How to "successfully pair" milk and coffee beans to make a latte that is 1+1>2?

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Milk, coffee’s good brother, is a character with a very strong personality. If you are not careful, coffee and milk will fight in your latte.

For coffee, milk mainly affects it in two aspects: one is that the alkalinity in milk affects the pH balance of the beverage; the other is that after being whipped, the increase in the temperature of the milk will release the lactose in the milk, thereby enhancing the sweetness of the coffee and giving the coffee some outstanding flavor and taste.

In other words, after being whipped and reconstructed, the milk will stimulate the aroma of the coffee, making the flavor of the coffee beans easier to capture. The lactose in the milk can also bring a series of different levels of sweetness to balance the roughness of the coffee.

#Then, how should we choose milk?

Milk can be classified into fresh milk, long-life milk, reconstituted milk, and modified milk. The production process of long-life milk, reconstituted milk, and fresh milk is actually similar, except that they are packaged in an aseptic manner so that the milk can be stored for a longer period of time. A small amount of milk that is sterilized at low temperatures for a short period of time can preserve more nutrients such as whey protein, lactoferrin, and vitamins such as B12.

But when it comes to coffee, when choosing milk, we mainly look at the effects of milk’s fat, protein, carbohydrates and trace elements on the taste of coffee.

We all know that protein and milk fat can give us a mellow and smooth taste. Every time we heat and whip milk, the protein and milk fat in the milk will be diluted by the water vapor and the content will be reduced. On the premise of ensuring the taste, we usually choose milk with high protein and milk fat content .

However, as for the amount of milk foam, experiments have shown that the whey protein content and free fatty acid content in milk are the most decisive factors.

#Choose beans based on the milk used in the store?

There are many different Italian blended coffee beans available for us to choose from on the market. We can make more bold attempts, so it is more interesting to choose the right matching beans according to the milk used in the store. Here, Joyce gives you a few small reference suggestions:

For those who are currently using milk with low substance content :

If the store uses milk with low protein and fat content, you can prefer espresso beans with high acid content, such as lightly roasted espresso beans, SOE, etc.

Lightly roasted coffee beans are more suitable for making sweet and unique-flavored milk coffee. Conversely, if the coffee shop prefers lighter milk coffee, it can choose lighter roasted coffee beans, or choose Italian blend coffee beans with a larger proportion of African beans in the blend.

There are two reasons for this: first, such coffee beans usually have distinct flavor and aroma. Pairing them with milk that is low in protein and fat to make milk coffee can prevent the taste of the coffee from being masked by the high milk fat content . Instead, it can bring out the sweetness and complement each other. Second, the acidic substances in coffee beans are incompatible with protein. When they are combined to make milk coffee, the milk foam may sometimes burst . In order to avoid this embarrassing situation, it is more suitable to pair them with milk with a low protein content.

For those who are currently using milk with high content of substances :

If the store uses milk with high protein and fat content, you can choose Italian coffee beans with rich bitterness. Dark roasted coffee beans with low acidity, high body and strong bitterness have been roasted for a long time. The browning reaction during roasting will cause chlorogenic acid to produce more bitter substances. Sugars will enhance the body and aroma of coffee after a longer Mena reaction.

It is also because of this that dark roasted coffee beans have a rich aroma and taste. After being blended with milk with a high protein content, it can neutralize the bitterness in the coffee and enhance the overall mellow and rich taste. Milk with a higher carbohydrate content will also have a sweeter taste after whipping, which can bring better performance to dark roasted coffee beans.

#Postscript

After choosing the coffee beans, there is another key point to note if you only make latte: there is no perfect and versatile espresso base . Whether it is the blending plan or the extraction parameters, the espresso base used to make milk coffee will be somewhat different from the espresso for drinking alone.

If you feel that the experience of this cup of coffee is amazing when you simply taste the espresso, then its taste will easily be masked by the milk when making milk coffee; if this cup of milk coffee is very delicious, then when you taste the espresso base used to make the milk coffee, you will feel a very sharp taste.

Many roasters want to try to design a bean that can build a bridge across the valley of death between the imbalance of milk and coffee, but this not only tests the roaster's skills, but is also a challenge for baristas.

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Original: JOYCE

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