The simplicity of the latter has made this drink one of the most popular coffee drinks in the world. A shot or two of espresso, mixed with some frothy milk. What’s not to love about that? One question that people often have, however, is whether their lattes should be hot or cold. Let’s answer that for you.
Are Lattes Hot or Cold?
It doesn’t matter. Lattes can be served either hot or cold.
The traditional latte is going to be hot. That espresso will be freshly brewed, and the milk will be steamed just before being poured into that mug. However, iced lattes also exist. These lattes, as the name suggests, are cold, although the espresso still would have been freshly brewed.
Of course, the flavor of these two drinks will be impacted by the serving temperature. There are some people who wouldn’t even dare claim that an iced latte is an actual latte because it has a wildly different flavor profile. You will see what we mean as we go on.
Hot Latte
Let’s start with the hot latte. This is the most common latte drink, and if you ask for a latte in a coffee shop, then this is what they are going to give you.
The espresso shot (or shots) in your latte are always going to be brewed at a hot temperature. You can’t make espresso without brewing it at a hot temperature, after all. However, there is some debate with regards to what temperature the milk should be at, and a great deal of effort that goes into creating the perfect latte comes from controlling the temperature of the milk.
The milk that is poured into the latte is always going to be considerably colder than the espresso. However, how cold that milk is will be dependent on the person making the coffee.
Foamy lattes often require far warmer milk. If warm milk isn’t used, then the latte doesn’t quite come out right. Well, the foam doesn’t sit properly and the drink can look rather ‘flat’.
However, if you have a barista that loves to do artwork on the latte, then they need colder milk. It isn’t going to be completely cold as it will still be steamed lightly, but that colder milk is going to bring down the temperature of the latte drastically.
Do You Need To Heat Up The Milk For a Latte?
Not necessarily, no.
You can just steam the milk with a frother, and this should heat the milk up just enough for your latte. However, there are some people who prefer to warm their milk up a little bit in a pan (or using another method to heat the milk up). it doesn’t need to be heated to the boiling point, but a hot kick is going to be good.
It is up to you how you do things. In most cases, there should be enough heat coming from the espresso shot and the steaming of the milk for this to not be a major concern.
How The Flavor Changes With Milk Temperature
If you have hot espresso mixed with warm milk, then you are going to end up with a hot latte. The temperature will be somewhere between the temperature of the milk and the temperature of the espresso. However, how cold that milk is when the drink is made will have an impact on the flavor of the drink.
If you are a person that prefers your lattes to have a bit of sweetness to it, then you are going to want to use colder milk. Colder milk retains that sweet kick, and it often means that you don’t have to add sugar into the mix, not that we are strong advocates for adding sugar into a latte anyway.
If you have warmer milk, then it is going to change up the texture of the latte and add a bit of flavor, but the espresso taste is going to be what you taste the most inside that latte. A latte made with warmer milk tends to be a bit more bitter, although not 100% bitter since you do have that milk rounding out the flavor a little bit.
If you are creating your own lattes, then we do encourage you to try and experiment with the temperature of the milk. You will notice that the colder the latte gets, the sweeter it becomes. However, you still want there to be a bit of ‘warmth’ there, otherwise, you are just drinking a cold coffee, and that isn’t pleasant.
Iced Latte
We have talked about how making a hot latte colder will make the drink sweeter. Soi, let’s now talk about an iced latte. A drink that is designed to be cold.
Yes. We know that there are some people that will point out that this probably isn’t a real latte for two reasons:
- It contains a lot of sugar.
- Extra water is added.
A ‘real’ latte is going to be just milk mixed with some espresso. However, this is the closest that you are going to get to having an actual cold latte, however, do bear in mind that the addition of the sugar and the water means that it is going to taste a great deal sweeter than your typical latte would taste.
Final Thoughts
The traditional latte is supposed to be hot, but this is not a drink with a set temperature. Different baristas will heat the milk to different temperatures. This can completely change the flavor of the drink, with colder milk resulting in a sweeter latte. Warmer milk just tastes creamy, but you really get the kick of that espresso in there.
Actual cold lattes are called an ‘iced latte’, however, this drink is made in a completely different way, with the addition of sugar and extra water. This means that one could argue that it is not actually a latte at all. However, the flavor is still going to be roughly the same because, at the end of the day, it is just milk and espresso.
