Barista Tutorial: How to steam the milk

“How to texture the milk not only for pouring latte art but for making my milk-based Espresso drinks delicious?” This is by far one of the most popular questions that I receive.

Thus, in this very first tutorial, Mariette and I are showing you how.

Step 1: Fill the jug half of its volume with cold fresh milk. You can use any type of milk, yet I prefer using milk with 3.5% fat content.

Step 2: Flush your steam wand to get rid of residues and condensated water

Step 3: Place the tip of the steam wand right on top of the surface of your milk. As a beginner, it helps to have the wand in a straight angle, alongside the side of the milk jug.

Step 4: Start with full power right away, adding air into your milk (sucking noise). Depending on the power of your steamer, you might want to add more or less air. In general: The more air you add, the more foam you’ll get.

Step 5: After adding the air, make sure you start swirling the milk by placing the tip of the wand just right underneath the surface of the milk. It helps to have the wand alongside one side of the jug. That way, you can create a nice swirl or “wave”. This is really important because you want the air you inserted in the beginning to be nicely blended with the milk in order to create the desired microfoam. Attention: Don’t add any more air at this point!

Step 6: You want a final milk temperature to be between 60-68C°. Any higher and you start buring the milk, giving it a burned flavour plus less sweeter taste. Either check the temperature with your hands, or if you are a beginner, use a thermometer. But even then, always feel the temperature with your hands so you learn how the ideal temperature feels like.

Step 7: Clean the wand with a cloth and flush again.

You’re ready to pour! 🙂

STAY TUNED for more tutorials to come! Thanks for your support!

Dritan

PRODUCTS USED:
In this tutorial I used my milk jug, which you can find here:
https://shop.dritan-alsela.com/collections/milk-jugs