How to Make the Best Cafe Latte

A latte is a combination of steamed milk and pressure-brewed coffee. There is no single correct way to make a latte. Rather, there are an infinite variety of ways to vary coffee, milk, and other additives to suit your own taste. With practice, you can easily make better lattes at home than what you get from the average chain café. Of course, once you get used to good lattes, it will be more difficult to enjoy one from a cafe, and you will find yourself giving directions to baristas.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• You can buy a semi-professional, pump-driven, high pressure espresso machine for around $500-$1,300, or a steam-pressure machine for $50 or less. Most start cheap and trade up.
• Purchase a stainless steel latte milk pitcher about 22 ounces capacity. Find or build something to sit under the pitcher that will hold it so that the top of the pitcher is level with the top of the
• If you have a pump machine, you will need a tamper to pack the grounds, and you may need shot glasses to hold the espresso
• Buy a digital thermometer, with a standard 4-3/4 inch stainless steel wand.
• I use a rounded metal teaspoon as a filling spoon for the coffee.
• Since most coffee cups measure 12 ounces, obtain two 16-ounce coffee cups.

1. Get Coffee. The best way to pick coffee is to smell the aroma of the beans in a bin. Look for something medium to dark in roast. Seattles Best Henry's Blend is a good bean to start with. The cheapest way to get the best result is to buy small quantities of freshly roasted beans, and grind them at the store. For the ultimate taste, buy your own burr grinder and grind just before brewing. Grinders are $80 and up. A popular grinder is the Rocky, going for $380. The quality of the grind determines much of the taste of the espresso, but for a latte you can get away with an $80 burr grinder. The grind should be one grade above powder, kind of like salt. Feel it, don't trust the setting on the grinder. If the beans are truly freshly roasted, the ground coffee should require double-bagging in plastic to keep the aroma from invading your entire kitchen. If you want to order espresso beans online, I have included some links below.

2. Get Milk. Much of the taste of a latte is from milk, so the milk is actually more important than the espresso for the total taste. Experiment with different types. More expensive is not necessarily better. Many "organic" milks are ultra-pasteurized, which seems to remove much of the flavor. Purists use whole milk, but any kind of milk, including skim or soy can be used. I get great results with my grocery store brand 2% milk. LET THE TASTE OF THE LATTE RULE. ALWAYS cold-taste a new carton of milk, because even a fresh container can taste nasty, and of course nasty milk creates a nasty latte.

3. Prepare the Liquids. With a steam machine you can make two cups at once, but with a pump machine you will have to make two double shots, which means running two cycles. Find a friend to drink the second cup. The milk should start near 32 degrees, so pour milk in the latte pitcher and stick the pitcher in the freezer. If you want Italian style, where more coffee taste comes through, pour about 12 oz., so we end up with about a 3-1 milk/coffee ratio. For American, start with 14-20 oz. More milk means less foam. Add water to your latté maker per the users manual. I use reverse osmosis water. Some like tap or mineral water for the taste, but this means a regular de-scaling treatment for your machine.

4. Pre-heat Your Containers. If you are using heavy cups, much of the milks heat will be lost to the cup. To avoid this, I fill the cups with hot water and put them in the microwave for 2-3 minutes. Your espresso container can be pre-heated by filling with hot water for 20 seconds or so.

5. Put Coffee in the Filter. Read the instructions for your machine. Our goal is to come up with 4 ounces of good espresso on a steam machine, or 2 ounces on a pump. My steam machine makes 8 ounces, or enough for 4 cups of latte, so I use enough coffee in the filter for 8 ounces in order to get 4 good ounces. You can tamp with your filling spoon. Be sure that you get all of your espresso from water flow, and none from foamy, bubbly, water/steam mix. A steam machine may take up to 4 minutes of flow to get your 4 ounces. This length of time is bad for the taste, which is why people buy pump machines. In a pump machine, the resistance created by the fineness of the grind and the tamping of 20-40 lbs pressure meets the force of water pressured to 15 atm or higher. Adjust grind and tamp until you get your espresso shots in 20-25 seconds. Too light a tamp, and you get a weak, thin result with no crema. Too heavy, and you take too long to get your shots. Too fine a grind, and you clog your filter or get bitter taste in your shots. One indicator of a good shot is crema, the lighter foam that forms on top of the shot. In many of todays consumer pump machines, a pressurized portafilter is included to give you "automatic crema", so tamp, grind, and freshness of the bean "don't matter". If you end up with one of these unfortunate devices, you must retrofit your portafilter so that the portafilter is no longer pressurized. Otherwise, you are not getting a chance to achieve the flavor that you are seeking when you shell out your money for a pump machine.

