Why is Dirty So Popular?

Simply pour chilled milk into a glass, then gently drizzle warm espresso on top, and a very popular milk coffee today—Dirty—is ready.

Although Dirty appeared much later than traditional Italian coffee, its popularity far exceeds most Italian coffees, making it a true rising star in the coffee world. Those who frequently explore coffee shops will notice that many cafés feature Dirty as their signature product. This leaves many wondering: why is Dirty so popular?

The Origin of Dirty

Why is Dirty so popular? FrontStreet Coffee often says that Dirty's rise is inseparable from a viral trend from years ago—the "dirty culture." At that time, many foods intentionally created a "dirty" appearance using chocolate products, such as dirty croissants, dirty donuts... To catch this trend, people from all walks of life began trying to associate foods or items with "dirty," and the coffee world was no exception. However, the "dirty coffee" popular back then differed from what we know today! As FrontStreet Coffee mentioned earlier, the popular "dirty culture" back then used other materials to make the food itself appear "dirty," so many coffee shops' "dirty coffee" was made with chocolate, cream, and other materials—creating a "dirty coffee" that looked "dirty" in appearance.

It wasn't until the Dirty we know today was introduced to the country that it gradually replaced the intentionally "dirty-looking" "dirty coffee." Its ability to replace "dirty coffee" and successfully establish itself in domestic specialty coffee shops is thanks to its unique preparation method, drinking method, and distinctive taste experience.

The Unique Characteristics of Dirty

As we all know, the ingredients for making Dirty are virtually identical to those for iced latte—both milk and espresso, with the only difference being that the latter has ice while the former doesn't. That's why Dirty is often jokingly called "iced latte without ice." However, friends who have read FrontStreet Coffee's article "The Difference Between Dirty and Iced Latte" should know that besides having the same ingredients, they are completely different in terms of preparation, drinking method, and experience. Since FrontStreet Coffee provided a detailed comparison in the blue-titled article, we won't elaborate further here, focusing instead on Dirty's characteristics.

Unlike other coffees, Dirty doesn't require the ingredients to be completely mixed; instead, it aims to keep them separate and layered. The specialness of Dirty lies in our ability to simultaneously taste the deliciousness of different ingredients—the warm, toasty aroma of espresso and the cold, refreshing sweetness of milk—characteristics that are exceptionally well-displayed due to the layering. Then, due to the significant differences in temperature and taste between the two ingredients, they not only showcase their individual characteristics when entering the mouth but also create a tremendous contrast.

From FrontStreet Coffee's brief introduction above, you can see that Dirty's characteristic lies in its rich and diverse taste experience. If we want to create and experience this sensation, we need to pay attention to how we pour the espresso during preparation, keeping the espresso and milk separate and layered, and drink in large gulps to consume both espresso and milk simultaneously.

The High Compatibility of Dirty

Thanks to the layering of milk and espresso, Dirty has a higher compatibility than other coffees! What does that mean? Here, FrontStreet Coffee gives an example—the use of ultra-filtered milk! Ultra-filtered milk is essentially richer milk! Because it has a higher concentration than regular milk, its flavor and sweetness are noticeably higher than regular fresh milk.

If we want to use ultra-filtered milk in traditional Italian milk coffees like latte or flat white, we need to consider issues like "the ratio between milk and coffee, how much milk can be added without overpowering the coffee's flavor," "whether the coffee bean's flavor pairs well with ultra-filtered milk, whether the resulting milk coffee will be too heavy," and so on. But if we're making Dirty, we can simply replace the milk with an equal amount. Because the milk and espresso aren't completely mixed in the glass, the increased milk concentration won't significantly impact the coffee's flavor. Not only that, but because ultra-filtered milk has a richer flavor, it can actually further enhance the contrast between espresso and milk in the mouth, making the comparison more distinct.

Besides milk, the same principle applies to coffee beans. Dirty can accommodate beans with more diverse roast levels without needing to consider compatibility or ratios too much—just find suitable extraction parameters, and the beans can be used directly. From this example, we can see that Dirty has extremely high compatibility, which is why baristas often "go wild" with Dirty, using different ingredients to create various unique styles of Dirty, such as the White Toast Dirty, Grape Oolong Dirty, and Pistachio Dirty that FrontStreet Coffee shared before—all excellent examples.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we now understand why Dirty remains so popular even today. Not only because of its unique taste experience, but also because its extremely high compatibility gives baristas more creative space, allowing Dirty to continuously innovate and appear in people's vision with brand new "versions."

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