Project Description
Foam, froth and textured milk for hot beverages
Critical to becoming a Master Barista is knowing how to make perfect barista milk. This is one of those skills that appears easy, when performed by an experienced professional, but is harder than it looks if you want to do it well.
The first building block in all this is learning how to foam. Few coffee drinks are made without it. Why? Because aerating milk (putting air into it, basically) always enhances hot drinks’ texture and taste, helping towards serving up immaculately crafted cappuccinos, macchiatos, lattes and other popular beverages.
So, let’s start foaming!
1. Using cold milk (fresh whole milk or skimmed, depending upon the drink) fill your jug a third of the way. Why not further up? Because you need to leave room for milk expansion, which always happens once you’ve put the steam arm in. Let’s do that now…
2. Actually, hold fire. First, remove any remaining water in the steam arm from its last use. This is known in the trade as purging. Purging your steam arm for five seconds into the drip tray before foaming your milk is essential – get rid of any standing water and prepare the arm for a pressure build up before using it again.
3. Now, place the steam wand’s tip just below the milk’s surface, resisting the temptation to go deeper.
4. Turn on the steam arm and watch your milk froth.
5. Keeping the steam wand’s tip where it should be, just below the liquid milk’s surface as the froth builds, raise your arm, but in an unhurried way (no jolting, no sudden lifting movements…). Focus upon keeping the wand’s tip submerged in the liquid and not the froth.
6. Wait for the gauge to reach your required temperature.
7. Your foam’s ready.
8. Clean the steam arm with a damp cloth.
Texturing steps
1. Lift your jug, again, with the steam wand just below your milk’s surface.
2. But this time, you want your wand not central but towards the side of your jug.
3. Holding your jug at an angle, watch your foam slowly smooth out and the bubbles disappear.
4. Turn your steam arm off when the temperature gauge hits 60°C.
5. Add your milk to your prepared coffee drink.
Look forward to improving with every cup
Like anything, making barista milk should get better with practise, and through learning from experienced baristas. Get the basics right, and take no shortcuts, and you’ll find your barista milk-making proficiency improves with every cup. Your goal should be to make the best barista milk that you can; and this should be appetising smooth milk that’s flat and mostly bubble-free.
Good luck!
