Since my maid ran away 4 months ago and I started making my own coffee. The first thing that I noticed was the sub-standard nescafe my indonesian maid made for me for breakfast. Actually I knew it was bad, I was just too lazy to do it myself.
Paying close attention to Starbucks barristas (a fancy term for the person making the coffee for you), I found out that I was able to copy the making of Cafe Latte without the use of the expensive expresso maker, so I can have a Venti Cafe Latte at home minus the bill.
Ok..since almost nobody here grinds their own coffee beans and use instant coffee, I recommend you use Nescafe Gold. Why..? Because the coffee taste smoother and not made here with cheap coffee beans, that why. Alternatively, you can use the many types of grinded coffee beans you can find in the supermarket. And no...you cannot use old town coffee for this, nor kopi cap kapal laut because it will taste different. Why...? Probably because of the way they ferment and roast it.
First step since you do not have the milk steamer, use the microwave to heat your milk. Use normal fresh milk or in my case, the easier Dutch Lady fresh milk in milk cartoon. Starbucks use this too. Since the milk is ultra high temperature treated, you do not have to store the unopened milk in the fridge. Once opened you have to keep it in the fridge for storage. Heat the milk on high temperature in a mug for 2 minutes. In Starbucks they use a steamer to heat the milk till it is froothy and hot. The milk should be near boiling when this is done. Milk cannot be lukewarm for this.
Next, preparation of the diluted coffee or expresso as the mat salleh called them. Put a heap of coffee (2 heaps if you need a double dose) in a glass cup and pour near boiling water into it. Coffee is best diluted in water around 95-98 degrees. Since I have a water pot which I set at 98 degrees, this is easily done by me. Stir it. Do not be stingy with the coffee or else your coffee will taste more milky than coffeeky. Do not add instant coffee directly into the hot milk mug because coffee needs to be dissolve in WATER for it to give out its flavour.After stirring, quickly pour the expresso into the hot milk and stir vigorously. In Starbucks, the steamer will cause the milk to foam, here we do not get the foam. I tell people that Italians drink cafe latte without foam so this recepi is for italian cafe latte I guess ;-)
They have foam so that they can put some latte designs too...you know for aesthetic purposes.
Your coffee is near completion. Just add sugar and if you have some cream on top of your coffee. Wallaa...you have yourself a wonderful cup of Italian Cafe Latte. It is best served during breakfast to give you your morning dose of caffeine.Bon Appetite...
