11 Best Coffee Beans For Lattes

Since sipping on straight-up espresso may not be for the faint of heart, lattes are the go-to choice in the United States for an espresso-based beverage that can be both sweet and robust. Unlike cappuccinos — the second-most common espresso-forward beverage — lattes require more milk, creating a smoother coffee with a creamier texture. Espresso shots are pulled and added to a cup, then steamed milk is poured into the cup, blending with the espresso, before being topped with fluffy milk foam and sometimes doused with a sprinkling of spices. No matter what you like to add to your latte drinks, its flavor is largely dependent on the profile of the espresso used in its creation, which relies heavily on the area of the world the coffee beans originated from.

Despite popular belief, any coffee beans can create espresso for a latte; it doesn't have to be a designated espresso blend. That being said, not all coffee origins are ideal for milk-heavy drinks or drinks that tend to contain added sweeteners. In this list, I'll explore coffees from particular areas of the world and blends of beans from specific regions that combine to create naturally sweet, creamy, or fruity coffee that pairs well with steamed milk to create a café-worthy latte. Whether you hunt for these green beans to roast yourself or buy them roasted from one of many reputable coffee brands, be on the lookout for these coffees to create your next bold, balanced, and unforgettable latte.

Both Brazil and Colombia are known for coffee, and for good reason. The two countries are among the top producers (and consumers) of coffee globally, with Brazil acting as the number one coffee producer worldwide. Both countries offer optimal conditions for growing coffee, including plenty of natural shade and high elevations, which imbue coffee beans with lively acidity and balanced flavors.

On their own, both origins can produce espresso that's delicious in a creamy latte, but there's something to be said for the magic that happens when these two origins come together. Brazilian coffee falls on the bolder side, and can frequently be found as a robusta coffee — a species of coffee that's darker and (obviously) more robust than the more common arabica variety. Brazilian coffee is nutty and chocolate-forward, with a full-body and vibrant sweetness. Basically, these beans are hard for any coffee super-fan not to love.

Colombian coffee, on the other hand, is grown under conditions like those of Brazilian coffee, but has some stark differences in flavor. Colombian coffee is more acidic and clean, providing bright, fruity notes that are exceptionally balanced by Brazilian coffee's smooth creaminess and sweetness. A blend of these origins, whether made specifically for espresso or otherwise, can taste delicious on its own, but with steamy milk and luscious foam it becomes the star feature of a latte for the ages. Choose a coffee bean blend made from Brazilian and Colombian beans that's designed specifically for espresso, or pick a bag of any beans composed of these two origins to use in an espresso that highlights caramel, chocolate, and citrus notes.

Although we tend to associate Central and South America with coffee more than Asia, Vietnam is surprisingly the world's second largest producer of coffee after Brazil, with robusta coffee making up a whopping 97% of all the coffee produced in the country. Most coffee-growing regions pride themselves on their quality arabica coffee, but Vietnam boasts gourmet robusta; a designation that, in most contexts, is an oxymoron. This coffee is often used to create blends, especially espresso blends, to add body and rich flavor, but it lends itself well to a variety of coffee drinks as a single-origin.

Traditionally, coffee in Vietnam is created in single-serving sizes using a small drip coffee filter. An ounce or two of sweetened condensed milk is added to the cup and then the robusta beans are brewed directly into the cup, creating a latte-like coffee drink. While this traditional Vietnamese coffee is undoubtedly delicious, robusta beans from Vietnam can also be used to create standard lattes. If you opt for Vietnamese robusta in your next homemade latte, I'd recommend adding lots of your preferred sweetener — especially if you're used to drinking only arabica coffee — because robusta coffee is much stronger and more bitter than arabica. The coffee's intense, earthy flavor is tamed and enhanced by maple syrup, honey, or brown sugar and milk. Swap out dairy milk for coconut cream in this brew for a touch of tropical sweetness and a rich creamy texture that subdues nearly all the coffee's bitterness.

