What is the trick to making really good cappuccino foam?
You can check the answer of the people under the question at Quora “how to make foam for coffee“
What is the trick to making really good cappuccino foam?
You can check the answer of the people under the question at Quora “how to make foam for coffee“
A very simple and easy trick. Check in the link below:
Make Frothy Espresso Coffee Without Coffee Maker | Samira’s Recipe Diary
The trick is … lots and lots of practice. Most people can be trained to extract the perfect espresso in a reasonably short time, but getting the milk just right may takes hundreds of cups.
My experience is completely in a cafe environment using commercial machines, but the principles for the home machine are exactly the same. First some chemistry:
> Milk’s chemistry consists of proteins, fats and sugars. It is the proteins in the milk that are critical in the foaming process i.e. when high pressure steam and air is introduced into the milk, it is the proteins that form a film around the introduced air which then creates bubbles. This explains why skim/trim/low-fat milk produces equally good foam because it is the fat that is reduced not the proteins.
Secondly, using your terminology, ‘spongy’ foam is caused by large bubbles where the milk solids have simply leached out. The ‘creamy’ foam has been able to trap the milk solids in the tiny foam bubbles during the foam making process. Most baristas call this ‘micro-foam’ or ‘velvet-foam’.
So now the set-up tips that help make ‘micro-foam’ or ‘velvet-foam’.
1. start with chilled milk straight from the fridge
2. use 2-3 day old milk for best results
3. make sure the espresso machine has a full head of steam i.e no recent cold water added or boiling water extracted
4. make sure the steam wand has clear and clean steam vents
5. use a reasonably sized stainless steel jug 1ltr to allow for a two cup serve and the expanding foam
OK, now the process …
1. make sure the steam wand is at the bottom of the 1ltr stainless steel jug containing the two serves of chilled 2-3 day old milk.
2. turn on a full head of steam.
3. as quickly as possible, move the steam wand head in and out of the milk 6-8 times within about 10 seconds. Note: make sure the steam head does not completely clear the milk. It should make a high-pitched ‘ripping’ sound but not splutter up and out of the jug
4. step 3 is where the micro-foam is formed but the milk is not yet hot enough, so don’t let the steam wand breech the surface adding any more air but keep the milk in the jug circulating. You are now blending the micro-foam through the milk and creating your desired ‘creamy’ outcome. Any foam cleated late in the process will be your large ‘spongy’ bubbles.
5. if you have a musical/baristas ear you will know from the lowering tone of the steam jets when the milk/foam has reached the right temperature. The key here is don’t let the milk boil. Just before milk boils it goes very quite and then the milk violently shake…
Here is excellent technique, plus a cost-saving way to practice, demonstrated by expert, Scott Rao:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxAvYoymUbM
p.s. Ritual Coffee is an excellent brand.
Peter Baskerville gives excellent advice when using a professional espresso machine. However, when using a home espresso machine there are a few more tricks required to get the right result.
In my experience, home machine steam wands are not powerful enough to get the proper swirl you need to get consistent microfoam. There are a few ways to compensate for that.
First, use a small (12oz) pitcher, and fill only up to about an inch. It will be enough for one cappuccino. Anything larger and you’ll run out of steam.
Start steaming exactly as the light comes back on after you turn the steam switch on, otherwise you won’t have enough steam time to heat even a small pitcher of milk.
Hold the pitcher with your bare hand so you can feel it get hot. Stop before it gets too hot to hold comfortably (obviously).
Follow Peter Baskerville ‘s instructions to get the right swirl going in the milk. The result will likely not be perfect, so get an Aerolatte (the deluxe model works best), and use that after steaming to further mix the milk with the foam. The key here is not to let any more air into the foam, but just create a swirl to mix the two layers.
As a final touch-up, tap the pitcher on the counter a few times to pop the largest bubbles, and swirl the pitcher around to further mix the foam. This is a trick often used by professional baristas as well. There are videos on YouTube you can check out to see how this is done, like this one: http://youtu.be/Ag8eiAs24cY
If you absolutely need to make more than 1-1.5 cappuccino’s worth of milk at once, you’ll have to pause mid-way and wait for the machine to heat up again. If you do this more than once, you might have to refill the tank as well by briefly turning the pump on. Before you do this I recommend you cool back down to brewing temperature first!