A successful ube latte takes one minute and a few simple gestures. The secret? Mix the powder with hot water before adding the milk. Here is the method, hot or iced.
What you need
- 4 g of ube powder per cup, or half a Laya dosing spoon (one full spoon is two cups).
- A splash of hot water (about 40 ml, at 70 to 80 °C).
- About 20 cl of milk of your choice.
- A whisk: the traditional bamboo whisk, or a milk frother.
The 4 steps
- The powder. Put the ube powder in the bottom of your bowl or glass.
- The hot water. Pour a splash of hot water over it.
- The whisk. Whisk until you get a smooth, deep purple paste, with no lumps.
- The milk. Top up with milk, hot or cold as you prefer.
The hot version
Top up the preparation with hot milk. Hot, the ube latte drinks like a comforting hot chocolate, with a vanilla softness.
The iced version
Fill a glass with ice, pour in the very cold milk, then gently pour the ube preparation over the top for a lovely purple and white gradient. Stir just before drinking. Iced, it is closer to a milkshake, and that is where the colour is most spectacular.
Avoiding lumps
That is the whole point of step 2: always mix the powder into a small amount of hot liquid before adding the rest. If you pour all the milk onto the dry powder at once, it clumps. The bamboo whisk is made for this small volume, with no splashing. An electric whisk or a milk frother works very well too.
Which milk should you choose?
Whichever you prefer: cow, oat, almond, coconut or soy. Oat gives the creamiest texture and keeps the colour well. With hot water alone it works too, for a lighter version.
And if you want it more gourmet?
Add the sweetener of your choice, such as a little vanilla or agave syrup. And for a change, try our recipes: Iced Ube Latte, Iced Ube Mango Latte, Iced Ube Raspberry Latte or White Chocolate Ube Latte.
Missing a whisk? Discover the Signature Kit (jar and bamboo whisk).