6. Make The Espresso. Time it or watch the fill level. The best taste is in the early flow, and it gets worse as time goes on. With my cheap machine, ounces 7&8 will have a nasty, ashy taste. Ounces 1&2 taste better than what I can buy at a café chain. In any case, once the brew is complete, remove the shot glasses or container so that no further liquid drips into your espresso. Have another container handy to catch the drippage.

7. Steam the Milk. Here is where the “art” comes into play, and you get better with practice. If your machine has a “foam aid” on the end of the steam tube, remove it. You want a narrow steam tube. Place an extra cup under the tube, and run it until the steam becomes clear, which takes 3-10 seconds. Now get your milk from the freezer, stick the tube in it, and turn on the steam. Lower the pitcher until the steam tube tip is just beneath the surface of the milk. You will know when you’ve gone too far when the steam breaks the surface and a bunch of large bubbles are created. Coast around the surface of the milk, trying to suck down any larger bubbles. You are making foam here, so the longer you do it, the more you get. Be sure to leave an inch or so of space at the top of the pitcher. Your goal is micro foam, which creates a result like hair styling mousse. You want to avoid breaking the surface, which creates the big “lake shore foam” bubbles. Once you have enough foam, sink the tube deep in the milk touching the side of the pitcher, and tilt the pitcher until you see a good swirl coming up from the other side. Put the thermometer in the milk. Heat to around 140 F for a styrofoam cup, or around 150 F for a ceramic. Never go over 160 F, or risk destroying the taste of the milk. (Oh, you've had a latte with "burnt" milk before? Now you understand!)

8. Swirl the Milk. Take your heated milk pitcher over the sink in case you spill, and move your hand in a small circular motion to swirl the milk in the pitcher. Do this for 30 seconds. You will notice the surface changes from dull to shiny. A different result can be obtained by stirring the milk until consistant.

9. Pour the Latte. Remove any heating water from the cups. Purists pour both milk and espresso at the same time, but I pour the espresso first, splitting it evenly between the two cups, and then the milk on top. Some people add other things, like sugar, or flavoring. When pouring the milk, there is a head of foam that comes off first, so you can pour that to the person that likes foam best. There is also foam that comes off at the bottom, which can be used to make white designs on the top of the latte, known as “latte art”.

10. Enjoy the Latté. Once you have found your perfect coffee, milk, and optional additives, you will be in latte heaven. Unlike what you get at a café, you will find that your latte will come out tasting the same, wonderful way every time.

11. Clean Up. Use paper towel to wipe the thermometer. Fill your cleaned pitcher with hot water, sink the milk steaming tube in it, and sit it on the stand. Let it soak for awhile to soften the steamed-on milk, then remove and wipe the tube with paper towel. Follow instructions to release pressure on the machine. Be sure to clean anything that contacts the coffee well, including the machines pressure head where the filter attaches. Any remaining coffee residue can affect the taste of your next latté.

Tips & Warnings

• An ultrasonic cleaner works well to loosen coffee that has become stuck in the tiny holes of your filter basket.
• Be sure to warm up everything in a pump machine before you use it.
• Fully automatic machines are expensive, and most will not give a consistently good shot.
• The espresso machine produces steam and hot water under pressure, which can cause severe burns. Keep machine away from children, and follow manufacturers instructions carefully. Also, sip hot latte carefully to avoid burning your tongue.

Resources

• Making Espresso - Sweet Maria's
• Coffee Review - All About Coffee
• Coffee Geek - Everything for the geek
• Redline Espresso Beans
• Counter Culture Beans
• Black Cat Beans

[simplybeef]

on 10/30/2008 Easy to follow instuctions, thanks for the caution about burning your tongue!!

[simplybeef]

on 10/30/2008 Just reading this makes me want one now!!!