What is Latte Coffee? A Guide to Italian Latte Preparation and Coffee Bean Selection

"I'm either in a coffee shop or on my way to one." For Italians who love coffee, latte is an all-too-familiar beverage. On a beautiful morning, enjoying a cup of latte brings an incredibly pleasant and comfortable feeling. So what exactly is a latte? And how is it made? Let's learn and savor it together with FrontStreet Coffee!

What is a Latte?

"Latte" is the transliteration of the Italian word "Latte," belonging to the category of specialty coffees. It's also a classic combination of Italian espresso and milk. In rich, mellow espresso, add milk in a specified proportion, and you have latte coffee. With the gentle integration and flavor enhancement of milk, the originally bitter and heavy coffee becomes smooth and sweet. Even those not accustomed to drinking coffee find it hard to resist the deliciousness of latte.

Initially, latte coffee originated in Vienna, the city of music. Viennese people began drinking coffee as early as the 17th century. At that time, the Turkish army failed in their attack on Vienna and left behind hundreds of bags of coffee beans in their hasty retreat. These coffee beans became the raw material for Vienna's first coffee house (Blue Bottle). To cater to European tastes, the coffee shop owners filtered the coffee grounds and added a certain amount of milk, which not only made the bitter black coffee smooth and sweet but created a flavor that Viennese people found utterly captivating. Thus, the combination of milk and coffee began to sweep across the globe.

What Coffee Beans and Milk to Choose for Making Latte?

As FrontStreet Coffee mentioned above, the ingredients for latte coffee are very simple, requiring only Italian espresso and milk. There's no fixed ratio—everyone can adjust up or down according to their taste, but the choice of ingredients is crucial as it directly determines the quality of the latte coffee produced.

In terms of extraction experience, FrontStreet Coffee recommends prioritizing Italian blend beans with higher stability. Blend products typically combine flavor profiles from different regions and use medium to dark roasting, making it easier to extract rich crema (coffee beans with high crema are more suitable for milk-based coffee). This way, our espresso has a thick, rich taste and a higher error tolerance. Moreover, most Italian blend beans are mainly supplied to cafes for production use, making them relatively less expensive than single-origin beans of similar flavor types, focusing on an economical and high-value route. For beginners without much coffee-making experience, using Italian blend beans is clearly more advantageous for making a delicious latte.

For example, the beans used at FrontStreet Coffee's stores are Frontsteet Sunflower Warmth Blend Coffee Beans, blended from Frontsteet Ethiopia Natural Red Cherry and Frontsteet Honduras Sherry Barrel. The roasting curve makes them mainly suitable for Italian extraction, and when made into iced latte, they simultaneously offer flavors of wine aroma, vanilla, cream, and chocolate. Some friends have reported to FrontStreet Coffee that their extracted espresso has rough foam, which is caused by coffee beans being too fresh. Such espresso often has average flavor when tasted. From FrontStreet Coffee's experience, if the Italian coffee beans you receive are too close to the roasting date, it's best to let them rest in a cool place for 7-10 days and consume them within 45 days for the best flavor.

How to Make an Authentic and Delicious Latte?

The coffee machine used at FrontStreet Coffee's stores comes with a double-shot portafilter, with a coffee amount of about 18-20 grams. When FrontStreet Coffee makes lattes, they use 20 grams of coffee powder, adopting a 1:2 coffee-to-liquid extraction ratio—that is, 20 grams of coffee powder to extract 40 grams of coffee liquid. The time is related to the flow rate of the coffee powder, and generally, a single extraction is controlled within 20-35 seconds, because coffee extracted within 20 seconds tends to taste thin, while extraction over 35 seconds is prone to over-extraction resulting in burnt bitterness. FrontStreet Coffee's espresso mostly falls within the 28-30 second range.

Before extraction, FrontStreet Coffee prepares these items in advance: ceramic coffee cups, milk pitcher, and fresh milk. First, wipe the portafilter dry and align it with the grinder's powder outlet, turn on the switch, grind the amount for a double shot of coffee, place it on an electronic scale for adjustment, and reach 20 grams. Then use a distributor to level the coffee powder, press the tamper vertically downward with force, compact the coffee puck firmly to ensure more stable coffee extraction.

Then turn on the coffee machine's extraction switch and release water for 1-2 seconds to wet the brew head while removing any stuck coffee grounds. Place an electronic scale under the cup that will receive the espresso and reset the weight to 0, placing it under the brew head during extraction. Gently lock the portafilter onto the brew head and start the extraction switch. Observe the changes in the extraction liquid. When the electronic scale shows 40 grams of coffee liquid extracted, in about 30 seconds, pull down the extraction switch and pour the Espresso into the pre-prepared ceramic coffee cup.

Frothing milk mainly relies on the coffee machine's steam wand. Pour an appropriate amount of milk into the milk pitcher. For example, FrontStreet Coffee's latte serving cup is 300 milliliters, so you can pour 240 milliliters of milk, because the milk expands after frothing due to gas infusion. Before starting to froth milk, slightly open the steam switch and briefly release steam to drain excess water from the steam wand, then immerse the steam wand's steam tip into the milk surface and turn on the switch.

Milk frothing is divided into two stages. The first stage requires the steam hole to contact the milk surface—this stage is for creating foam, producing a sharp paper-tearing sound, and this stage determines the thickness of the foam. The second stage is texturing, where after creating enough foam, lift the milk pitcher to submerge the steam hole into the milk, allowing the milk to rotate and froth under the steam's action—this stage determines the quality of the foam. Latte coffee foam should be moderately thick, about 1 centimeter, and the frothed milk surface should be glossy, bubble-free, and have some fluidity.

Finally, combine the frothed milk with the extracted espresso for latte art. Before latte art, first integrate the milk—keep the milk pitcher spout slightly higher from the cup for impact, gently blend the milk with coffee until seven-tenths full. Then lower the latte art pitcher, bringing the spout close to the coffee surface, reducing impact while the foam rises due to buoyancy, causing white foam to appear on the surface. At this point, you can create pattern movements by swinging your arm—because the foam is moderate and has some fluidity, it will form a continuously swinging line. Finally, lift up and push forward to finish, creating a basic heart-shaped latte art pattern.

So, How Do You Make Iced Latte?

Compared to hot latte, iced latte production is relatively simple. The method is the same as making iced Americano, except replacing the water in Americano with milk. Therefore, the steps for making iced latte are: pre-cool the cup with ice cubes, pour in 100 grams of ice cubes, 180 grams of milk, and finally pour in the espresso. Of course, don't forget to stir well when drinking.

Most online tutorials for making iced latte don't give an absolute ratio but rather a general range: coffee:milk = 1:4 to 1:8. This is because everyone uses different coffee beans, different extraction parameters, and possibly different milk. Even with consistent ratios, the taste of iced latte will still vary. As a reference, when using dark-roasted Italian beans with mainly dark chocolate and nut notes, we can add a larger proportion of milk to maintain a balanced taste, like FrontStreet Coffee's daily production using 1:6. When the coffee beans are lighter-roasted with floral and fruity acidic notes, the espresso itself isn't as strong, and too much milk would only mask the coffee aroma. In this case, you can appropriately reduce the milk proportion, such as falling in the 1:4 to 1:5 range.

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style)

For more specialty coffee beans, add FrontStreet Coffee's private WeChat account: qjcoffeex

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473