Make a caffè latte at home!

Sometimes you fancy something different from your standard cup of coffee. Something to treat yourself or your guests with. So today we’re going to explain how to make a caffè latte. Without paying £3 or more at a fancy coffee bar, just using the bits and bobs you probably already have at home.

What is a caffè latte?

A caffè latte is a coffee drink made from espresso and warm milk; in some countries a caffè latte is also called a café au lait. For simplicity’s sake, let’s call the caffè latte a milky coffee Italian-style. Really, it’s a mild cappuccino without foam, with a slightly lighter colour and a soft, creamy flavour. If you want to make it really exciting, you can add a flavour with a coffee syrup, such as hazelnut.

What do you need to make one at home?

Let’s assume you don’t already have a pricey espresso machine sitting on your counter that you can use to make a caffè latte. So we’ll explain how to make a caffè latte using a normal coffee machine. The sort where you simply put a filter with ground coffee in and place a pot underneath. You won’t get a true espresso made under pressure, but it comes very close. What you’ll need:

• A coffee machine. The kind where you put a filter in and a pot sits underneath, with the coffee dripping through slowly.
• Finely ground coffee (espresso grind). For example: Espresso Madrugador.
• Milk of your choice. If you still need to buy some, we recommend long-life whole milk, as it masks the bitter coffee flavour and is extra creamy.
• A jar with a lid, for example a (clean) jam jar.
• A slightly wide cup.
• A tablespoon.
• Optional: Coffee syrup or another flavouring such as cinnamon.
• Optional: A milk frother.
• Optional: Cocoa powder.

Step-by-step guide to making a caffè latte

1. Make coffee in your coffee machine the way you usually would, but use double the amount of coffee. For normal coffee we use one large scoop per cup, so for the caffè latte that’s two large scoops per cup of latte.
2. Fill half the jar with milk and close the lid. Then shake the jar for 30 to 60 seconds until it’s full of milk and foam. If you have a milk frother, you can use that instead, until the milk is nicely frothed.
3. Take the lid off the jar and heat the milk for around 30 seconds in your microwave on the second-highest or highest setting, until the foam sits right on top of the milk. Be careful not to let the milk boil! The heat now stabilises the foam.
4. Fill your cup about halfway with the strong coffee you’ve just brewed.
5. Now carefully pour the warm milk from the jar into the cup of coffee, using your spoon to hold back the milk foam. The foam stays behind in the jar.
6. Optionally, stir a flavouring into your caffè latte; this isn’t strictly necessary. Some people really enjoy a caffè latte with hazelnut syrup or cinnamon.
7. Carefully spoon the foam left in the jar onto your caffè latte, so it’s nicely covered with foam.
8. As a final step, you can sprinkle a little cocoa powder over the foam if you like.

And now enjoy! Got any questions? Leave a message in the comments below.