Peru was among the first South American countries to produce coffee for domestic use and trade, and today, it continues its legacy as one of the world's quintessential coffee-growing countries. Coffee from Peru comes from one of six regions, with each region contributing unique factors — like elevation, climate, and shade (or lack thereof) — that affect the coffee's taste.

Regions in Northern Peru grow sweet, fruity beans, sometimes with notes of chocolate or caramel. Southern coffee plants yield floral, bright brews with invigorating acidity and a smooth, creamy body. Central Peruvian coffee is most renowned — specifically the coffee of the Chanchamayo Valley, which is defined by a moderate body, bright acidity, and notes of citrus, chocolate, and nuts. Peruvian coffee tends to be wet-processed, a common method of coffee cultivation and preparation that involves washing the coffee cherries to remove their fruit and then fermenting the beans, resulting in a clean, bright cup.

Peruvian coffee is incredibly versatile, making it a genuine treat as a drip coffee, pour-over, espresso, or just about any other coffee creation you could dream up. It's especially favored for dark roasted espresso because the hardness of the beans takes well to long roasting times, while many bean varieties can't take the heat. Peruvian coffee shines in milky lattes, where its acidity is balanced and all the nuances in its flavor are accentuated by the creamy texture of steamed milk. Its delicate notes can sometimes be drowned out by milks with potent flavors, so use a neutral milk — like dairy or oat — to let its natural flavor stand front and center.

A blend of Guatemalan Antigua and Sumatra Mandheling beans creates espresso for a latte that's incredibly nuanced and genuinely unlike any other specialty blend. Coffee from the Antigua Valley of Guatemala is among the most renowned specialty coffees in the world. This high elevation coffee is often roasted medium-dark to dark to tame its acidity and imbue it with potent nutty and bitter notes. Sweet chocolate is blatant in this coffee, with tangy citrus following closely behind for a clean aftertaste. Sumatra Mandheling, on the other hand, is known for its intense woody flavor with notes of dark chocolate, licorice, and tobacco. It's grown at low elevations, creating a mellow brew with a full body. While it may be hard to find this very specific blend on store shelves, I recommend purchasing each as a single-origin and experimenting with ratios for espresso at home.

These two wildly different coffees from opposite corners of the globe balance one another to create a blend so harmonious they might as well have been made for each other. Warm, spicy, herbal Sumatra Mandheling is enlivened with bright, citrusy, sweet Guatemalan Antigua. Sumatra Mandheling gives this blend its heavy body and velvety texture, while Guatemalan Antigua adds clarity and a clean finish. Both coffees make ideal dark roasts thanks to the bean's hardness and notes that are accentuated when dark roasting adds bitterness. The incredible complexity of this coffee means that it should be left unadulterated with added sweeteners; instead, savor its nuanced notes, textures, and aromas in a creamy drink, and let it prove to you that opposites absolutely do attract.

A haven for both coffee lovers and vacationers, Costa Rica is one of the world's top coffee growing locations thanks to desirable conditions and unprecedented cultivation and processing methods. Fertile volcanic soil is responsible for the complex flavors that make Costa Rican coffee so special and regarded as one of the most desirable coffees in the world. Large estates exist alongside smallholder farms in eight coffee-growing regions in the country, each producing a unique coffee plant. Overall, Costa Rican coffee is known for its vibrant, herbaceous flavor, with notes of citrus and tropical fruits, and sometimes molasses or brown sugar, and light acidity.

Most Costa Rican coffee is wet-processed, but some coffees are honey-processed, a technique that originated in Costa Rica and continues to grow in popularity every year. This process is similar to wet processing, but instead of washing away the fruity outer layer of the coffee cherry, this layer — known quite unappetizingly as mucilage — is left intact, its stickiness giving the process its name rather than the use of actual honey. The natural flavor of the mucilage permeates the beans over the course of weeks, resulting in extremely clean-tasting coffee with a light body and invigorating sweetness. Honey-processed coffee is known to be balanced and intensely sweet, making it perfect for espresso in a latte that's designed to be consumed as coffee, milk, and nothing more. Costa Rican honey-processed coffee is delicious in a refreshing iced latte; its airy body won't bog you down in the heat, and its citrusy, tropical notes are most appropriately savored while relaxing on the beach.

