How to Make Perfect Latte Foam? What is the Purpose of Rolling? Why Use Chilled Milk for Milk Coffee?

The Importance of First Impressions in Coffee

Let's be honest, the first impression of coffee is incredibly important! For example, when two lattes have dramatically different latte art quality, we naturally assume the one with more beautiful art tastes better. Although latte art doesn't actually affect the coffee's flavor, it provides us with a positive visual experience, leading us to preemptively imagine it will taste delicious!

Therefore, exquisite latte art is crucial for lattes! Beautiful latte patterns often depend on delicate, silky milk foam. While most people are already familiar with the basics of milk frothing (for those who aren't, you can check out "How to Froth Milk?"), FrontStreet Coffee won't dwell on this topic. However, details determine success, and during the milk frothing process, certain details can significantly affect the final quality of milk foam for latte art. So today, FrontStreet Coffee will share some important details to pay attention to when frothing milk!

Detail 1: Temperature of Frothed Milk

In yesterday's article, FrontStreet Coffee mentioned that controlling the temperature of frothed milk within the 60-70°C range is partly to activate the sweetness of lactose. Additionally, milk foam within this temperature range can maintain its structure for a longer time without dissipating quickly.

When the temperature of your frothed milk exceeds this range, the fat in the milk foam will break down due to the high heat, causing the foam to dissipate rapidly after formation. This will result in numerous craters appearing in your coffee shortly after. When reaching certain high temperatures, milk foam will expand significantly, not only destroying the original nutritional value and texture of the milk but also causing an imbalance between coffee and milk ratios due to excessive foam. Therefore, temperature control during milk frothing is extremely important!

Detail 2: Milk Temperature

Whether you're using pasteurized fresh milk or UHT room-temperature milk, it's best to refrigerate them for a period before use.

During the milk frothing process, we need not only to create foam but also to achieve proper integration and texture development. As mentioned in the previous detail, there's a temperature limit for milk frothing—in other words, limited time for frothing. Proper refrigeration can extend our frothing time, resulting in finer milk foam. However, if you use room-temperature milk, the frothing time will be significantly reduced, causing the milk foam to miss much of the texturing process. This increases the difficulty of frothing, especially for beginners. Therefore, when possible, refrigerating milk is better.

Detail 3: Water Accumulation in the Steam Wand

Before using the steam wand, we need to perform a quick purge for about 2-3 seconds. The purpose is to clear any accumulated water from inside the steam wand!

The steam wand consists of a tube, and when not in use, steam from the previous frothing session can remain trapped inside, gradually condensing back into water over time. If we don't purge this water first, it will directly enter the milk, not only diluting the milk concentration but also affecting the texture. Therefore, before using, we must always perform a quick purge to minimize negative effects.

Detail 4: Angle Between Steam Wand and Milk Surface

Most tutorials will indicate where the steam wand should be positioned relative to the milk surface to easily create a vortex and produce fine milk foam. However, we need to understand that the angle between the steam wand and the milk surface is also very important!

If the steam wand is too perpendicular to the milk surface, the steam will only喷射 downward, making it difficult to create a vortex even when positioned at the standard 3 or 9 o'clock direction. Without a vortex, large bubbles created during frothing cannot be broken down and refined, resulting in less fine milk foam. Therefore, the angle is crucial! Based on FrontStreet Coffee's experience, the ideal frothing angle is between 30-45 degrees, as this most easily creates a perfect vortex! (PS: After frothing is complete, you must remember to swirl the pitcher. This not only increases the integration between milk and foam but also makes the foam more fluid and silky!)

Detail 5: Number of Taps

Many friends might be like FrontStreet Coffee—even experienced "veterans" occasionally make mistakes. For example, accidentally lifting the steam wand too high near the end of frothing, causing numerous bubbles to appear on the surface. In such situations, since the temperature has already reached its limit and further frothing isn't possible, we use tapping to break these large bubbles.

However, if you tap the pitcher too many times, even stable small bubbles will begin to break down due to the vibrations—in other words, accelerating the overall dissipation of the milk foam. Therefore, we should minimize the number of taps, keeping it to 2-3 at most. If there are still bubbles remaining on the foam surface after tapping, it's best to remove them through other methods to ensure foam stability.

Detail 6: Pouring Between Pitchers

If, as mentioned earlier, your frothing goes wrong—with too many large bubbles or overly thick foam—you can solve this problem by pouring between pitchers.

Pouring milk from pitcher A to pitcher B can effectively reduce the number of coarse bubbles! Moreover, during the pouring process, it also increases the integration between foam and milk. The foam in pitcher B will ultimately be finer and more fluid than the original!

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Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473