Starbucks to introduce the British Latte

From March 14th Starbucks will be introducing the British latte. That’s right, the British now get their very own latte. This latte is stronger than most, boasting a double shot of Espresso as standard. I repeat, standard! The reason this is being introduced is that Starbucks over the last two years have noticed that 60% of its customers have been adding an extra shot to their lattes. I thought it was just me.

On Tuesday night I was invited to the Neal Street branch to try my hand at making this new British latte. Starbucks thought it would be good to get myself and a few other bloggers and celebrities behind the coffee machines to show us exactly what goes into every British latte.

What’s so difficult about making a latte? You pour coffee and milk together and you have a latte, right?

Wrong!

I would never have guessed that so much science goes into making the perfect latte. The Espresso shots need to be pulled perfectly between 18-23 seconds (see Laurence I was listening) and then used within 10 seconds to keep its creamy rich flavour. The Starbucks design team have also come up with an entire new pitcher for heating up the milk for lattes. This pitcher went through months of trials and 14 alterations before the team was happy with the outcome. The new pitcher allows for milk to be spun by creating a natural ‘whirlpool’ which gives it the smooth luxurious texture.The baristas making the lattes also have a big part to play because they will be free pouring the milk carefully to give it the 6mm layer of micro foam on top.

If you do however prefer a weaker latte then you can ask for the boring single shot latte at the bar when ordering. Nobody will judge, promise.