Three weeks ago it was pulling espresso shots; this week it’s learning how to properly froth milk. That’s right, today I took a one hour course on how to froth milk. Every morning I make two lattes (that’s over 700 per year!), so I figured that it makes sense to learn how to make them properly.
Here’s a quick recap on how to properly froth milk:
- Insert the spray nozzle just below the surface of the milk, slightly to the side
- Turn it on and make sure that you’re hearing “a whisper – not a gurgle”. As a rule of thumb, if you’re making big bubbles, that’s bad. You want to be introducing air to the milk to provide it with texture, but you don’t want big bubbles as then you’ll be tasting air not coffee (big bubble are full of air, ergo you’re drinking air)
- When the temperature of the milk hits 100 degrees fahrenheit (body temperature), plunge the nozzle to the bottom of the pitcher. This should create an almost whirlpool-like effect in the milk
- When the temperature hits 150 (too hot to touch), it’s time to turn off the steam
- Let the steam totally come out and take the nozzle out from the milk. If you pull the nozzle away before the steam stops you’ll end up with some big bubbles forming as the nozzle leaves the surface
- Now bang the pitcher against the counter a few times to cause any big bubbles to pop
- Swirl it a few times and voila – great milk
Your milk should have a sheen on it, almost like paint. Of course, this is assuming that you want this sort of fancy-pants milk; you might love big bubble, in which case – froth away! Just remember, if you want to make milk like I described above, the rules are “temperature + turbulence = texture” and “whole milk is your friend” (the fat means that it doesn’t separate like skim milk).
Practice this a few times and you’ll literally find yourself crying over spilt milk. Sorry for the bad pun.