Italy is considered the homeland of latte coffee, but despite this fact, this drink is the most popular in the USA, whose residents prefer to drink an average of 2 cups of coffee per day.

Latte coffee - what is it?

Many people who order latte in a cafe do not even know what it is.

This coffee is world famous for its light foam and layered structure. The drink usually consists of milk, espresso and froth.

When serving, you can sprinkle it with chocolate, or draw a picture using cocoa. To diversify the taste, some gourmets prefer to add caramel or vanilla syrup. Due to the greater amount of milk in the composition, this coffee drink has a delicate taste. This type of coffee drink was invented for children, because it has more milk than coffee. But, after some time, the fashion for drinking latte passed on to adults.

Composition and calorie content

The classic latte recipe is based on two ingredients.

The composition includes:

  • 1 part espresso (usually take 50 ml);
  • 3 parts of hot whipped milk with froth (enough 150 ml).

However, in Western Europe, a coffee drink may not necessarily be made from espresso. The original Italian recipe meant using only arabica. Now you can change the grains at your discretion. The top layer of latte undoubtedly should be foam. To make coffee sweeter, sugar is added.

Calorie content of the drink is determined by the amount of heated milk. Depending on the fat content of milk, as well as the amount of sugar and cocoa, the nutritional value of coffee can vary.So, if you prepare a standard portion of latte based on milk, the fat content of which is only 2.5%, then the calorie content of the drink will be approximately 110 kcal. While milk of 3.2% fat content in the composition adds another 8 kcal to the nutritional value of a standard drink. In addition, the amount of added sugar must be considered. It should be remembered that only one tablespoon of sugar contains 20 kcal. To prepare the most nutritious and high-calorie coffee, cream of 10% fat can be added to the drink. They immediately increase calories up to 200 kcal.

What is the difference between latte and cappuccino

Most do not know the difference between latte and cappuccino, because the ingredients for making coffee are the same.

To consider the differences between the two drinks, you need to understand some of the main points in the preparation of each type of coffee:

  1. To prepare a latte, you need to take warmed milk and espresso with a ratio of 3: 1, while for cappuccino you need to take the same ingredients with a ratio of 2: 1.
  2. To make a latte, you need to pour coffee into pre-whipped hot milk, while cappuccino is done the other way around.
  3. Foam in latte is considered more loose and porous, and in cappuccino it is more uniform and with small bubbles. Moreover, in latte, each layer never mixes.
  4. Almost twice as much espresso is added to the cappuccino, so latte has a more delicate taste of milk.
  5. Latte must be served in a glass, cappuccino in a cup.

How to make latte coffee at home

In the case when you want to make latte coffee at home, but there is no coffee machine, then it can be done using an ordinary blender.

Classic Latte Recipe

To prepare a classic latte, you need to prepare all the ingredients in advance:

  • 150 ml of milk 3.2% fat;
  • freshly brewed coffee - 2 tbsp is enough for 50 ml of water spoons of coffee beans;
  • sugar - 2 tablespoons.

Stages of preparation:

  1. We make coffee in a Turk until a light foam is formed. To make the drink sweet, add 2 tablespoons of sugar.
  2. We heat the milk to 60-65 ° C.
  3. We divide the milk into two parts, and then whisk one of them with a blender for about two minutes until the foam forms.
  4. Gently pour the prepared coffee into a glass of milk.
  5. Put the foam with a third layer.

With syrup

To prepare a latte with syrup, you need to take:

  • 1 teaspoon arabica coffee
  • 150-160 ml of milk;
  • 1 tablespoon of chocolate syrup.

Syrup can be chosen to your taste. Various fruit syrups are very popular in making latte coffee. The method of preparing latte with the addition of syrup is very simple.

  1. For serving, it is immediately necessary to prepare an irish glass, in which first of all it is necessary to pour syrup.
  2. Brew espresso coffee over low heat.
  3. Lather the pre-warmed milk and remove the foam in a separate place.
  4. Add milk to the syrup glass, and then carefully pour the espresso into it. This must be done carefully and with a fine stream so as not to disturb the layer.
  5. Lastly, add the foam using a regular teaspoon.
  6. To decorate the resulting coffee drink, you can sprinkle it with cocoa powder or grated chocolate.

Chilled drink

In hot summers, latte can be served chilled and serve as an excellent alternative to ice cream.

For its preparation, the following ingredients are needed:

  • milk (preferably not lower than 3.2% fat content);
  • coffee beans for 1 espresso;
  • 3-4 ice cubes;
  • 1 tablespoon of nut syrup;
  • grated chocolate - 1 spoon;
  • sugar (to taste).

The process of preparing chilled latte consists of several stages:

  1. We brew using coffee turk.
  2. Heat the milk over low heat to 67 ° C, and then beat a small portion to foam.
  3. At the bottom of the glass we put ice cubes, and then fill them with cooled milk.
  4. Pour a spoonful of nut syrup into cold coffee. It can be replaced with any fruit syrup.
  5. Pour coffee into the milk along the edge of the glass, while doing this with a thin stream. Garnish with foam and grated chocolate.

Latte macchiato at home

To prepare latte macchiato, prepare the products that are part of it:

  • sufficiently rich milk (not lower than 3.2% fat content) - 250 ml;
  • 100 ml of water;
  • 10-15 grams of ground coffee beans (preferably arabica coffee).
  • sugar (sugar substitute) - to taste.

Cooking involves:

  1. First you need to make coffee. To do this, take a Turk and pour grains into it. It is preferable to pour grains in Turk with already hot water. Then we put on a small fire and look out so that the coffee does not run away. Sweet tooth coffee can be brewed with sugar.
  2. Heat the fatty milk in a saucepan, whisking with a blender (or whisk). Milk should not be heated above 70 ° C, since foam does not form.
  3. Then pour the whipped milk into a glass for serving. At the same time, we look to see if a separate layer of foam has formed.
  4. Finally, add the espresso to the milk.

Cinnamon Coffee

Coffee latte with cinnamon is not very different from latte macchiato. The ingredients are the same, but 2 more cinnamon sticks are added. If there are no sticks, you can take two pinches of ground cinnamon. Also, if there is no ground coffee, it can be replaced with ordinary instant coffee.

The cooking procedure consists of several successive actions:

  1. Pour boiling water over instant coffee. To do this, you need only 50-60 ml of water.
  2. Grind the cinnamon sticks (or take a ready-made powder), and then add it to the milk. After this, the mixture is heated and beat in a blender.
  3. Then pour coffee into milk. The drink is ready. As a decoration, you can put a cinnamon stick in a glass.

Caramel Latte

Caramel latte can be made from:

  • milk (150 ml);
  • coffee beans (2 tsp);
  • caramel syrup;
  • cream (it is better to take 10% fat).

The process of creating this drink is as follows:

  1. Pour nicely 2 tablespoons of caramel syrup into an irish glass.
  2. Then pour the heated milk into a glass.
  3. We dilute the milk with brewed coffee.
  4. Add whipped cream on top. Caramel syrup and chocolate can be added on top of the cream.

To summarize, it must be said that making latte coffee at home is quite simple. It takes only 10 minutes to make a drink, and the coffee will turn out to be extremely tasty.

Similar:More from the author: