Coffee Latte Art Knowledge Encyclopedia· Detailed Explanation of Making Coffee Latte Art Milk Foam (Part 1)

milk

Milk is an essential auxiliary material for preparing a variety of espresso coffees. Therefore, in order to improve the completeness of a cup of coffee, it is necessary to practice more not only the extraction of coffee, but also the production process of steamed milk. Only in this way can the "taste" and "charm" of a cup of coffee beverage be guaranteed.

1. Composition and types of milk

Milk is composed of 88% water, fat in solution, and protein in suspension. Depending on the fat content, milk can be roughly divided into the following three types.

• Whole Milk is regular milk that has not had the fat removed.

• Skim Milk is milk that has the fat and cream in whole milk removed.

• Low Fat Milk: Milk with a fat content of less than 2%.

The whole milk without fat removal is used to make milk froth. The fat content of milk can ensure the stability of milk froth. On the contrary, skim milk or low-fat milk makes steamed milk soft and weak. The selection and storage of milk are crucial. No matter how good the milk frothing technology is, if the milk is not good, then everything is in vain.

2Milk foaming requirements

3. Recycling of milk

Remember to refrigerate the milk before using it. Keep it in a refrigerated environment at 3-5 degrees for more than 4 hours to make the whipped milk foam more durable and delicate. Finally, do not pour out the remaining milk in the milk tank after whipping the milk foam. You can put it in the refrigerator and continue to use it. However, it should be noted that the temperature must be fully cooled down. Secondly, do not use all the milk that has been used twice. Since the whipped milk contains a lot of water, the milk flavor will become lighter, so at least half of it should be mixed with fresh milk.

Frothing milk

1 Steam Requirements

The use of steam to froth milk and the quick production of ESPRESSO are the two reasons why Italian coffee has become popular all over the world in a short period of time. So what kind of requirements do we generally have for the steam to froth milk?

• Stablize

A stable amount of steam is the most critical point. Fluctuating steam is often the culprit for your inability to make fine milk foam.

• Good size

The more steam you have, the better. Too much steam will cause the milk to heat up too quickly and not have enough time to foam; the rotation amplitude will be too large and it will easily overflow the milk tank; the foam will be coarse, etc. Too little steam will make it difficult to foam the milk; the efficiency will be low, etc. Therefore, the appropriate amount of steam is very important. Remember that too much is as bad as too little.

• lasting

The durability of steam is related to the boiler capacity, water level and power of the coffee machine. The longer the steam lasts, the more expensive the machine may be.

• dry

Whether the steam is dry or not will have a great impact on the taste of the final product. So-called dry steam means that when you open the steam pipe and put your hand about 10 cm away from the steam pipe mouth, you will not feel any water droplets in the steam. If the steam is not dry enough, it is like adding water to milk while frothing milk. Imagine if the coffee made with milk mixed with a lot of water will taste good? The dryness of the steam is mainly related to the boiler water level, pipeline design, etc.

2. Choice of the flower pot

The choice of milk jug is mainly based on capacity and cup shape. The capacity determines your purpose and the amount of coffee you produce, while the cup shape determines whether you need more latte art or a traditional cappuccino. Choosing a milk jug that is easy to use can not only improve the quality of milk foam and the appearance of coffee, but also effectively reduce loss and waste of milk.

3 Steps to make milk foam

How to whip a jar of milk into a fine and long-lasting milk foam is a skill that every barista and coffee enthusiast who loves LATTE ART must master. Here is a brief introduction to the basic process of whipping milk foam:

• First, let’s understand the standards for making milk foam;

Next

• Open and close the steam pipe several times to drain the water and dirt in the steam pipe and clean the steam pipe;

• The milk in the milk jug should not be less than 1/3, otherwise it cannot be foamed, and should not be more than 2/3, because the volume of milk will increase by about 1 time after being foamed;

• Insert the steam pipe fully into the bottom of the milk tank;

• Turn on the steam. Generally, it will not be adjusted to the maximum, but the specific situation depends on the amount of milk in the milk tank;

• Move the milk tank slowly downwards until you hear a crisp and rhythmic "sizzling" sound coming from the tank;

• When the milk is heated to about 65-75℃, that is, when the hand holding the milk jug feels that the milk is hot, the steam should be turned off while the milk jug is lifted up, and then the milk jug should be moved away from the steam pipe;

• Clean the steam pipe immediately to prevent the milk fat from condensing. When we first froth the milk, we can try to froth it with water a few times, and then with milk;

• Finally, we must always remember that frothing milk is a process of movement. We must rely on our hearing and constantly move the milk jug to create the finest froth.

It should be noted that:

• If too much air is added or the milk and milk foam are not completely mixed, you can see with the naked eye that the coarse milk foam is not well integrated with the milk and floats on the surface of the coffee. If you use such steamed milk to make coffee latte art, the milk foam will easily crack, making the surface of the coffee rough and reducing the completion of the latte art creation.

Failed milk foam latte art:

4. Post-processing of milk foam

After the milk foam is whipped, it can usually be processed to make the milk foam more delicate. Generally, we will use the following three methods:

• Shake

When the milk foam is just made, we can shake the milk jug clockwise. The shaking feels similar to shaking a red wine glass. Generally, if your milk foam is used for latte art, the milk surface should be reflective after shaking. If it is used for traditional Italian coffee such as cappuccino, it can be matte. Reflective milk foam generally means that the milk foam and milk are well integrated and relatively thin. Matte milk foam means that the milk and milk foam are relatively separated and the milk foam is coarse.

• Two knocks

Gently tapping the table with the milk jug can effectively break the coarser bubbles in the milk foam, making it more delicate. In most cases, a qualified milk foam can meet the requirements of use with just one tap.

• Three scoops

There are two purposes for scooping. The first is that if the milk foam is too coarse, you have to scrape off the surface and use the finer bottom layer. The second is that you may not whip too much milk foam when making latte art, so you need to scrape off the surface and use the milk foam with better fusion at the bottom layer. So no matter what the purpose is, scooping milk foam is just a way to remedy the situation afterwards. By following the above three steps, you can make your milk foam finer and meet the requirements of use.

5Remember to clean and maintain the steam pipe

Due to the characteristics of milk ingredients, if the steam pipe after frothing milk is not cleaned in time and regularly, it will easily scale up. At the very least, it will make people look very unhygienic and may cause the milk to spoil easily; at the worst, it will block the air outlet and reduce the steam volume. Therefore, it is necessary for us to develop good cleaning and maintenance habits.

• Wipe every time

After each use of the steam pipe, be sure to wipe the outside of the steam pipe clean to prevent scaling. Although this is only a superficial cleaning work, it is still very important to keep it clean. After wiping it clean, remember to tap the steam twice to expel the residual milk and other liquids in the steam pipe.

• Daily must-have

Soaking, especially soaking the steam pipe with special powder, is undoubtedly the most effective way to remove milk scale on the inner wall of the steam pipe, especially for those who don't know how to disassemble coffee. We can generally add 500 ml of cold water to a 600 ml milk tank, then put in 3 grams of powder, use the steam pipe to heat the cold water and soak it until the next day. Of course, you don't have to use powder every day, generally once a week is enough, but soaking in clean water can be done every day, or at least before turning off the coffee machine, pour a few tanks of cold water to keep the steam pipe clean.

By developing the habit of daily cleaning and soaking, you can help your machine stay in top condition.

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The article is compiled and edited by Aike Aike, aiming to share coffee knowledge.

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