I think it's a crying shame that Salvadoran coffee isn't up there with the more prominent coffee origins, but it's understandable why it never achieved the acclaim it deserves. In the 1970s, just as El Salvador's coffee started to gain international notoriety thanks to its exquisite quality and unique chocolatey taste, the country's political climate stifled nearly all economic growth, including that of the coffee industry. Two decades later, as the industry just started to flourish again, a streak of bad luck in the form of coffee rust — a disease that devastates coffee plants — wiped out over half of the county's coffee crops. Today, El Salvador's coffee industry is slowly making yet another comeback with its full-bodied, smooth, sweet beans that are tasty in any coffee concoction.

Unlike most Central American coffee, Salvadoran coffee is less acidic and sweeter and known to be incredibly balanced and smooth, making it ideal for a well-rounded latte. Steamed milk is unlikely to throw off its flavor or make the coffee taste sour, while enhancing its smoothness and highlighting its chocolate notes. This versatile brew is tasty as a latte without sugar added, but if you like your lattes extra sugary, opt for simple syrup or agave nectar. These neutral ingredients add sweetness while allowing the chocolatey flavor in Salvadoran coffee to shine, with only added creaminess and texture from milk. For beans known to be extra chocolate-tasting, grab a bag of Salvadoran Chalatenango for your next latte. This coffee offers earthy, bittersweet, chocolate notes for a bold yet easy-drinking espresso that's elevated by steamed milk.

This particular blend of Indian and Brazilian beans are a match made in heaven, although they're cultivated thousands of miles apart. Like Vietnam and other Asian coffee-growing countries, India is most renowned for the hearty, bold robusta coffee it produces. Robusta coffee is often used for instant coffee and in espresso blends to add potent flavor, a heavier body, and to up the caffeine content. Indian robusta, specifically, is known to be spicy, woody, and smokey with a bitterness that's apparent but not overpowering, elevating blends that would otherwise taste bland and boring. Its body is heavy, leaving behind a lingering mouthfeel that's felt long after the last sip. When brewed as espresso, this robusta coffee creates thick, velvety cream that enhances both the flavor and body of the shot.

The bold, spicy flavors in Indian robusta coffee beans pair flawlessly with naturally sweet Brazilian arabica. Opt for a chocolatey, creamy Brazilian coffee as the majority of the blend with a lesser percentage of Indian robusta to create a balanced, spicy-sweet coffee. The heavy body of Indian robusta and medium body of Brazilian arabica combine to create a heavy body blend that isn't too dense and syrupy. Earthy and sweet flavors fuse for an intensely complex coffee that's best served with milk and little to no additional sugar. Try this coffee as a milky latte with just a dash of cardamom to enhance its naturally sweet and spiced taste.

Ethiopia stakes its claim as the birthplace of coffee, thought to first be consumed around 575 A.D., so it's no surprise that its coffee is still considered among the best in the world. Most Ethiopian varieties are roasted light to enhance their bright body and flavors, but some varieties can take to dark roasting, which drastically changes their flavor from citrusy and clean to more bitter and complex. Ethiopian coffee overall is considered very floral and bright, with incredibly complex aromas, and no beans fit this bill more than those from the Yirgacheffe region.

