Milk Frothing guide using stainless steel milk frothing jugs

The Good Froth Guide

To make a good cappuccino, you need equal thirds of espresso, liquid steamed milk and foamed milk in your cappuccino. There is nothing more disappointing then ordering a cappuccino only to receive a cup of espresso topped up to the brim with steamed milk and with no froth in sight - a strong Latte really! So what you really want to know is how to get a creamy dense foam everytime.

"Ice cold semi-skimmed straight from the fridge" I hear you cry, or so Joe Espresso down the round told you - "It's the only milk that will foam, you'll be there all day with any other". It is true that chilled semi-skimmed will foam very easily, but full fat or any other type of milk will foam readily if you have good technique. What chilled semi-skimmed does is mask poor technique - because it will produce a bit of foam even if you stick the steam arm right to the bottom of your frothing jug - but that's not foaming it's steaming!

Don't listen to anyone else then, just choose which milk you would like for Cappuccino, or be bold and offer your customers a choice! Then take your frothing jug (Straight sided make life easy, bell bottomed are good as well) and half fill it with chilled milk of your choice. Please bear in mind the fresher the milk is, the easier it will be to foam. Even if it is still in date, the nearer it gets to it's use by date, the harder it gets to foam. Also Milk is an natural product, so from a batch of 6 cartons of milk, you might find one carton will not foam at all! In this case don't neccesarily think it is you, try another carton first and if that foams OK then it is the previous carton that is no good!

Finally we get to your espresso machine! First of all, purge the steam arm by placing the steam jets over the drip tray and opening the steam knob for a few seconds (see below). This removes condensed water from the steam arm

Once you have purged the steam jets, close the steam knob and move the steam arm using the plastic applicator (to avoid burnt fingers) so it sticks out away from the machine. Now take your frothing jug, no more then half filled with chilled milk (when you foam milk, it should double in volume!) and move it up the steam wand. You want the steam jets (the holes at the tip of the steam arm) to be just below the surface of the milk. Too deep into the milk and it will just heat it up, too high and milk will splash everywhere! It is a fine line but with practice you will find it. With the jets just below the milks surface, slowly open the steam knob so a little steam is released in a steady flow, adjust the steam jets position if need be so they are just below the surface - bubbles should be starting to form now.

Now you are happy you are at the right position, open the steam knob fully to let the steam out at maximum strength. Foam should now develop rapidly, and as it rises inside the frothing jug, you must lower the jug to ensure the steam jets stay just below the surface of the foam. Once the foam has reached the top of the jug, lightly touch the side of the jug - if it is too hot to keep your finger on the milk is hot enough (150 degrees farenheit) if not lower the steam jets to the bottom of the jug and continue steaming until the jug side is too hot to touch. Turn off the steam arm and then put down our jug (don't put the jug down first, you'll get steam and hot milk everywhere - ouch!)

Before you continue, take a damp cloth and wipe the steam arm to remove the milk residue. If you leave this on it will build up, making it hard to remove and unpleasant for your customers to see.

Now you can top your espresso base, the well practised can pour the steamed milk straight into the cup, using a shaking motion to push foamed milk on top and get the proportions just right! For the rest of us, use a teaspoon to hold back the froth while you pour steamed milk into the cup - no more the three quarters way up the cup, then pull the foamed milk into the center of the cup with the teaspoon to fill the cup. With a well extracted espresso, and the steamed and foamed milk poured in at the centre, you should see a "abbots halo" where the espresso crema has moved up the side of the cup and is now around the rim.

Sit back and admire your cappuccino, until someone dumps sugar in it and stirs it all up!