Why is condensed milk coffee called a Spanish latte? Can you make a Spanish latte at home?

Mondo Gastronomy Updated on 2024-02-16

Ice Blog is a milk that uses the purification process to "carry" out the protein, fat, lactose and other important substances contained in the milk! It will have a fuller and sweeter taste than milk. But today's protagonist is not it! It's a similar idea to the Ice Blog, but a more offbeat dairy product – condensed milk, which is also known as a "concentrated version" of milk.

Condensed milk is roughly made by removing the water from fresh milk, and its volume is refined to 25% to 40% of its original size, resulting in an extremely viscous "milk concentrate", and because the lactose in the milk is also concentrated, even a small spoonful can give you a very rich sweetness (but most of the condensed milk is sweeter because of the extra sugar).

That's it, that's right! Today I would like to share a coffee made from condensed milk - Spanish Latte!

Spanish latte

Arabica was the first to spark the Spanish latte craze in China, and this milk coffee with condensed milk has gained a lot of love since its launch, and has become the store's star product in one fell swoop.

However, the origin of Spanish lattes is still mysterious, because you can hardly see the Spanish latte option on the menu of Spanish cafes, and all of them are café bombón (confectionery coffee), a high-strength coffee made only from condensed milk and espresso.

On the contrary, in Saudi Arabia, thousands of kilometers away, the café menu where you can almost always see the Spanish latte option!

And the reason why Spanish lattes are so popular in Arabia is precisely because they are more suitable for young people who are in hot weather all year round. They still prefer sweeter milk coffee than bitter black coffee, and the addition of condensed milk will be more natural and comfortable than ordinary sweetened latte!

Even as an iced coffee, it is no slouch in terms of taste, and the richness of condensed milk is enough to be the reason why Spanish lattes are sought after by Arabs.

It is also said that the Spanish latte is derived from the Didi coffee in Vietnam. This sentence is not unreasonable, the first is because the Spanish latte does not have any Spanish national characteristics except for the word "Spain".

The second reason is that Spain, like other countries in Europe, is a big consumer of coffee, but it does not grow coffee, and one third of Spain's total coffee imports come from Vietnam every year! This also makes one wonder about the relationship between them.

But in fact, Spanish lattes evolved from café bombón (candy coffee). So it would be more accurate to say that it should be the Spanish café bombón, which is more like the evolution of Didi Coffee.

Vietnam is a big producer of coffee beans, but its main bean is Robusta, so that although the coffee drunk by the local people is rich in oil, the taste is very bitter and needs a certain amount of sugar to blend, and condensed milk is a good choice. Then the birth of Drip Coffee, which is very Vietnamese!

It is made by pouring condensed milk into a cup, then placing a drip filter pot with ground coffee on the cup, pouring hot water, closing the lid, and then only waiting for the coffee to drip to be filtered before stirring and drinking!

Café Bombón is slightly different from it: the coffee beans used in Spain are the better Arabica varieties, and the extraction method is pressure extraction (i.e. espresso) carried out by the espresso machine, and then the coffee is combined with condensed milk in a 1:1 ratio to get a well-layered Café Bombón!

Stir and drink again, the taste is extremely mellow and silky! And you can't drink the bitterness of coffee at all, which is not much different from Didi coffee in essence, it is all condensed milk to reconcile the bitterness of coffee, but the varieties and extraction methods of coffee are different.

But not everyone can accept the sweet café bombón, so the Spanish latte was born, which uses milk as a buffer to make condensed milk less sweet. And because of the condensed milk, the whole cup of latte has been improved to a certain extent, which can be said to complement each other, so finally let Front Street bring a more unique Spanish latte making!

Alternative Spanish latte making

First of all, we need to make a regular Spanish latte!

Prepare a 400ml cup and fill it with 80g of ice.

Then pour in 150ml of milk and extract a concentrate. (Front Street uses 19g of coffee powder to extract 38ml of concentrate).

Add 25ml of condensed milk to the concentrate and stir well.

Just pour this stirred espresso into a cup and you're a regular Spanish latte, but! We did it a little differently today, we need to add a more common condiment, salt, mix it into a concentrate, and then pour it into a cup together, and it's done!

Adding a pinch of salt will elevate the whole cup of latte and make it even more flavorful! Since everyone's taste is different, Front Street recommends 0Add 1g of salt gradually until it suits your taste (apply condensed milk on the inside of the cup wall before making for a better visual effect).

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