How to texture milk for latte art

Ever wonder how the baristas in cafes make that nice and creamy foam in your cappuccino? Here I will teach you how!

I have been a barista for almost 10 years now and have served countless cups of coffee to customers as well as my friends in various café in Australia. In the beginning of my career as a barista I have received various good and bad feedbacks from my customers, but since I mastered how to create perfect microfoam and poured a cup of coffee with a nice latte art on top, my friends and customer couldn’t get enough.

It took me a while to get it perfect but I will write here some of the key points so that you can start making latte art right away.

But like any other skilled jobs, to become a “great” not just a good barista, you have to know “why” before knowing “how”.

Many people buy a espresso machine and start practicing milk frothing after getting fascinated by latte art, I confess I was one of them. But is it why we froth milk? Just for the presentation?

The answer is no.

Unlike just heating milk, by frothing, it introduce micro particle of air into the milk making it velvety. This in turn, gives a nice texture to your drink. And as you drink it you will experience that silky melt in your mouth feeling.

And that’s not all! If you reach the right temperature 65C (150F), the milk will release the natural sugars inside and will also enrich the flavor of your cup of coffee. A good cup of coffee does not need sugar! It only needs a perfectly frothed milk.

Frothing your milk will largely enhance your drinking experience

Now that we know “why” lets move to “how”

1. Espresso Machine

2. Milk Jug

A decent size, preferably 600ml / 20 Ounces (for 2cups) or 400ml /14 Ounces (for 1 cup) to accommodate the milk expansion

See more about a good milk jug here : http://hubpages.com/hub/Best-milk-jug-for-latte-art

3. Damp Cloth

To clean the team wand, as left over milk will get dry and clog your steam hole and potentially can also damage your boiler.

4. Thermometer

Good tool to achieve a perfect temperature for your milk (65C\150F) preferably digital, as with the normal thermometer take a while to do the temperature reading, hence you will need to stop steam way before it reaches 65C\150F. And you wouldn’t want to start guessing when to stop frothing when you have a lot more things to worry about.

*Later I will publish some hubs of which coffee tools I recommend as well as how to make latte art, so please come back and check.

1. Start with “half” a jug of fresh cold milk.

It is important to have just filled half a jug as it will allow the milk to expand, and also it will make it easier to create latte art.

2. Release some steam from the wand.

This will clean any water or milk residue from the wand. (If you are using a domestic machine that needs to switch between brewing and steaming, turn it on and do the same as above.)

3. Submerge the steam wand slightly underneath the surface of the milk. Make sure all the steam hole is fully covered if not it will create big bubbles like dish washing bubble.

Turn on the steam. Watch carefully the milk flow and its level, if you do it correctly it should start rising slightly and have a nice swill.

Make sure the milk do not start swilling too fast, from my experience , when the milk flow is too turbulent some of the hole in the steam wand can get exposed from the milk and introduce too much air and end up creating huge bubbles.

Tip. Milk only creates froth if your wand is about 2 to 5 mm under the surface of the milk, depending of your stem strength. Below that level, it will only heat the milk.

4. Once the milk expands to a desirable level, insert the wand deeper into the milk so that it just heat without expanding. A good indicator of the milk level would be 1/3 of your original milk amount. If you froth beyond it, your milk will be too airy and not incorporate well with you coffee as well as have a dry and flat texture.

5. When heating the milk, watch carefully your thermometer. Start clothing your steam when the milk reaches 60C/140. This will prevent you from overheating the milk while you are shutting the steam.

6. Remove the steam wand from the jug, give a good wipe with a damp cloth and release some steam, to remove the remaining milk. This is really important for the machines health.

7. Firmly tap the milk jug on the counter top to break any big bubble (if you master the above, you may not need to do it as there won’t have any visible bubble)

Give the jug a good spin. This will help prevent the milk from fully separating from the froth and keep it nice and shiny.

And there you have it, a beautiful microfoam milk. Ready to be pour into a nice shot of espresso.

If you want some more information about coffee, please go to: http://hubpages.com/profile/Naoyuki and check my other articles.

Thanks for reading, keep in touch. Later I will post some more detailed tutorials as well as some barista tips of coffee making and recommended tools and machinery.

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