Best milk jug / pitcher for latte art

Like the preparation of any great food, there are three factors that you have to cover in order to create a great coffee.

1. Skills

2. Equipment & tools

3. Ingredients

And in this page I will be covering one item from number 2. A very important tool used for coffee making. Yes, that shiny stainless steel thingy that we use to froth the milk. Yep, the milk jug / pitcher. I whole page just for that stainless steel thing.

Many casual café worker or customers may not think that a milk jug is that important, but you will be surprised how many design, features and size they have. And those designs indeed do improve your milk texturing and latte art skills.

In this page I will show you two milk jugs, the standard one that most cafés are using, and the one that I consider as one of the best milk jug for latte art.

Before we go into the two milk jugs, it is important to understand some of the key factors of the milk jug.

Basically, it is mostly what you can see and already might know. It is made from stainless steel. Used to froth the milk, and used to pour the milk into the cup of coffee.

But that’s not the whole story.

The jug is made from stainless steel because of its heat conductivity features. Most of the skilled baristas would not use a thermometer, but would use their hand to measure the temperature of the milk.  That’s why even though it is possible to make a fancy jug for coffee made of other less heat conductive material to prevent finger burning, we hardly see any. (A glass milk jug for coffee may have looked quite cool when frothing, though)

Also the shape is really important when choosing a milk jug. A standard milk jug is already made to facilitate the milk pouring, by having the diameter of the bottom of the jug larger than the top. This in turn, makes it easier for the coffee maker to manipulate the flow of milk, making it slower when tilted, hence facilitate drawing the latte art without destroying the crema on top of the coffee.

As written above, the one on the right is a standard milk jug. Many cafes use this standard shape milk jug. Made from stainless steel, with a little mouth to help the coffee maker to pour the milk and make some latte art..

This is a really good entry level milk jug. Most beginner coffee makers froth milk and tend to either create too much froth or none at all. And for that reason this milk jug would be good for its small mouth, it will prevent the coffee maker from just getting excessive amount of froth when pouring milk into the cup.

And the price being so cheap compared to the other special design jugs, it would be good if you are not that interested in latte art, or just learning the basics of coffee making.

This milk jug is one of the best milk jugs for latte art in the market. It is also the one that I am currently using in my workplace as well as my home.

Probably, you would have noticed straight away, the difference between the standard milk jug and the Motta milk jug (on the right). It has a large beak like mouth witch will greatly improve your latte art abilities.

The clear line of a latte art can just be created when the mouth of the jug is in close proximity with the crema. With the standard milk jug, the coffee cup, in most of the times, have to be almost half filled with milk before you start drawing the lines of milk on top of the crema. But with Motta milk jug, because of its long mouth, you can start making a rosetta (leaf shaped latte art) almost instantaneously after you star pouring the milk.

Another great thing about this jug is, because of the close proximity of the jug and coffee it also can prevent the milk from destroying the crema. With the standard jug, as you have to start pouring in a higher position than the Motta, you can possibly mix up the whole crema and milk and end up with a beautiful latte art but with a light color crema surrounding it.

And if you have one of this, you will be surprised by the weight of it. It is made with twice the thickness of normal milk jug, don’t have to worry about dropping it on the floor and giving it a dent, you would rather have to worry about you floor.

You wouldn’t be disappointed with this milk jug, I highly recommend it.

You can check some of my other articles,

how to steam milk to make latte art: http://hubpages.com/hub/How-to-texture-milk-for-latte-art

How to make a perfect cup of espresso: http://hubpages.com/hub/Make-espresso-like-a-barista & http://hubpages.com/hub/Make-espresso-like-a-barista-Part-2

And a step by step how to make a teddy bear latte art: http://hubpages.com/hub/Latte-art-Guide-Teddy-Bear

Thanks for reading this lengthy page,

And if you have used this product, please let me know what you think of if.

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