Starbucks, to the dismay of many, is actually one of the reasons why coffee is what it is today. They have always been revolutionaries in terms of what coffee is and what kind of beverages people are able to enjoy.
A great example of these are frappuccinos, mochaccinos, and similar drinks. These have been absolutely huge for more than one, two decades. And how exactly was it that came up with this idea?—Starbucks!
The idea was to expand the market. The target audience. To bring coffee to a much more varied demographic.
Until then, a lot of coffee drinkers were either day-to-day drip coffee drinkers or people who drank espresso and its many variations. There wasn’t a lot of room there—one was rather plain and mostly for working adults, while the other was a sort of more counterculture, sort of foreign way to drink coffee.
But then these drinks came about. They were a lot like milkshakes in a way, which appealed to just about everyone. And it is thanks to this type of drink that coffee has spread so effectively throughout the world, with them as their first line of offense. And then, right behind them, all the classics: the espresso, the cappuccino, the latte…
And today we’re talking about a spin on a classic: the latte. The latte is, without a shred of doubt, the most popular coffee drink in history. It is the most ordered all over the world. So it makes sense that there are several different versions of this.
A vanilla latte is one thing… But a blonde vanilla latte? What is that?
What is Blonde Roast Coffee?
To understand blonde roast coffee, we need to explain how coffee works in terms of roasting.
As you may already know, coffee is made by roasting the seeds of the coffee fruit, and that is what brings all the flavor out. The roast is possibly the most important part of the whole thing that gives coffee the flavor that we all know and love.
But roasting coffee isn’t a straightforward process. There are many ways you can go about it—although this hasn’t always really been this way.
Most famously, Italy was the country that favored coffee the most. And if you go and see what an “Italian roast” is, it’s just about as roasted as it can get. The perky, light brown color that is usually in everyone’s minds is replaced by black color. Italian roast leaves beans black, shiny, and characteristically small.
It’s the way Italian coffee has been roasted for centuries, and it is still to this day how many Italians prefer their coffee. Black, pungent, bitter, strong, and full of flavor. It is called a dark roast or Italian.
Then, there’s the French roast. The French toned it down a little bit and went for a slightly lighter roast. This is a medium roast, and the beans are supposed to look brown, toasty, even dark brown. It has a very nice taste, more balanced, although maybe not as complex as a dark roast. Still, it is less bitter and more palatable.
These two and slight variations of them were the norm for hundreds of years. But recently, something happened. The light roast became a thing, and it was called “blonde” because of the light brown color of the beans. It is a slightly tan, brownish, even caramel-like color that’s actually very appetizing.
Why didn’t people do this before? We have no idea. It might have been because they had no way of roasting beans evenly or at low temperatures in controlled settings like we do now, so a blonde roast would simply have been a roast that lacked taste.
Blonde roast coffee has a higher acidity but also higher sweetness. It is naturally sweeter than its darker counterparts, and you can taste the roasty flavors more. It offers a whole other experience that is a world apart from medium and dark roasts, which are rather similar between them but very different from blonde roasts.
And, of course, blonde roasts go great with sweet drinks such as a vanilla latte. Its naturally sweeter and roasty flavor is a great match for the sweet milkiness of the vanilla latte. So let’s learn how to make it!
How to Make Starbucks Blonde Vanilla Latte?
Ingredients
- Two shots of espresso (MUST be a blonde roast)
- ¾ cup milk of your choice
- 30 grams vanilla syrup or vanilla essence
- Sweetener
Instructions
- Brew coffee.
- Pour coffee into a coffee mug or a tall glass.
- For the milk, you’re gonna want to froth it. You can do it using an espresso machine or a milk frother. You can also do it yourself by heating up the milk until it is steamy and pouring into a French press. Froth using the plunger.
- Pour the milk into the cup, then add vanilla essence or syrup.
- Do a quick taste test; sweeten if needed.
- Enjoy!
As you can see, the vanilla latte is a rather quick and easy recipe that pretty much anybody can do at home without a lot of effort. As for vanilla, the most common ingredient is vanilla essence, but the truth is that vanilla syrup is a much better option.
Vanilla syrup is already sweet and has a deeper flavor, not to mention that it adds a nice thickness and texture to the drink that you just can’t get with plain vanilla essence. The problem with vanilla essence is that it has a certain liquor-like taste that can mess with your coffee.
So, if possible, do use vanilla syrup. There are tons of different brands out there that you can use and many of them are even particularly geared towards coffee. Even Starbucks has its own vanilla syrup, which is obviously the ideal one for this recipe.
You can even make your own vanilla syrup at home! There are just a lot of options. The only thing you need to do is choose depending on your taste.