper shell from the packaging, and throw the "naked" bag into the milk. After tightening the bottle cap, shake vigorously up and down to allow the milk to soak the coffee grounds inside. Since this is cold extraction, FrontStreet Coffee believes the coffee-to-milk ratio doesn't need to be too precise – as long as it falls approximately between 1:12-1:15. For example, FrontStreet Coffee's 10-gram drip bag would be combined with 150ml of fresh milk.

Next, we place the milk with the drip bag inside the refrigerator to steep overnight. The next morning (after about 8-12 hours), you can take it out, shake it vigorously a few more times, remove the drip bag, and your milk coffee is ready.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473