What is the standard ratio for Italian latte? Why is homemade milk coffee so bitter and bland?

I don't know if you remember when you drank the latte for the first time, maybe many people don't remember it for a long time, but the memory of Qianjie is especially new. The first sight of the exquisite flower pull brightens people's eyes. Sipping a sip is the slight sweetness and bitter rhyme emitted by the oil, and when you drink the second sip, the previous bitterness turns into mellow and delicate, with the sweetness of hot milk, showing the right balance in the mouth. After drinking, there is still a hint of cream chocolate aftertaste.

As the famous western saying goes, there are a thousand hamlets in the eyes of a thousand people, and so is coffee. For a good latte, perhaps everyone has his own standard answer, some friends like its quantity and fullness, others like its mellow and balance, and others are fascinated by the exquisite flowers.

On the contrary, people's answer to a bad latte is more or less the same: either the coffee is too bitter to drink, or the taste is too light (water) to have no appetite, or both, that is, bitter and light. What's going on?

The recipe for latte

Qianjie stores are equipped with their own sunflower sunflower mix, which is baked in medium and deep depth, and the latte is made with the flavor of vanilla, cream chocolate and caramel cookies.

Based on this, we first use the common formula of Italian concentration: the ratio of powder to liquid 1g coffee powder 1g coffee powder to get about 2g coffee liquid, the time is between 25 seconds and 35 seconds, and then put it in the actual extraction. For example, Qianjie uses a double powder bowl to hold 20g coffee powder to extract 40g, and the time is controlled at 27,33s, and there is no difference in the whole process of extraction (channel effect, spatter, unstable flow rate).

If it is a hot latte, Qianjie will pour 220ml milk into the milk tank according to the ratio of 1 0.3~0.5cm 5.5 and whisk it to 55'65 ℃, with the degree of 0.3~0.5cm foam, and finally mix it with concentrate in a ceramic cup and pull on a correct pattern.

As an iced latte, we will use 3 ice cubes as the base, the ratio of coffee to milk at 1:5, first pour 200g of fresh milk, and then sprinkle with 40g coffee liquid to retain a beautiful layering effect.

According to previous street experience, as long as coffee beans and milk are properly matched, and the extraction of espresso is steadily controlled and the proportion of milk is grasped, making a good latte is actually very simple. In other words, if a good latte doesn't taste right, then the problem must lie in the previous points. Let's crack it one by one.

First of all, what is the reason why the latte is too bitter?

As we all know, without sugar, the latte is the least bitter of all fancy coffee, because it is mixed with a lot of milk, the coffee taste is often not prominent, and when we do drink obvious bitterness, it shows that the problem is likely to be Italian concentration, either the coffee beans are roasted too deeply, or the extraction parameters are not found correctly.

With regard to the former, unless you buy very deep-roasted coffee beans that are so black and oily, in order to retain more of the flavor of the coffee beans, in fact, most of the common Italian recipes on the market are roasted in medium to deep depth, and at most they are just out of the oven. Italian concentrates made by such products tend to have rich oils, slight acidity, and medium bitterness of coffee. After neutralizing with milk, it forms a compatible taste and does not highlight either side.

Generally speaking, the "culprit" that makes a latte bitter is usually concentrated extraction, the most common of which are slow flow rate (extraction time more than 35 seconds according to the above formula), channel effect, and over-extraction caused by liquid column spatter.

A customer once reported that the latte he usually made was delicious, but suddenly one day the taste became very bitter and not fragrant. During the taste period, the extraction parameters and proportion of coffee beans were the same as usual, but they just didn't know what went wrong. The last inquiry learned that the original pressed powder has been perforated, indicating that there is a channel effect during extraction, which may be caused by caking of coffee powder, which leads to the bitterness of coffee extraction. At this time, the corresponding solution is to adjust the degree of grinding, or to use external force to break up the caked coffee powder.

The latte tastes too watery and or is too light. What should I do?

From the barista's point of view, the concentration of a latte depends on two aspects: milk and concentration. For lattes, milk with the largest proportion is naturally the key link. If you want coffee to be full-bodied and mellow, we recommend that full-fat fresh milk be preferred, because full-fat milk contains higher milk fat than normal-temperature milk or skimmed milk. The foam layer is thicker, more stable, and provides a fuller taste for coffee.

In fact, in addition to the quality of milk, insufficient concentrated extraction can also make lattes watered or lightened, which usually occurs on SOE. Qianjie once used the underbaked Huakui 8.0 to make a SOE latte. Although the proportion of milk has been reduced, the taste is still very light, just like a cup of hot milk with citrus and caramel flavor, obviously because the baking degree is too shallow and the extraction is insufficient.

So when we use single coffee beans with main fruit flavor to make a large amount of latte, it is best to choose the corresponding SOE version, so that it is not easy to "roll over".

Why is the latte so bitter and light?

This situation is usually contrary to the previous SOE, often because the roasting degree of coffee beans is too deep, the overall concentrated taste is thick and charred, the latter part of the substance is often bitter, wood, miscellaneous flavor, if the ratio of higher extraction rate is used, then the concentration is very likely to be over-extracted.

For example, some friends like to extract 40g coffee liquid with 18g powder. At this time, the ratio of powder to liquid is about 2.22, which makes the coffee bitter and astringent. In addition, the increased liquid weight also means more water content, so the concentration of the coffee will be reduced, and the latte will naturally be bitter and light.

If you think your latte has this contradictory taste, try to reduce the amount of concentrated extract a little bit, such as reducing the liquid weight by 5g and increasing the concentration, which not only avoids overextraction, but also makes the latte thicker.

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