Signature drink
How to Make a Honey Latte
A latte sweetened with honey stirred into the espresso, not the milk — our floral signature, with tips on choosing the right honey.
Ingredients
- 1 double espresso (about 36 g)
- About 180 ml whole milk
- 1 tablespoon honey — a light flower honey is best
- Optional: a pinch of ground cinnamon, or a drop of vanilla
Steps
- Put the honey into a warmed 250 ml cup.
- Pull the espresso directly onto the honey and stir until it has dissolved completely — honey dissolves in hot espresso, not in steamed milk.
- Steam the milk to about 60–65 °C, slightly foamier than for a flat white.
- Pour the milk in a steady stream and finish with a thin layer of foam. Drizzle a little extra honey on top and dust with cinnamon if you like.
Tips
- Runny honey is easiest. Set honey works too — let the espresso sit on it for a few seconds before stirring.
- Light floral honeys (acacia, orange blossom, mixed flower) let the coffee through; dark chestnut or pine honey takes over the cup.
- For an iced version, dissolve the honey in the hot espresso first, then build it over ice with cold milk.
The honey latte is the drink people order when they want something sweet but do not want a syrup. Honey and coffee have been paired for as long as both have existed — Turkish and Arabic coffee were often sweetened with honey before sugar was cheap — and the two still suit each other in a way that sugar and coffee do not quite manage. Honey brings a flavour of its own: floral, a little waxy, faintly fruity, changing from jar to jar and season to season. In a latte, it softens the espresso’s bitterness and adds a warmth that makes the whole cup taste rounder.
The one rule
Honey does not dissolve in steamed milk. It is thick, and in warm, foamy milk it sinks straight to the bottom of the cup, where it sits as a sweet lump until the last sip. So the order is fixed: honey in the cup first, espresso straight onto it, stir until it disappears, and only then the milk. Hot espresso dissolves honey in seconds; everything else is downhill from there.
The same rule saves the iced version. Dissolve the honey in the hot shot, let it cool for a minute, and then build the drink over a full glass of ice with cold milk. Honey dropped into a cold drink simply hardens.
Choosing the honey
This is where the drink gets interesting, because honey is not one flavour. Light, pale honeys — acacia, orange blossom, clover, most supermarket “flower” honey — are mild and let the coffee stay in front; they are the right starting point. Darker honeys have more personality and more risk: chestnut is bitter and strong, pine honey is resinous, buckwheat tastes almost of molasses. Any of them can make a wonderful cup, but they lead the dance and the espresso follows. Turkey happens to produce some of the best honey in the world, so if you are visiting, a small jar of Anatolian flower honey is a good souvenir and a better latte.
Use about a tablespoon for a 240 ml cup. That gives a clearly sweet drink; halve it if you like your coffee just taken off the edge.
Milk and finishing
Steam the milk a touch foamier than for a flat white — the extra texture suits a sweet drink — and pour it in steadily. A thin drizzle of honey over the foam looks good and gives the first sip a burst of flavour; a pinch of cinnamon on top is optional but very much in the spirit of the thing. A drop of vanilla in the espresso pushes it towards dessert.
Oat milk works particularly well here; its natural sweetness and the honey’s floral notes suit each other.
We make ours with local flower honey, a double shot of Calibre Coffee and whole milk, and it has become a quiet favourite with regulars who used to order a vanilla latte. It is on our menu every day on Sultanahmet Square, hot or iced — see the menu.