Latte Frothing Basics - How to Make Delicious Frothed Milk



Posted: Thursday, June 01, 2006

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Frothing is probably the most underappreciated part of coffeehouse culture. After all, without the foam, your cappuccino or latte is just plain espresso. It takes a little practice for even the best baristas to get the knack. Let us take a little dive into the art of frothing.

The experts have just as many opinions on frothing as they do on espresso blends, but everyone pretty much agrees that the best place to start is with stainless steel pitcher, some milk and an espresso machine with a steaming wand.

Other non-plastic containers will work fine, but stainless steel has the perfect balance of weight and agility that makes it easy to handle. Any type of milk can be used, but milk with higher fat content is heavier and takes a bit more practice. Skim milk produces and light, airy foam, while foam from half and half is thick and rich.

Use the cup you plan to drink from to measure how much milk to steam. Keep in mind that the milk will approximately double in volume as it froths, so fill the cup with half the milk the drink calls for. A cappuccino is half steamed milk and half espresso, so to make a cappuccino you would fill the cup a fourth of the cup with cold milk. Pour the milk into the pitcher.

It is important that the tip of the steam wand is consistently held just below the surface of the milk. If it is too held too deep, the milk with scorch or boil before it froths. If it is not deep enough, it will blow the milk out of the pitcher and make a mess. Keep the palm of your free hand flush with the bottom of the pitcher. This will help you monitor the temperature of the milk without interrupting the process.

Slide the pitcher away from the machine as to keep the tip of the wand just under the surface as the milk expands. At this point, if the milk is about the same temperature as the palm of you hand, plunge the wand deeper into the milk to warm it up. If the pitcher feels too hot, turn off the steam and tap the pitcher against the work surface. This lets large bubbles to escape and helps cool the milk. It is important to never let the milk boil.

Using a spoon to hold back the froth, add the milk to the espresso. You can use the spoon to top the drink off with foam or, in the best-case scenario the foam can be poured straight from the pitcher. For best results, use a pitcher with a sharply-pointed spout. Garnish your creation with cinnamon, nutmeg or grated chocolate.

As well as writing articles on gourmet style coffee, Cory Willins enjoys writing on other diverse topics. To read more of her coffee articles, visit The Coffee Site.com

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