How to make excellent milk foam and pull out a coffee taste balanced cappuccino?

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Make the milk foam that brings out the delicacy and characteristics of coffee

After the appropriate espresso is extracted, the next step is the foaming of the milk.

When milk is warmed and foamed by a machine called a steam engine, it is called foaming.

High-quality coffee, when matched with milk, can make people feel "the sweetness of coffee itself". On the other hand, cappuccino is not sweetened by milk, but a drink that makes people feel more "the sweetness of coffee itself" through milk. In order to bring out this sweetness and delicacy, we must pay attention to the following four points.

1. The temperature of milk

2. The density of milk foam.

3. The amount of milk foam

4. The texture of milk

The temperature of milk

The temperature of milk is "the temperature that is easy to drink in terms of a drink", based on a moderately heated and enjoyable drink.

When drinking cappuccino with overheated milk, you will feel the separation of "milk foam" and "liquid" when drinking. At first I drank the foam, then suddenly I got the feeling of liquid.

Although the temperature of the steamed liquid will rise, milk bubbles, that is, bubbles = bubbles, will still be bubbles no matter how heated, that is, the temperature of milk bubbles / air will not rise. So when you start drinking, the foam is not that hot, but when you drink the deep liquid, you will suddenly feel hot, which is the reason for the sense of separation.

Problems can also occur when the temperature is too high. Is that the bitterness of the coffee will become stronger. When the temperature is too high, it will become difficult to feel the delicate sweetness and touch of coffee, and instead, the bitterness of coffee, which is most easily understood, will become easy to detect.

Of course, there is also a risk of scalding the tongue when the temperature is too high.

Cappuccino is best drunk when it is ready, so drinking immediately is the most recommended time to drink. At this time, the milk foam is quite slender, and after it has been placed for a long time, the liquid and milk foam will gradually separate, so the unique taste and texture will become untasty. This is the reason why you don't want to provide it to guests at high temperature.

Cappuccino's "drinking time" is to let guests feel the integration of liquid and milk foam at a temperature that guests can drink immediately, as well as the delicate sweetness of coffee, which is one of the ingredients. This temperature is not confirmed by a thermometer, but by the sense of hearing and so on. Feel the temperature in the palm of your hand and listen to the sound of steam during bubbling. When the temperature is high, the sound will also become louder.

The heat felt in the palm of the hand, the sound of steam, the length of steaming time. What will the cappuccino taste like when manipulating these factors? You have to confirm it every time you train. By doing these operations repeatedly, you can find out the optimum temperature of the milk.

Use your palms to feel the temperature when making milk foam. The temperature can also be predicted by the sound of steam.

The density of milk foam

Meticulous milk foam is an important element to give cappuccino a wonderful taste and touch, and it is also indispensable for lattes to create a beautiful appearance.

Please see the photo below. Photo 1 is an example of milk bubbles with high completion. The light shines and the bubbles are so subtle that they are imperceptible to the naked eye. On the other hand, photo 2 on the right is an example of low completion. The surface is too rough to reflect light, and large bubbles can be seen with the naked eye.

So, what can be done to make a high degree of milk foam? The point is to "put air into the milk bit by bit" and "completely use the steam ejected from the nozzle".

The fineness of the foam can be confirmed visually. After making a cappuccino, you can see it more clearly with color. The more meticulous it is, the better it feels, and the cappuccino will look pretty when it's finished.

Please see the photo on the right page. Photo 1 shows the air breaking in bit by bit. Almost no big waves are raised, forming a quite beautiful liquid surface. Photo 2, on the other hand, takes a breath into the air at the beginning, and the rest of the time is spent breaking the bubbles one by one. Even if you use the latter, you can achieve beautiful-looking foam to some extent. However, at first glance, it looks beautiful, and the two ways of bubbling are quite different.

The bubbles on the surface of the milk in photo 2 are uneven, which is the state in which the injected steam turns into bubbles to leave the surface of the milk, that is, the steam from the nozzle is not fully used. Because the heat and air of the steam will leave, it will take more time to bubble. Because the steam from the nozzle contains water, the more time it takes, the more water the milk will become. Because it is a product to be provided to guests, in addition to finishing it as soon as possible, it will damage the taste of the coffee if it becomes like water.

In response to this, almost all of the air and heat of the nozzle will be used in the method of slowly pumping air into the nozzle, as in photo 1. The evidence is that there are no bubbles on the surface of the foam. Because all the incoming air is used and the time is as short as possible, milk will not become like water.

"Milk foam is not done in one breath, but is made bit by bit. However, the surface will not be uneven, the heat will not be lost, the operation will be efficient and the time can be shortened. "

Keep this in mind and practice with your eyes while confirming the state of the foam when steaming.

