Foam Guide have you ever had such a cappuccino?

Have you ever had such a cappuccino? It looks like a cup of art and tastes like silk. If you've ever had a cappuccino like this, I think it's probably hard for you to drink that bubbly, fluffy cappuccino.

So what makes a "real" cappuccino so delicious? Of course it's the skill of a barista. The skill of milking is not so easy. But with some good advice and some training, you will immediately impress your cappuccino enthusiasts. Let's start with a little guide.

Espresso machine

At present, all espresso machines on the market have steam pipes for foaming. Some manufacturers decide to put jackets on their steam pipes to help their customers. If you have something like this on your machine, please take it off as much as possible, because it won't help us with what we're going to do next.

Flower cup

It is better to have a stainless steel flower cup with a water outlet. You need the kind of flower cup whose temperature can change with the milk, so you can feel the temperature of the milk at any time without steaming it too hot. Stainless steel happens to have this property. The outlet can help you when you pull flowers.

milk

The milk used in lattes has a fat content of about 3%. The less fat, the harder the foam. What you want is smooth foam (so forget about fat-free cappuccinos).

About milk foam

The main thing to keep in mind when foaming is to stop when the temperature reaches the right point. Foaming for too long will condense the milk and change its taste (and cappuccino will be too hot). Overheated milk can also make the foam too hard. How different will the foam be? Here are some typical examples:

Blistering

If you are distracted or distracted when foaming, it is easy to cause the steam pipe to be above the surface of the milk rather than just below the surface of the water. The result is milk spatter and larger milk bubbles. Of course you can still get a lot of foam in the flower cup, but it will taste bad.

Too hard

The hard foam looks stiff, and it doesn't mix with the coffee when you pour it into the coffee, but accumulates on top of your coffee like fluffy beaten cream. If you play a little longer, it will be layered, 90% of which is flowing milk, and a thick hard foam lid floating on it. When you pour it into the coffee, the milk will flow out of the flower cup first. You must scoop the foam into the coffee cup with a spoon.

Smooth

If you do everything right, when you pour it out, the milk looks smooth and creamy, a bit like pouring yogurt. Milk your espresso will mix perfectly, and crema will color the surface of the milk to form a typical brown edge of cappuccino.

Milk that has been beaten again often makes hard foam. The trick is to beat the right quantity and quality of foam in the flower cup at the right temperature. To foam well, you need to know how quickly your machine heats up the amount of milk you want.