Ethiopian Yirgacheffe achieves its prestige from its brazen aroma and citrus, stone fruit, and honey flavors that intricately combine with floral notes reminiscent of jasmine to make it tea-like. These attributes don't typically make up an ideal espresso, but it makes a great shot for those who enjoy experimenting with their brew. When using this espresso in a latte, the citrus notes in Ethiopian Yirgacheffe cut through silky milk, ensuring its flavors stays intact. Milk tames the coffee's acidity, while a light body keeps the latte refreshing for easy drinking. Its clean, delicate floral aroma and taste remains intact and can be accentuated with honey or light maple syrup.

Mexico and Nicaragua are relatively close neighbors, making their coffees somewhat similar to one another. But, where one lacks, the other can fill in the gaps to create a quintessential, versatile coffee that's great for lattes and most other coffee drinks.

Mexico is a land of many biomes, so its coffee can vary by region. Each region lays claim to its own unique climate and, therefore, growing conditions that affect the coffee's taste, making Mexican coffee as diverse as it is delicious. Mexican coffee is usually known to be light to medium-bodied with medium acidity, containing notes of herbs, — often lemongrass, bergamot, and jasmine — chocolate, nuts, and caramel. This well-rounded, hard-not-to-love coffee is an optimal (and my personal favorite) daily drinker, whether as espresso, drip, or pour over.

Nicaragua coffee is known for its buttery sweetness and light, balanced acidity. It's praised for its evenly balanced sweet-to-bitter ratio complemented by a slightly heavy body, making it as well-rounded as Mexican coffee. It's significantly more bold in flavor than Mexican coffee, so when the two combine, they create a coffee that's near perfectly balanced. The nuttiness and more prominent acidity in Mexican coffee is highlighted by Nicaragua coffee's sweetness. As a latte, this blend is universal and adaptable; add your favorite flavor syrups or complex sweeteners and you'll still be able to savor the quality and enjoy the balanced nature of this cup.

While most coffee drinkers probably associate "mocha" with a Starbucks latte doused in chocolate sauce, the word also refers to a specific variety of arabica coffee beans from Yemen. Mocha beans are typically dry-processed, enhancing their natural winey essence. Meanwhile, Java — a word that's become synonymous with all coffee — refers to arabica beans from the island of Java in Indonesia. These beans tend to be wet-processed, or washed, for a much cleaner and more straightforward sipping experience compared to Mocha coffee. Together, these two beans — inextricably linked — combine to create Mocha Java; one of the world's most illustrious coffee blends.

It can be hard to track down true Mocha Java, but if you manage to get your hands on a bag, don't hesitate in crafting an exquisite latte (after you savor your rare find as an unadulterated espresso shot, of course). Bright, chocolatey, and wine-like Yemeni Mocha beans brew a shot that's — on its own — light and airy. But when combined with rich, syrupy Indonesian Java, an expertly balanced coffee with intricate nuances in flavor and lively acidity is born. Strong earthiness and chocolate-like sweetness makes for an incredibly complex coffee that's not overpowering. With steamed milk, this coffee becomes buttery smooth, and its vivid peppery, earthy flavor is subdued.

Bunum Wo Peaberry is unlike any coffee in the world. Bunum Wo is the town and high-elevation growing region in Papua New Guinea where it's cultivated; the "peaberry" in its name references a mutation in coffee plants that causes cherries to produce only one seed (also known as the bean) as opposed to the usual two. Some coffee experts claim peaberries produce a brighter, sweeter cup, while others argue that the title is merely a lowly tactic coffee companies employ to charge more for beans. Whatever your stance on this controversial coffee mutation, it's undeniable that PNG Bunum Wo Peaberry makes for a memorable indulgence.

The striking profile of Bunum Wo Peaberry is composed of brown sugar and honey notes, along with earthy undertones that add complexity, complimenting its sweetness. It's often thought of as a sweeter and more nuanced version of Indonesian coffee. Try it as a medium or medium-dark roast, where its delicate flavors can still shine amid the smoky flavor caused by longer roasting times. Create a latte with whole milk or extra creamy plant milk to accentuate Bunum Wo Peaberry's sweetness and let its silky body create a bold and creamy coffee drink.