Do not bubble on the surface when steaming milk. Although it is possible to inject bubbles in one breath, the bubbles will get thicker, the heat will dissipate with the popping bubbles, and the time spent will increase. Always remember to "steam efficiently and neatly"

The amount of milk foam

Moderate foam is very important for cappuccino. More than a certain amount of beautiful milk foam, give the taste and soft touch when drinking, when the milk foam is very thin, after pouring the liquid and bubble will be quickly separated, drink into the mouth will feel. In this way, it is impossible to feel the delicious characteristics of cappuccino, "the integration of foam and liquid".

Cappuccino is made of milk foam, milk and espresso. Less foam means more liquid milk, which means an increase in the proportion of milk relative to espresso. When a large amount of milk is added, the espresso becomes thinner, making it harder to feel the taste of the coffee itself.

Please look at the picture below. Photo 1 you will see the liquid level as soon as you remove the foam with a spoon. This is because there are only a few mm of milk foam. In this way, there is less milk and more milk, the taste of espresso becomes thinner, and it will feel like water.

On the other hand, even if the foam in photo 2 is removed with a spoon, the liquid surface will not be seen, so it can be seen that the thickness of the foam is enough.

For "to enjoy the silky touch", or "to maintain the proper concentration of milk and espresso", an appropriate amount of milk foam is necessary.

The left is the appearance of a small amount of milk foam, and the thickness of the milk bubble on the right is appropriate.

The texture of milk

The English word "texture" is texture, which refers to the feeling of touch, visual / tactile surface, appearance, texture, etc.

The touch / texture of coffee or espresso is called "taste", while the touch / texture of milk is expressed as "texture".

There are two key points about the texture of milk. First, make fine-grained milk foam. The silky touch and texture come from fine-grained milk bubbles. Second, improve the efficiency of the rapid production of milk foam. On this point, such as P.60 "the density of milk foam" a detailed explanation, as the steam time is getting longer and longer, there will be a variety of disadvantages.

Barista Kashi Bang was praised for the quality of the milk in the barista championship, and compared with other baristas in the way he made the milk, he learned that he used less steam time to complete the foam than other baristas.

Make fine-grained milk bubbles in a short time. This is very important to the texture of milk.

Pull out a cappuccino that is well balanced with the taste of coffee

The operation of pouring milk into the cappuccino is one of the most important factors in the flavor composition of the cappuccino. There are two key points.

Stir and inject

Make a comparison

Stirring (mixing) milk with espresso and comparing it with the two seems at first glance to be the opposite, but these two events have a considerable impact on the flavor of cappuccino.

Stir and inject

When pouring milk into espresso, try to "mix evenly with espresso". To the production of boutique coffee espresso point of view, often fried for a short time, such beans extracted by the espresso crema because of relatively hard, while stirring (= foam steel cup moved everywhere) while injecting, there will be unable to make a beautiful cappuccino appearance. In addition, while stirring, "milk foam", "liquid milk" and "espresso" will be fully mixed to avoid the deviation of taste.

Please look at the photo below. In the cup of photo 1, you can see that there is a clear demarcation line between milk and espresso. In other words, the two are not mixed. At this time, the upper layer of the espresso flavor is stronger, the lower layer of milk flavor is stronger.

On the other hand, you can see that the whole is evenly mixed in the cup of Photo 2. In this way, the overall taste will be well balanced.

In this way, the injection can be clearly seen with a transparent cup, and the method of pouring in alone can control the balance of the taste of the cappuccino.

Left is coffee without mixing milk and espresso, right is coffee that is evenly mixed.

Make a comparison

Please compare the following two photos. The method of injecting milk alone will produce quite different results.

The whole cup of photo 1 can see the obvious white of milk, because when drinking, the taste will become easily dominated by milk, which is the so-called "milky" state.

On the other hand, the crema of espresso in the cup of photo 2 is done while paying attention to keeping the color of crema while pouring milk, and you can feel the coffee of espresso and the appropriate match with the material. In addition, when the contrast is obvious, the score of appearance will also be higher. Although a beautiful flower is not equal to a high-quality cappuccino, it is also one of the most important factors. If you can inject milk foam and make beautiful flowers as in Photo 2, guests can also be happy.

In addition to paying attention to comparison or flower drawing, be careful not to inject milk or pay attention to the beauty of the surface to make cappuccinos.

The milk above forms an eye-catching white on the surface of the coffee, while the bottom shows a beautiful surface. When the contrast is beautiful, no matter where you start to drink, you can get the taste of coffee from the very beginning.