What does the steaming process add?
Coffee
The Magical Fruit
The Oromo people would customarily plant a coffee tree on the graves of powerful sorcerers. They believed that the first coffee bush sprang up from the tears that the god of heaven shed over the corpse of a dead sorcerer.
It adds the micro foam, just like a latte, I enjoy the thicker texture (mouthfeel if you're feeling fancy).
Typically you steam milk to create microbubbles for texture. Those bubbles usually collapse when made in water (they mention its an Americano-type drink) very quickly. So I'm not really sure what it would do.
Then again, plant milk is just "water with stuff dissolved in it" same as espresso or watered down espresso so maybe it keeps the texture for long enough to drink it.
This is exactly the drink I need for the hot summer afternoons. Incredible.
Exactly! During the cooler months a flatwhite in the midafternoon is nice perk-up, but entirely unappealing in the summer. The other thing that's great in a hot summer afternoon is an espresso affogato!