How to Make Coffee Panna Cotta at Home? A Detailed Tutorial on Pudding Art Latte

Recently, many espresso enthusiasts, like FrontStreet Coffee, have been captivated by the "spoonable latte" trend sweeping the internet. Since the first pioneers emerged, it seems that coffee lovers everywhere, whether skilled in latte art or not, have joined the DIY movement, inspiring even more people to try it themselves. Today, FrontStreet Coffee will explore this trend to determine if it's truly worth recommending.

Currently, the so-called "spoonable latte" circulating online is essentially made using pudding preparation methods to transform milk coffee into a semi-solid state, allowing it to be served without spilling. It's worth noting that unlike the coffee jelly FrontStreet Coffee has shared before, with the help of setting agents, the latte can immediately be refrigerated after preparation, transforming into a delicate, smooth texture while preserving the latte art, allowing us to enjoy both visually and through taste.

FrontStreet Coffee reviewed various online tutorials and discovered that the ingredients needed for making latte pudding are actually quite simple—just add gelatin sheets (or gelatin powder) to a regular latte.

However, since the coffee is consumed cold, if you use dark-roasted espresso beans for extraction, the espresso will likely be intense and harsh, resulting in unpleasantly bitter pudding. Therefore, to balance the flavor, you can add appropriate syrup for seasoning and prioritize using medium-roasted coffee beans. Here, we're using espresso from FrontStreet Coffee's Strawberry Candy blend as the base.

Preparation Method

Step 1: Soak 8g of gelatin sheets in room temperature water until softened.

Step 2: Extract 38g of coffee liquid using 19.5g of FrontStreet Coffee's Strawberry Candy espresso powder over 30 seconds (parameters should be adjusted based on daily calibration), and pour into a cup for later use.

Step 3: Pour 200g of milk into a latte art pitcher, add 25g of original syrup, remove the gelatin sheets from water, add them to the milk, and steam to 55-60°C. Control the foam thickness to 0.3-0.5cm, with as fine a texture as possible.

Step 4: Evenly mix the milk and coffee liquid, create latte art, then immediately place in the refrigerator. After 4-5 hours, when the latte is completely set, it's ready to enjoy.

The finished latte pudding looks quite appealing from the outside. Despite slight foam dissipation, the upper layer still maintains the original pattern, and it can even be turned upside down without spilling.

In terms of flavor, it's equally impressive. You can taste the subtle fruit notes and white chocolate flavor from the Strawberry Candy espresso, with a slight bitterness from the coffee crema on top. The texture is icy, bouncy, and smooth. Thanks to the added syrup, it's not too bitter and has a hint of caramel sweetness.

Preparation Details

Many people have tried replicating this latte art pudding at home. In addition to successful attempts, FrontStreet Coffee has also noticed some "fails." Below, we'll analyze the reasons behind the three most common examples.

1. Latte Puddin Doesn't Set

First, the reason the latte successfully sets into pudding is mainly due to the food setting agent. FrontStreet Coffee's first failure experience was caused by using too little gelatin, resulting in the latte remaining watery even after cooling. For small lattes (150-200g), we recommend using 5g of gelatin sheets, while for larger lattes (250-300g), 8-10g will achieve better setting results.

Additionally, insufficient refrigeration time can also prevent the latte from setting properly inside. Generally, it's recommended to refrigerate for at least 4 hours immediately after preparation. Alternatively, you can place it in the freezer for 1 hour, then let it sit at room temperature for 10 minutes before enjoying, allowing the pudding to temper slightly.

2. Too Bitter in Taste

As FrontStreet Coffee mentioned above, this situation is typically caused by using espresso beans that are too darkly roasted. To prevent the latte art pudding from having a burnt bitter taste, besides switching to lighter roasted beans, you can also improve the flavor by adding condensed milk or flavored syrup.

When FrontStreet Coffee used the Warm Sun espresso blend with a small cup (200ml) directly without adding sugar, the bitterness of the coffee was overwhelming. Therefore, before steaming the milk, we recommend adding 30g of condensed milk or 30g of flavored syrup for blending. This way, the resulting pudding won't be bitter nor overly sweet.

3. Pudding Sets, But Latte Art Disappears

To ensure the pudding maintains lasting patterns, we need to ensure the stability of the milk foam, which depends on the quality of both the milk foam and espresso crema, as well as how well they integrate. For specific details, you can refer to FrontStreet Coffee's previous article "These Details Will Make Your Latte Foam More Stable and Slower to Dissipate!"

Beyond these details, steaming milk to too high a temperature can also cause latte art to dissipate. The latte transitions from liquid to semi-solid during a cooling process. When the milk temperature is too high, it means the cooling time will be extended, causing the surface pattern to dissipate faster and more noticeably than usual.

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