Is adding milk to coffee good for your health?

It is said that the first person to mix coffee and milk together was Niehof, the Dutch governor of Batavia, Indonesia in 1660. He got inspiration from drinking British milk tea, so he tried to add milk to coffee. Unexpectedly, the coffee with milk tasted smoother and more delicious. In addition to the rich coffee aroma, there was also a light milk aroma, which was even better than milk tea. However, this way of drinking milk coffee did not spread in his hometown of the Netherlands, but became very popular in France, and became an indispensable drink on the French breakfast table.

Main types

Coffee mixed with milk has a strong flavor. The more famous ones are as follows:

1. Cappuccino: In the early 20th century, Italian Archigascia invented the steam pressure coffee machine and developed cappuccino coffee, which is a strong coffee with steam-foamed milk poured over it.

2. Latte: Latte is actually a variation of Italian coffee. The brewing steps are the same as cappuccino, except that the ratio of coffee, milk and milk foam is slightly adjusted.

3. French milk coffee: In French milk coffee, the ratio of coffee to milk is 1:1. Therefore, when brewing authentic French milk coffee, you should hold the milk pot and the coffee pot with both hands at the same time, and pour them into the coffee cup from both sides.

Preparation method

Cappuccino

Pour partially skimmed milk into a pot, then use a frother to froth and aerate the milk, and make the milk as even as whipped cream without burning it. The coffee cups for cappuccino should be warm, otherwise the milk foam will spread. You can put these cups on top of the coffee machine to keep them warm. Pour the milk and foam on top of the espresso, and a layer will naturally form, as if it is wrapping up the coffee below. Make sure to pour in about 50% of the brewed Italian coffee, and pour in the hot milk with froth to 80% of the cup. Finally, you can sprinkle a little diced cinnamon or chocolate powder according to your personal preference, and pour in the remaining milk, and then a delicious cappuccino is ready.

Latte

1. Soak the cup in hot water (warm cup), let the temperature rise, then pour out the excess water and use it.

2. Grind the dark roasted coffee beans, pour the coffee powder into the tamper, flatten the coffee powder with a pressing rod, then buckle the tamper to the extraction port of the espresso machine to extract ESPRESSO (the ratio of coffee//fresh milk is 1:1).

3. Take an appropriate amount of milk and place it under the steam nozzle of the espresso machine to steam it into hot milk.

4. Pour the steamed milk into the cup.

5. Shake the cup up and down to make the milk foam rise.

6. Finally, pour the ESPRESSO slowly into the cup.

French milk coffee

Since the ratio of coffee to milk is 1:1, when brewing authentic French milk coffee, you should hold the milk pot and the coffee pot with both hands and pour them into the coffee cup at the same time, which requires considerable wrist strength. Since France is located at a high latitude and has a cold climate, when drinking this kind of milk coffee, people generally choose to use a mug or a large bowl without handles, so that they can hold the cup with both hands to keep warm while drinking.

Coffee Brewing Steps

1. Pour the coffee into a French milk coffee pot. You can choose a darker and stronger coffee.

2. Pour the hot milk into another blender, with the ratio of coffee to milk being 1:1.

3. Pour in coffee and milk at the same time. Make sure the outflow from the two pots is consistent.

Tips: The fat in whole milk will mask the delicate flavor of coffee, so try to use semi-fat or low-fat milk. Pay attention to the temperature of the milk, because hot but not boiling milk can add a delicious smooth feeling to coffee.

Milk foam making

1. Pour the milk into the milk frother. The amount should not exceed 1/2 of the milk frother, otherwise the milk will overflow due to expansion when making milk froth.

2. Heat the milk to about 60 degrees, but not more than 70 degrees, otherwise the protein structure in the milk will be destroyed. Note: The lid and filter cannot be heated directly. (If you are making ice milk foam, cool the milk to below 5 degrees. Of course, don't over-freeze the milk.)

3. Put the lid and the filter on, and quickly pull the filter to press the air into the milk. You don't need to press it all the way down when pulling, because you want to pump the air into the milk, so just move on the surface of the milk. You don't need to pull it too many times, just gently pull it about thirty times.

4. Remove the lid and filter, and use a spoon to scrape off the coarse milk foam on the surface, leaving behind the dense hot (ice) milk foam.

Skill

Choosing different milk products can give coffee a different flavor and enjoy a variety of tastes.

1. Fresh cream: Also known as whipped cream. This is a high-concentration cream that has fat separated from fresh milk. It has a wide range of uses, such as making butter, ice cream, cakes, or brewing coffee. The fat content of fresh cream is as high as 45% to 50%, and as low as 25% to 35%. Brewing coffee usually uses fresh cream with a fat content of 25% to 35%.

2. Whipped cream: The fresh cream becomes foamed cream after being stirred and foamed. This kind of cream tastes best when paired with bitter strong coffee.

3. Condensed milk: Condensed milk is 1 to 2.5 times more concentrated to make unsweetened condensed milk. The canned condensed milk sold in general stores is sterilized by heating, but it is easy to spoil after opening the can and cannot be stored for a long time. When brewing coffee, the whipped cream will float on the coffee as a layer of fat, while the condensed milk will settle in the coffee.

4. Milk and creamer: Milk is suitable for blending espresso or as a variation of fancy coffee, while creamer is convenient to use and easy to store. But no matter which product is used, you can make a delicious cup of coffee according to your personal preferences.

If you add fresh cream to coffee and there is a feathery grease on the surface, it is because the high-fat fresh cream will separate the fat when added to the coffee with strong acidity or when using stale dairy products. Therefore, in addition to paying attention to the freshness of the dairy products, high-fat fresh cream should be mixed with coffee with a milder acidity.

Nutritional value of milk coffee

Drinking coffee in moderation (no more than two cups a day) is good for the heart and brain. Calcium-rich milk is a great drink for strong bones.

Precautions

Mixing milk and coffee together and drinking it for a long time will cause damage to the liver, because this mixture will produce an unstable and difficult to digest emulsion. The French are the most likely people in the world to drink coffee with milk, but the number of people suffering from hepatitis among them is not more than that of other countries. It turns out that there is a little trick: pour coffee into milk instead of milk into coffee, and it is best to use skim milk. This will prevent the milk from going bad in your stomach.

Conclusion: Although adding milk to coffee tastes very good, this way of drinking is very bad for the liver, so patients with liver disease should never drink it this way. Even normal people should drink less, as doing so in the long run will cause harm to the body.