Espresso · Milk
How to make a latte at home
A latte is one espresso shot under a lot of steamed milk and a thin cap of foam.
- Coffee
- 18 g
- Cup
- 300 ml
- Temp
- 93 °C
- Time
- 1:35
This page assumes an espresso machine with a steam wand. It gives one build in grams and millilitres, a 95-second sequence you can run on the brew timer, and the reasons behind each number. It does not try to rank milks or beans. For how a latte differs from a flat white, see the comparison guide. For other cup sizes, use the milk drinks builder.
The spec
| Part | Amount |
|---|---|
| Espresso dose | 18 g |
| Espresso yield | 36 g (1:2 beverage ratio) |
| Cold milk | 250 ml |
| Foam | 14 ml, a thin layer on top |
| Liquid in the cup | 300 ml |
| Cup | 400 ml latte bowl, so the drink fills 75 % of it |
| Milk temperature | 50 to 60 °C when you stop steaming |
| Total time | 95 seconds |
The build is 36 ml of espresso, 250 ml of milk and 14 ml of foam, which makes 300 ml in a 400 ml cup. The spare 100 ml is headroom for the pour and for a little latte art.
You need
- An espresso machine with a steam wand, and a grinder.
- A scale that reads to 0.1 g.
- A 350 ml milk pitcher.
- A thermometer.
- A 400 ml bowl-style cup.
- Fresh cold milk. Use the type you normally drink.
Ratio 1:2 · Grind: Espresso · grind chart
Starting ranges come from your grinder maker’s own guide. Burrs, beans and calibration vary, so treat them as where to begin.
Steps
- 0:00, Pull 18 g into 36 g.
Dose 18 g, aim for 36 g in the cup, and start the timer as the pump starts. Stop near 36 g.
- 0:30, Stretch: tip just under the surface.
Purge the wand. Put the tip just under the surface of 250 ml cold milk. Let in a little air for about six seconds. You want a soft hiss, not loud spitting.
- 0:36, Texture to about 60 °C, then wipe wand.
Lower the pitcher so the tip sits deeper and the milk spins in a whirlpool. Stop when the pitcher is warm enough that you cannot hold it for long, around 55 to 60 °C by thermometer. Wipe and purge the wand.
- 1:00, Tap and swirl until glossy.
Tap the pitcher once on the bench. Swirl until the surface is glossy and has no visible bubbles.
- 1:10, Pour 250 ml milk and 14 ml foam.
Pour from a little height into the shot until the cup is half full, then lower the pitcher and finish. The cup should hold about 300 ml, with a thin foam cap and room to spare.
My notes for this recipe
Why a 400 ml cup for a 300 ml drink
A cup filled to the brim cannot be poured into without spilling, and it leaves no room to tip the pitcher low and close, which is how you finish a pour. The builder's latte is 300 ml of liquid. Putting it in a 400 ml bowl leaves a quarter of the cup empty. If you only own a 300 ml cup, pull the milk back to 220 ml and keep the shot and foam as they are. That is an authored adjustment, not a tested one.
Why these numbers
18 g in, 36 g out. The 1:2 ratio is the average that surveyed baristas reported in the SCA's espresso article. The 18 g dose itself is an authored starting point. Adjust it to your basket.
250 ml milk and 36 g espresso. These are CupTune's authored latte build, the same values the milk drinks builder uses. They are a typical build, not a definition. No standards body defines a latte, and cafes differ.
14 ml foam. Authored. In a cup about 8.5 cm across, the top area is roughly 57 cm². Divide 14 ml by 57 cm² and you get a layer about 2.5 mm deep. That is thin on purpose. A latte is mostly liquid milk.
50 to 60 °C. Klimanova et al. (2022) steam-frothed milk across 30 to 80 °C and report an optimal final temperature of 50 to 60 °C for microfoam. That is a finding about foam from one lab study with pasteurised and UHT milk, not a rule about taste. Many people find milk lukewarm below about 50 °C and flat or cooked well above 60 °C, but those are personal preferences, not measured facts.
Six seconds of air, 24 seconds of texturing. Authored timings for 250 ml on a typical home machine. Wands differ in power. Your own times may be 10 seconds shorter or longer. Trust temperature and surface, not the clock.
95 seconds total. It is the sum of the steps, so the timer can run the whole drink.
If it looks or tastes wrong
- Big bubbles on top, drink looks like a cappuccino. You let in air too long. Next time cut the stretch to four seconds.
- No foam at all, thin and flat. The tip was too deep from the start. Start just under the surface for the first few seconds.
- The milk tastes cooked or flat. You went too hot. Stop 5 °C earlier.
- Coffee is lost under the milk. Hold the milk and shorten the cup, or lengthen the yield to 40 g. Change one thing at a time.
- Foam sits in a stiff layer and the milk pours separately. You skipped the swirl. Give it the full ten seconds and tap out larger bubbles.
These fixes are CupTune's judgement from the build above, not tested outcomes.
If you have no espresso machine
A moka pot or AeroPress can make strong coffee to put under milk. It is a substitution, not the same drink. Neither gives the crema or concentration of a machine shot. Use about 36 ml of strong coffee and the same milk, heated and frothed another way. The timer values here do not apply to that route.
Evidence and limits
Two numbers come from published sources: the 1:2 ratio and the 50 to 60 °C foam temperature. The dose, milk volume, foam volume, cup size and every time are authored starting points. The foam depth is arithmetic, not a measurement. The 95-second sequence is a paper plan, not a timed trial, and steam times depend on your wand.
Questions
How much milk goes into a latte?
In this build, 250 ml of cold milk with 36 g of espresso and 14 ml of foam makes 300 ml of drink. The builder scales other sizes.
Should the espresso go in the cup first?
Yes. Pour the milk into the shot, so the two mix as you pour.
Why does steamed milk look glossy?
Tiny bubbles spread through the milk make the surface smooth. The tap and swirl step breaks up larger ones.
Can I make this with a 350 ml pitcher and 250 ml milk?
Yes, that is the size listed. Milk grows as air goes in, so a smaller pitcher can overflow.