best coffee for latte?

[starbuck]

Ok, so I got fed up with using rubbish "expresso machines with frother" and got myself a decent dualit one.

Am very happy with it as it makes a really good expresso with good crema and the frother/milk heater is amazing. Tastes better than costa/starbucks.

One question:

What is the best coffee to use if I want to make a latte(ie make expresso and top it with milk).

I want one that will give a really good taste and make amazing coffee.

btw, does freshly ground coffee taste better than pre-ground stuff?

[Funkstar]

i think the best thing to do would be to experiment or go to any local indipendant, they will probably let you buy smaller quantities then supermarkets etc.

[Woodchuck2000]

Freshly ground coffee is definitely better, the only minor drawback being that there are generally more pre-ground varieties available than there are beans.

I'm a big fan of the Illy red lable beans, the only drawback being price! Lavazza Crema e Gusto makes a fantastic espresso for a lower price (although normally avaiable pre-ground only). The surprise budget inclusion to my approved espresso-bean list is the Sainsbury's Green-Lable bean, available both whole and ground. It makes a really smooth and rich espresso.

[Matt1eD]

This is the baby I want - perfect manual control over espressos

http://www.gaggia.com/macchine-da-ca...ali_11_Achille

Freshly ground (if done properly) is a huge improvement on pre-ground (http://matt-dickins.co.uk/cms/articl...1219162516466). I won't recommend any beans as it's largely down to personal taste, but certainly go for that.

[chazt]

make sure if you decide to grind coffee that you get a decent quality burr grinder, as traditional blade grinders don't get it fine enough. I think dualit sell one to match your machine for about 70 quid

[Funkstar]

Also, a friend told me (who is really into his coffee) that the blade ones can heat the coffee up too much, destroying some of the flavour and caffiene when you grind them

[chazt]

true. same with cheaper burr grinders. Similar concept to case fans, the bigger burrs don't have to rotate as fast and therefore are quieter and don't burn the coffee

[atrull]

lavazza

or my own blend of lazy sunday (forget who makes it) and camelo (portuguese/spanish brand)

I assume you make your latte properly - double shot of espresso and then hot milk to taste ?

[Kumagoro]

I think you can get small amounts from whitard or whatever its called.
Personally i like the stuff you can buy from Nero.

[joshwa]

Lavazza, or Illy are very good!

I've got the Dualit coffee grinder - and have used the strong coffee beans from whittards for the best results so far..

What Dualit coffee machine did you get? I've got a delonghi and I'm not impressed.