a cup of bold, dark coffee layered with creamymilk and a hint of sweet caramel is reason enough to get up in the morning. more specifically,a dulce de leche latte will wake up your senses. and i'm going to make one right now. a latte is simply 3 parts milk to one partof espresso. and you can add many different flavors to spice it up. using freshly roastedcoffee beans and grinding them right before
starbucks dark espresso roast ground coffee, you use them, will give you that distinctflavor and aroma. i'm using the breville barista express - itshas the grinder and the espresso machine, all in one! first i'm going to steam my milk. when youdirect pressured steam through milk, it changes
the protein properties inside and forms thesethousands of little tiny air bubbles that give you the steamed milk as well as a fluffylayer of foam on top. it also turns the milk sweet and delicious! remember to use freshand cold milk every time, and only steam the amount you need. i filled my milk pitcher and now i'll placethe steam wand inside the pitcher until it's submerged. with the steam on full blast, imove the pitcher up and down until it gets warm. i'm adding foam to the milk. see themilk spinning around like a whirlpool? the trick in steaming milk is to be patient withit. when it gets warm, i stop aerating it and then continue heating up until the sideof the pitcher is too hot to touch. that's
when i know my milk is ready. now it's time for the espresso. you can playwith the coarseness and grind amount to determine the boldness of flavor. i like mine on thedarker, bolder side, so i'm going to put it on a coarse grind. i'm filling up my portafilterjust to the edge. a portafilter carries the grounds in its basket, and attaches to themachine before water is pressured through to give you your espresso shot. so once i fill the portafilter with the coffeegrounds, i tamp it firmly, about 30 pounds of weight, so that the surface is flat, compacted,and smooth. now i attach the portafilter to the machineand let the infusion begin! you can see the
thick espresso pouring out followed by a blondecrema. and even if you don't like the taste of coffee, the sweet, caramel-y aroma is intoxicating.i love it! but now we need to act fast before the cremabreaks down and the flavor loses intensity. now i'm pouring the espresso into a mug andadding a tablespoon of vanilla syrup. next, i'm pouring the milk into the middle of thecup, slowly, while holding back the foam with a spoon. the espresso and milk will startmixing together.
when the cup is almost full, i pour the milkin a little faster until a foam starts to appear. then i finish by scooping the foamout with my spoon until it looks like i have a little cloud in my cup. i drizzle some ofthe dulce de leche on top of the foam, and
that's it -- the perfect latte. totally delicious.
